What is the “Sin Unto Death”?

Many times, in the more than 20 years I have been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have been approached by people who were genuinely distraught, because they believed that they had committed a “sin unto death,” and that they could not possibly be forgiven for it.

They have convinced themselves that they have committed a sin so heinous… so perverse… so offensive to God that He will not possibly forgive them for it. They are beside themselves with grief over their spiritual situation, and they are looking to a preacher for answers. Is there a sin for which God will not forgive us?

What is the “sin unto death?” The Bible has the answers!

The Bible indicates that there is only one sin, which the Lord will not forgive. In Matthew 12, Jesus’ enemies whispered to others that He had the power to cast out demons only because He was in league with the Devil (Matthew 12:22-24). Christ responded to this accusation with a firm denial, and then pointed out that His enemies were putting their own souls in jeopardy by attributing the power of God to the Devil (Matthew 12:25-30).

Then, the Savior said this: “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men” (Matthew 12:31).

According to Thayer, the Greek word rendered, “blasphemy” in the text is one that literally refers to “speech injurious to another’s good name.” In the very next verse, Jesus added: “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matthew 12:32).

The Lord’s enemies had been slandering the Holy Spirit by attributing Jesus’ power to the Devil and not to divinity. We must be careful not to do the same thing today, lest we find ourselves in a similar position.

It is important to note that Jesus said, “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men.” that means that God will forgive us for even the sins that we consider the most serious.

Sexual sins… violent sins… deviant sins can all be forgiven, if only we will repent and obey the Lord’s instructions in the Scriptures (1 Timothy 1:15).

But if our contempt for the Holy Spirit is so great that we are willing to verbally slander Him, then we will not repent, we will not obey, and there remains no hope for us (Hebrews 6:4-6).

As for the “sin unto death,” that is a fairly simple concept. Such a sin is one that we take with us to our graves.

By definition, it is a sin of which we will not repent and for which we do not receive forgiveness; so we take it with us to our death beds (1 John 1:9). A classic example of a “sin unto death” is suicide. By definition, suicide is the murder of oneself. It renders the one who commits it incapable of repenting and being forgiven for his sins. Judas, for example, could have repented and gone back to the other apostles and been forgiven for his betrayal of the Son of God, but he sealed his own eternal destiny when he chose to end his own life (Acts 1:16-20).

That is why it is so important for Christians to keep sin out of their lives and to immediately repent and ask God for forgiveness when sin does get into their lives.

Christians who languish in unfaithfulness run the risk of being unprepared, when the hour of their departure from this world arrives (Matthew 25:1-13). We may not know the day or the hour in which the Lord shall return, or how much time is left until we reach the end of our own lives on Earth, but we cannot afford to assume that there is plenty of time for us to repent. We must make our hearts right with God right now—for we may not have another chance in
the future!

As long as we are alive, we can make things right with God.

Let us make our peace with Him while we still can, and carry none of our sins with us, when we enter into eternity!

“If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” – 1 John 5:16