Unpardonable Sin

The group finished Mark Chapter 3 today. Some translations say his family said ‘he is out of his mind,” other translations say his associates said “he is out of his mind.” We know that his mother knew who he was so, if his family, they must have been trying to protect him from the teachers of the law who were looking for a way to contain if not kill him. If his associates, they too were probably trying to protect him. 

Most of our time was spent on verse 29:  “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” Given that, if you believe that Christ was the son of God and died for your sins, your sins are forgiven; it is unsettling to learn that there is an unforgivable sin. Billy Graham said:

"The unpardonable sin involves the total and irrevocable rejection of Jesus Christ.  It is rejecting, completely and finally, the witness of the Holy Spirit, which declares that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who alone can save us from our sins. No one has committed the unpardonable sin who continues to be under the disturbing convicting and drawing power of the Holy Spirit."

We talked about all the times people say “Holy this” and “Holy that” in exasperation but concluded that Jesus was saying that to suggest that he was possessed by an unclean spirit was unpardonable. Anyone who believes that Christ was the son of God could not think that.

We also talked about Joseph being absent from these events. There is no specific record of his death but many scholars believe he died about the time Jesus started his ministry (Jesus is said to have been about thirty at the time) and is, therefore, not quoted in the New Testament. I does seem that if his father was alive and with him in his ministry that Jesus’ references to his father would have been somewhat confusing to his audiences.