Unforgiveable Sin

Dear Victorious,

The Bible speaks of unforgivable sin. I don't understand that. What if a Christian committed an unforgivable sin?

Worried

Dear Worried,

A common understanding of the one and only sin which God is not willing to forgive is that of denying Him. So the thing about unforgivable sin is that it is only unforgivable because it doesn't want to be forgiven. Every other sin that man (or woman) can commit is capable of wanting to be forgiven. But the sin of blasphemy against the holy spirit denies the need for forgiveness from a higher power than mankind himself. And it is the only sin which has such a characteristic.

Sometimes people worry that they may have committed the unforgivable sin. If it matters to you that the sin be forgiven by God, then you haven't committed the unforgivable sin. It is that simple. On the other hand, if you have sin which you don't believe needs to be forgiven - or forgiven by God, then you probably have something to worry about!