“A Chance To Repent”

Sunday, January 26, 2014

One of our "brothers" has been pushing this issue.  After discussing the sin of suicide, he brought up the denial of the Holy Spirit (as in Matthew’s account of Jesus ridding demons) as the only thing that cannot be forgiven.  Maybe you can bring up some good points that I may have overlooked about this passage.

Sincerely,
Doctrinally Debating

Dear Doctrinally Debating,

John says that there is a sin that leads to death – that sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit (Mk 3:29).  Any sin can be repented of and forgiven (1 Jn 1:9)… except for the sin against the Holy Spirit.  Now, let’s explain what that sin is, and then we will connect it to the suicide issue.

When Jesus says that any sin will be forgiven except for someone blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Mk 3:28-30), He said it to the crowd that accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan (Mk 3:23).  That crowd could have been forgiven of any sin, but instead they rejected the miracles that testified that Jesus was from God.  Contrast that crowd’s attitude with Nicodemus’ attitude.  Nicodemus understood that the only way that someone could perform a miracle was if God was with him (Jhn 3:2).  When that crowd rejected the evidence that the Holy Spirit provided (in this case, the miracles), they rejected any chance to receive the forgiveness found in Jesus’ teachings.  When we reject the truth of God (the Bible), we reject the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit’s primary job is to bring the truth of the gospel to mankind (see the post “What the Holy Spirit Does” for more details).  Someone blasphemes the Holy Spirit by rejecting the truth that the Holy Spirit sent us in the Bible.  Any sin can be forgiven if we will turn to God’s Word and obey it (Rom 10:17, Heb 5:9), but there is absolutely no hope for someone if he or she will not accept the Holy Spirit’s Bible.

Which brings us to the suicide issue – suicide is murder, self-murder, and is therefore very clearly a sin (Rev 21:8).  It is a willful act of disobedience against God without opportunity for repentance.  The Holy Spirit teaches against murder, and when someone commits suicide they are rejecting God’s teachings on the subject of life – without opportunity to repent. The final judgment belongs to God (Heb 12:23), but we certainly wouldn’t want to face that judgment with our own blood on our hands.

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