What Is "the Unforgivable Sin"?
Mark 3:20-35
Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family[a] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
His family thinks he’s crazy, and the religious leaders think he has a demon, which causes Jesus to ask the obvious question: “If I’m evil, then how come I’m doing good stuff?” He calls this refusal to accept the work of God “the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” The one sin that can’t be forgiven is calling God’s good things evil, because a person who did such a thing wouldn’t even recognize forgiveness as good!
P.S. I’m teaching a Bible study TONIGHT on How to Read and Understand the Gospel of Mark (and the entire Bible, too!), 6-7 PM. You coming?
P.P.S. Plus we have Wednesday morning communion THIS MORNING, 7:00-7:20 AM, with Chick-fil-A breakfast to go on your way out. You’re coming, right? I would LOVE to see families with school kids there.