I have heard that the unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? How can I be sure I have not committed it?
“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,” Jesus said, “but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31, NIV). Forgiveness was available even for those who tortured and killed Jesus (Acts 3:13-20). What can be so horrible that it eliminates the possibility of God’s mercy and forgiveness from a person’s life?
Since God is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), individuals must close and lock the door to God’s love themselves. They do so by hardening their heart to God’s Spirit who seeks to draw them to Jesus for spiritual rebirth (John 3:5-8). This doesn’t happen in one impulsive moment, but by a lifetime of willful, deliberate rejection of the Spirit’s pursuit. This can create such spiritual and moral darkness that people call good evil (Isaiah 5:20) or attribute God’s works of deliverance through Jesus to Satan (Mark 3:22).
People who worry about the possibility of having committed this sin demonstrate by their concern they have not irrevocably hardened their hearts toward God.
Stephen Lim