Truth Unites - What is the Unforgivable Sin?

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

Gavin Ortlund explains what Jesus meant by the unforgivable sin, showing from Scripture that it is not a momentary failure or doubt but a persistent, knowing rejection of Christ, and why this truth offers assurance, not fear, to believers.Truth Unites (https://truthunites.org) exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites, Visiting Professor of Historical Theology at Phoenix Seminary, and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville.SUPPORT:Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunitesFOLLOW:Website: https://truthunites.org/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truth.unites/X: https://x.com/gavinortlundFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/

Jesus taught that there is one sin that is unforgivable. He calls it an eternal sin. In this video, let's answer a simple question. What is that sin? And the goal is to provide the encouragement of the experience of the gospel, this joy in your heart, knowing that your sins are forgiven, you're restored to God, you're going to heaven. That can happen through the testimony of the Holy Spirit in your heart as you trust in Jesus. Let's talk about that and unpack this in in relation to this question. I'm going to start by putting up on screen a passage from Mark Chapter 3, where Jesus defines the unforgivable sin as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. He says, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,

but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. So what does that mean to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit? Well, let's unpack this, and we want to look at the context of this passage, because in both Matthew and Mark, this teaching of Christ comes right on the heels of an exorcism, and then it's given in response to how people are interpreting that exorcism. So if we put up Matthew's version on the screen, you can see the words, therefore I tell you, emboldened in verse 31 there. So that tells us right away. We want to go back to verse 30, verse 29, and look at whatever is being said here, because blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is cast as the logical implication of previous teaching.

And then in Mark's version, we're given at the end of this teaching an explanatory gloss that Mark himself provides. For they were saying, that's the Pharisees, he, that's Jesus, has an unclean spirit. So Mark gives us this as an explanation for why Jesus gives this teaching. And what he's referencing is the Pharisees' previous statement that Jesus is demon-possessed. Yes, that's what they were saying. Let's double-click on this and unpack this and work through this. Essentially what happens is this. Jesus casts out a demon from a blind and mute man, according to Matthew 12, so this man can now speak and see. But the Pharisees respond by attributing this to Beelzebub, as you can see in red on screen here. And they're basically, that's, by the way, another name for Satan. And Jesus is then responding to that error, the misattribution of an exorcism to Satan with his famous teaching that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. And the climactic section of that teaching is about the unforgivable sin.

By the way, if you're wondering about the name Beelzebub, I have a video on Satan, and one of the questions I talk about in that video is the different names of Satan. So you can see that video to unpack that, but just suffice to say here, we're talking about Satan. And in Mark's account, the Pharisees not only say that Jesus casts out demons by Beelzeb's power, they say he's possessed by Beelzebub. You can see that in red on the screen as well. And that is why Mark is giving this explanatory gloss to say, for they were saying he has an unclean spirit. The they is the Pharisees.

So yeah, the Pharisees said Jesus was demon-possessed. So blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was referenced in response to this episode, the Pharisees misattributing an exorcism to Satan's power. And so what I'd like to do is make a proposal that what is involved in the the unforgivable sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is a rejection of the work of Christ, but it is not a rejection of the work of Christ by a sincere miscalculation. Like you, you know, for example, you might see an exorcism, but genuinely, sincerely doubt whether it's a genuine exorcism.

And then six hours later, you change your mind. You say, no, I think that actually was a real exorcism, but you're seeking the truth about it. That's not what we're talking about here. rather blasphemy of the Holy Spirit involves a persistent, stubborn, and knowing rejection of the work of Christ. Now let me unpack why I put those three emboldened adjectives on screen, and we'll work through this with three observations. Number one, the people who are committing this error of blaspheming the Holy Spirit are not just misguided. And in the broader context of the Gospels, we see the Pharisees as persistent and stubborn.

and knowing in their rejection of Christ and His work. In other words, it's not as though the Pharisees love Jesus in Mark 1 and 2 and 4, but kind of lapse into the sin in view here in Mark 3, or even that they're just trying to make up their mind in other parts of Mark. Rather, they persistently, stubbornly, and knowingly reject their own Messiah, even in the face of undeniable miracles, even unto crucifixion, which they're plotting and demanding. To get a sense of their state of heart, just look back a few verses in Mark 3.

This is grievous to think of Jesus here, and he's responding, not grievous about what Jesus is doing, but what he's responding to and what must have been going on in their hearts, because it says he looked at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart. The context here is they're testing him to see if he'll perform a miracle by hither, healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. So he's angry, and Jesus is grieved. he's frustrated, you know, and how hard-hearted they are. The very next verse says they went out and began to plot on how to destroy him.

So it's very clear that the Pharisees are stubborn and hard-hearted, and they're plotting and scheming for a long stretch of time. This is only in Mark chapter 3, relatively early in Jesus' public ministry. So this is not a mere miscalation, as though they think they're doing the right thing. They're stubbornly and persistently opposing Christ, and it's not a sincere error either. In John 11, when the Pharisees are plotting against Christ, it's very clear that they know he performs miracles.

You can read through this passage on screen and see what they're saying. They're basically saying, you know, what do we do? This guy is doing miracles, and if we allow this, then we're going to lose our place. The Pharisees are threatened by Jesus, precisely because they know he's legitimately doing miracles. This is perhaps why John writes earlier in John chapter 3, the light is coming to the world and people love the darkness rather than the light. So the Pharisees are rejecting Jesus, not because they're misinterpreting what the light is,

but because they love the dark. This helps us understand the unforgivable sin, to remember that the actions that occasioned this teaching involve this kind of high-handed sin, persistent, stubborn, knowing rejection of Christ. Second observation involves the word blasphemy. This can really help us because Jesus doesn't say that sin against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. He says blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. And blasphemy refers to a particular high-handed kind of sin. It often involves shocking and or profane and or sacrilegious actions or speech. In Brandt Petra's book, Jesus and Divine Christology,

helpful book. He catalogs various sins that were regarded as blasphemy in first century Jewish thought. For example, cursing the name of God or desecrating the temple. There's various other examples. The kind of blasphemy Jesus was accused of was claiming to be God, stepping into the place of God. But what is clear is that blasphemy is a particularly aggravated and egregious kind of sin. This isn't something you accidentally lapse into. Okay, so don't, in your mind, as you're thinking about this sin, don't think of someone who accidentally steps over the line, and a couple of their toes barely cross over and transgress a boundary. Think of someone who's shaking their fist at the light. But thirdly, it's not just blasphemy in general, it's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

In Mark's account, the contrast is, all blasphemies will be forgiven, but not this kind of blasphemy. Blasphemy against the spirit. And in both Matthew and Luke, you see the contrast between speaking against the son of man, that's Jesus, versus speaking against or blaspheming the Spirit. And that also highlights the seriousness of this sin, because whatever the unforgivable sin is, it's a greater sin than speaking against Jesus himself. Now, the reason for that is not that the Holy Spirit is more divine or more worthy than the Son of God. both the Spirit and the Son are equally God, equally worthy of honor. The distinction here has to do with the work of the Holy Spirit as the person in the Godhead

who internalizes the work of the gospel in our hearts. Think of it like this. You could be one of the soldiers at the crucifixion of Jesus and see this public event occurring. You're looking over there and you see Jesus or just a bystander, and you could reject Christ, you could be one of those mocking him. but then subsequently you change your mind. You come to your senses. The Holy Spirit comes and convicts you of that sin,

and you repent of that, and you can be forgiven of that. But when the Holy Spirit comes and convicts you and opens your eyes and you reject him, the very one who is internalizing the work of Christ in your heart. Now you're rejecting the work of Christ himself, ultimately expressed in the gospel. Here's how Don Carson puts this. The first sin, blasphemy against the Son of man, is rejection of the truth of the gospel, but there may be repentance and forgiveness for that, where the second sin, blasphemy against the

spirit, is rejection of the same truth in full awareness that that is exactly what one is doing, thoughtfully, willfully, and self-consciously rejecting the work of the Spirit, even though there is no other explanation of Jesus' exorcisms than that. So as a point of contrast, we can consider the pre-conversion sins of the Apostle Paul. This is very serious, and he himself refers to it as blasphemy. In 1. Timothy 113, he says, I was formerly a blasphemer, and he was persecuting killing Christians, supporting the killing of Christians, but he says, I acted in ignorance. I acted ignorantly in unbelief.

So that could classify as a blasphemy against the son of man, a terrible sin. but one done in ignorance and therefore ultimately forgivable upon repentance. But blasphemy against the spirit is a kind of knowing, settled rejection of his testimony of the gospel in your life. And so the unforgivable sin then could maybe have some parallel to the spiritual realities of Hebrews 10, where there's a warning about going on deliberately sinning after we've received the knowledge of the truth. And the author is warning us.

There's no sacrifice for sins, if that's a warning. where you go. So if we had to define the unforgivable sin, I think we're somewhere in the ballpark to speak of it as something like a persistent, stubborn, and knowing rejection of the work of Christ, which is ultimately and decisively offered to us in the gospel. The gospel is the good news that anyone can be forgiven of their sins and restored to God through Christ's death and resurrection as they repent and believe. So what do we conclude from all this? Pastoral conclusion of the video, short and sweet. Do we see the sin of blasphemy of the spirit, in the world today. Yes, and we should heed the warning of Christ here before we offer gospel

comfort, there are people who so hate God that they willfully misattribute the work of the gospel to evil. That can happen in or out of the church, and there is nothing more grievous to behold. People who persistently, stubbornly, and knowingly reject Christ and his work like the Pharisees, shaking their fist at God, clinging to the darkness and hating the light. Yes, that happens. And is there anything more heart-shattering than to consider that? And this passage should warn us to soften our heart before God. But here's the pastoral encouragement because I know a lot of Christians are afraid they have committed the unforgivable sin. And I'd like to start by saying, if you're constantly anxious about whether you have committed this sin, that very anxiety is a clue that

you probably haven't. Okay, that doesn't mean you haven't committed any sins that need to be forgiven, but it means they're not the unforgivable sin because the unforgivable sin is this kind of settled, knowing, persistent, stubborn rejection of the work of Christ. And the very fact that you're worried about whether you have committed that sin indicates you're in a very different frame of heart. Now, we're not downplaying other kinds of sin here. So saying something is forgivable doesn't mean it's no big deal. The sins that Paul was forgiven of, when he calls himself a blasphemer, those are real sins. And when we repent of sins, you might need to make amends. You might need to apologize publicly to people if you've maligned them and sinned against them or you might need to

pay them back if you've stolen from them. So we need to make restitution for our sins. We need to repent of them. But forgivable sin is totally different than the unforgivable sin. And what I want to end with to offer hope through this video is what is so remarkable about this passage is not how restrictive it is about the forgiveness of God, but how bounteous and full it is. And so I'll just read this again and invite the words of Christ to fall upon your heart, whatever you may be coming from as you watch this video, all sins will be forgiven the children of man and whatever blasphemies they utter. You see, in the contrast Jesus is giving here, it's like he's saying you can be forgiven of anything so long as you don't reject Christ's offer of forgiveness. So let me say this pastorly to you,

whoever you are watching this video, to remind us, because we Christians need to be reminded of this all the time, or maybe we've never heard this before, the blood of Jesus is of infinite power. It can forgive us of all sins. And the testimony of the Holy Spirit in your heart can give a reassurance. It can be like the very whisper of God, like the sun rising in your heart, telling you, yes, you actually, even you are forgiven. The blood of Jesus is sufficient for you. You're not the sole exception in the history of humanity that you're going to repent and believe

in the gospel and somehow what God has promised won't work for you and you'll slip through the cracks. No, you can take it to the bank, you can count on it, that when Jesus says, all things will be forgiven, you just have to receive the work of Christ into your life and repent of those things, that will work for you. And so if we have hesitations, as we often do, and we feel like, but my sins are big sins, my sins are bad sins. Again, remember the imagery Jesus gives. All sins will be forgiven. or maybe here's another helpful image that can apply this to our hearts. Isaiah 118, though your sins are scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

I like this color imagery here to convey the work of the gospel. I'll put up a picture with some different shades of red, and the pastoral point from this text is that we should never say, well, my sins are scarlet or crimson, so they can't be made white as snow. maybe if my sins were light red, like a rose-colored form of red or a pinkish kind of red, then they could be forgiven, but not the scarlet or crimson sins. No, under the blood of Christ, any shade of red goes to pure white. All, as Jesus says, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, whatever blasphemies they utter. The one thing that can send you to hell is rejecting

Christ, being too proud to receive his forgiveness in your life. And so to give you, give a pastoral encouragement, if you ever find yourself wondering, can God forgive even me? The moment of faith is when your heart awakens to this reality that that's not an external abstraction for other people out there in general. That's for me. That's personal to my heart, to my pain, to my suffering, to my longing and anguish, to me on a Tuesday or me on a Thursday. That's personal. The hope of the gospel is from my heart and for yours. And so if you're wondering, Can God forgive you and love you? The answer is yes.

You're not beyond hope, and as we soften our heart and receive the work of the gospel, yield to him in our lives, turn away from those sins, it never gets old. I never get tired of saying it. From crimson and scarlet to white as wool, white as snow. That's what the gospel does for you. Now, if you're a follower of Jesus and you struggle to live in light of this, a further topic that might be edifying for you and helpful is Christ's intercession. I have a video on that. I'll also link to that in the video description. That might be a good follow-up video on this to cement this even more in our hearts.

Thanks for watching, everybody. May the Lord bless you.