The Unpardonable Sin

Perhaps the strongest objection that the teaching of the truth about God faces is the issue surrounding the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Doubters and opposers constantly allude to this issue and they put forth the argument that, if the Holy Spirit is Christ Himself, then why should the penalties for committing a sin against the Son and the Spirit be different from each other? I personally admit that from their perspective, they certainly have a point because when it comes down to this issue, the argument that the Spirit is not the Son certainly holds water. When we closely examine the words of Jesus concerning the issue of the unpardonable sin, we certainly and honestly cannot come to the conclusion that Jesus is referring to Himself when He mentions the Holy Spirit. To make matters worse, we often fail to give a satisfactory, let alone a biblically sound, explanation to this issue and we end up beating about the bush and hope that we have dealt with the heart of the matter. But the fact of the matter is, by our efforts we end up opening a can of worms. At least, for the most part, I speak for myself because I have often found myself guilty of making this mistake. The main reason of this is the lack of understanding about the gospel dispensation. However, I am glad that the understanding gained through the study of righteousness by faith over the past three years, has shed light on this issue and I hope that by this article I can do justice by presenting a comprehensive and compelling elucidation concerning this matter.

As I mentioned, the issue of the unpardonable sin as spoken of by Jesus in Matthew chapter twelve does not support the idea that the Holy Spirit is Christ Himself. So, are we wrong? Do we need to revisit and revise our understanding about the Godhead? Is the Trinitarian idea of God, the truth after all? No, I am not suggesting any of these things. However, we need to understand the circumstances and the time when Christ spoke these words.

When we go to Matthew chapter twelve, beginning from verse twenty-two onwards, we find that Christ was performing miracle after miracle by healing the sick and casting out devils. The people were amazed at what they saw and were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. However, the Pharisees who were there and who also witnessed these events unfolding before their very eyes, were not willing to submit to the evidences that were in full display. Along with these physical evidences, the Holy Spirit was also convicting the hearts of these men that they were not witnessing just a mere Galilean but the Promised One who came to seek and save the lost, and that a divine power assisted His ministry. These miracles were intended to serve as evidence to counter the bigotry of the Pharisees and the scribes who were constantly opposing Jesus and who refused to receive Him as their Saviour. Instead of yielding their will to God, they persistently rejected the voice that convicted them of sin. And as a means to deter the people from following Christ they utilized their position and influence as teachers of the holy scriptures by openly and publicly declaring that the miracles were done by the power of Satan.

What the Pharisees were doing was that they were keeping themselves in harm’s way and they were in great danger of not inheriting eternal life if they constantly rejected the appeal of the Spirit to denounce their unbelief and accept Christ as the Messiah. Their constant refusal to accept the truth caused the Spirit to slowly but surely be withdrawn from them and eventually leave them to their own delusions and misbeliefs. Based on this context and circumstance, Jesus was compelled to say that the sin against the Spirit was unpardonable whereas the sin against the Son was forgiven which we can read in verse thirty-one and thirty-two.

“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 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 12:31,32)

We have briefly looked at the circumstances and the situation leading up to the pronouncement of Christ about the unpardonable sin. Now, let us look and the time when this event occurred. To understand this aspect, we need to understand the three phases of Christ’s life. The first phase begins with His life before His human incarnation. During this part of His life, Christ was exactly like God in the sense that, apart from being divine, He possessed divine powers. From among the powers that He had, Christ was omnipresent. This and other attributes were given to Him by the Father. However, in the second phase of His life, that is, when He left His heavenly abode and became man, He retained only His divinity but not divine powers. Christ laid aside all divine powers when He became man. In other words, He was a divine being without divine powers. How do I know this? Allow me to illustrate this fact from scripture.

Before the incarnation, Jesus was all-present by the Spirit that comes from the Father. The Spirit, as explained and discussed in issue no.1 of The Loins of Truth, is the presence of God the Father. Christ was also present in all the universe by this same Spirit. In His incarnation, He laid aside this power. He could not be in all places at once. It was for this reason that Christ told His disciples that it was their own benefit that He should go to heaven so that He could be with them personally wherever they went.

Similarly, the all-powerful attribute of divinity was also given up by Christ. He did not possess, in and of Himself, the power to work miracles. I had also discussed this matter in issue no. 1 of The Loins of Truth. Please refer to this issue or ask for a copy of the same if you so desire to better understand what I am presenting here. Acts chapter ten and verse thirty-eight clearly states that it was the anointing of the Spirit that enabled Christ to perform His miracles. In fact, the first miracle He ever worked was when He turned water into wine. This happened after the anointing of the Spirit which He received at the Jordan shortly after He was baptised. There is no record or suggestion made by the word of God that He performed any miracle prior to His baptism.

This was what Christ was, when He roamed this earth. It was not intended that Christ should forever remain this way. He would again be given these powers He once shared with His Father before the incarnation. The position and powers that He enjoyed before He was sent, was referred to by Him as the glory that He once had before the world came into existence.

"And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5)

When was this wish granted? It was fulfilled in the glorification of Christ which took place in heaven, on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension. On this day, the Spirit of the Father was united with the Spirit of Christ in such a way that it became, once again, wholly one. This union of Their Spirits resulted in what the Bible refers to as the “another Comforter” or otherwise known as “the Spirit that was not yet given.” This brings us to the third and final phase of His life. In this phase the powers of divinity were once again restored. Now Christ was once and for all an omniscient, omnipresent and an omnipotent King – a divine Being with divine powers.

If we correctly understand the nature of Christ based on these three phases, it should not be difficult to understand that the Spirit that Christ was referring to in Matthew chapter twelve was the Spirit before the glorification. This Spirit, as discussed in the article, The Spirit That Was Not Yet Given published in issue no. 2 of The Loins of Truth, was exclusively the Spirit of the Father. In other words, the Spirit that pleaded with the Pharisees and the Scribes and all who were unwilling to believe was the Father Himself. At that time, the Holy Spirit was not yet the Spirit of Christ. It became the Spirit of Christ after the glorification.

This point can further be verified by the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about the events that unfolded at the river Jordan when Christ was baptised. When we compare these four accounts, we will notice that Mark, Luke and John mention that it is the Spirit or the Holy Spirit that came down in the form of a dove. But Matthew’s account differs from these three in that he describes the Spirit as the Spirit of God or the Father.

“And Jesus when He was baptised, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him.” (Matthew 3:16)

We also find numerous accounts in the New Testament that the Spirit of the Father raised Christ from the dead. Notice what Paul wrote to the believers in Rome when he said, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you…” (Romans 8:11). This same Spirit is again referred to as the glory of the Father in Romans 6:4. And therefore, it makes sense that at His glorification, Christ was once again given the power of divinity which essentially is part and parcel of the Spirit of the Father.

“… Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father…” (Romans 6:4)

And yet again, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul said that God raised up Christ Jesus and by this same power that God used to deliver His Son from death would be the power that would be used to resurrect the dead. This further reinforces the fact that the Spirit is the power of God.

“And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.” (1 Corinthians 6:14)

If we understand this aspect of the gospel in light of the evidences that I have presented in this article and the articles in issue nos. 1 and 2, it would not be hard to accept that the Spirit is Christ. And when the Bible refers to the Spirit as Christ or the Spirit of Christ, it is talking about the Spirit after the glorification.

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