Homeschool Doctrines of Faith | Part 1: The Unpardonable Sin

A Commission to Parents

The Family Heritage Developer is written to homeschool families that desire to raise up a godly seed in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It can easily be said that the earnest desire of Christian homeschooling parents is to see their children come to faith in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In light of that reality, I have a great desire to touch on some cornerstone issues related to faith and practice as your children learn of them in your home. My hope is to contribute a short series of articles on important Scriptural understandings about faith and practice in the Christian home. My desire is to help parents as they seek to bring, as it were, their little “children of Jacob” to God (Isa. 49:1-7). While these articles will be instructive in Biblical doctrine, my deepest desire is that they might practically assist parents in seeing the Scriptural targets they are aiming for as they teach their children about a broad range of subjects. I’d appreciate your prayer for me as I attempt to bring useful admonition.

My purpose is in full keeping with the Lord’s commission to parents in Deuteronomy 6:4ff. Note, there is but one doctrine:

“The LORD our God is one LORD…” But there are seven means of applying that doctrine. It’s the consistent application of our faith before our children that has the greatest capacity to influence them both now and throughout their adult life.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

1. And you shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

2. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

3. And you shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when you sit in thine house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

4. And you shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

5. And you shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. ...

6. You shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name. ... (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. ...

7. And when your son asks thee in time to come, saying, ‘What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?’ Then you shall say unto your son, ‘[Our condition was desperate when the Lord brought us out of bondage and into His marvelous light with a mighty hand]’” (Deu 6:4-9, 13, 15, 20-21 v21 paraphrased).

Eternal Security & Proverbial Prodigals

Today’s topic will focus on the eternal security of the true believer. The simplest teaching of Jesus on this topic is found in John 10. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one” (John 10:28-30). While no one contends that anyone can wrest one of the sheep in Jesus’s fold from His or His Father’s hands, it is common parlance to hear someone say, “No, but you can jump out of His hand!”

Recently, I encountered someone who was very disheartened because of their understanding of Hebrews 6:4-6. The text says, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Heb 6:4-6). This dear lamb took this passage to be a direct, literal condemnation because after making a profession of faith as a child, this child prodigally walked away from faith into deep sin as a teen; and therefore, by these verses, felt forever damned.

As a pastor I am very familiar with the controversy surrounding Hebrews 6 and other similar passages. I am also very much aware that these verses are often brutally used to speak harsh damnation over people who fall back into sin. Every Word of God is true, so that requires us to properly compare Scripture with Scripture to assure us that our first look at a passage doesn’t clash with other passages that are just as surely true. So let’s apply this passage to “you” – the proverbial prodigal who has come back to God.

Simply put, this passage does not apply to you! The evidence for this is found in the fact that you did “come back” to Christ and you were renewed to repentance. Your expressions of unbelief were based on ignorance, not arrogance – and that is the key to understanding these verses.

The best teaching on the possibility of an “unpardonable sin” comes from Jesus when he warned the Pharisees of such a sin in Matthew 12. “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 speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matt 12:31-32).

So here is that one sin that is unforgivable: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Every other sin, no matter how wretched, can be forgiven. What’s the difference? How can I blaspheme Jesus differently than the Holy Spirit? Hebrews 6 is the key to understanding that question.

Ignorant Unbelief v. Willing Ignorance

It is by the working of the Holy Spirit, that my understanding is opened so that I fully know that Jesus is the Christ – without a shadow of a doubt. When that happens, if I sin by the deliberate act of unbelief and draw back to perdition[1], there is no other sacrifice available for my sin. At this point of Spirit-given revelation, the ignorance of unbelief is gone, and unbelief is now an act of intentional perdition (i.e. damnable arrogance), an unforgivable blasphemy.

At the first glance of Matthew 12, the Pharisees appear to be blaspheming Jesus, (and Jesus said that’s a sin that can be forgiven). But the warning of Jesus indicates that they were at risk of the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Why did Jesus warn them that what looked like blasphemy against Him could actually be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

There is a significant likelihood that many of the chief priests and Pharisees, who knew the Scriptures thoroughly and had seen and heard of the irrefutable miracles of Christ, had in no uncertain terms been given enough spiritual revelation to have been fully convinced by the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Christ. However, in their damnable arrogance, they deliberately chose instead to attribute these works that they clearly “knew” were from the Holy Spirit to the devil. I call this, full faith perdition. Meaning that they blasphemed the Holy Spirit in a calculated manner to willingly deny the truth of that revelation.

The Apostle Peter calls this kind of unbelief “willing ignorance.” “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Pet 3:5-6).

It is only by the revelation of the Holy Spirit that a man can understand that Jesus is the Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 2 for an in-depth description of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the spirit of believers.) Since the natural man cannot receive anything from the Spirit of God, all of his thoughts, decisions, and blasphemies arise from his unbelief based on ignorance.

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness” (Eph 4:17-19).

Paul also attributed this kind of ignorance to himself, “[I was] a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did [it] ignorantly in unbelief” (1Tim 1:13).

As I said, the evidence or proof that “you” did not commit the unpardonable sin is that you were renewed to repentance – this is not possible to do for anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. Without the continued working of the Holy Spirit you would never have had any desire whatsoever to come back to God – and you did. “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have shewed toward His name” (Heb 6:10a).

One of the disciplines of the soul is to use our mind and spirit to properly recall the longer history and reality of our life’s journey. Such considerations can enable us to answer a clear conscience to God, confess our sin and walk in His faithful cleansing from our sin. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1John 1:7-10).

“But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, And He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb 10:32, 35-39).

Here are a few more helpful verses to give perspective on unbelief that arises from ignorance rather than from damnable arrogance.

“For [the Jews] being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3).

“[The high priest] can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity” (Heb 5:2).

“For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Peter 2:15).

Now off with you, and go! Draw near to God by your great High Priest, Jesus, Who ever lives to make intercession for you! (Hebrews 4:14-16; 6:19; 7:24-27; 8:1-2; 9:14-15, 24, 28; 10:19-23)

[1]Perdition in the Greek means ruin, loss, or utter destruction. It is synonymous with eternal damnation.