I am teaching a junior high Sunday school class where the question came up, "Is there an unforgivable sin?" How would you respond?
Questions Listed Under Sin
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Any sin of which a person does not repent is not forgiven. Christ paid for that sin, but without faith the person does not benefit from that payment.
But the term "unforgiveable sin" refers to the sin against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:22-32). The reason this sin is unforgiveable is that it is a permanent, malicious rejection of the Holy Spirit's testimony to Christ. A person who is concerned about sin and who has a troubled conscience has not committed this sin.
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In the beginning, in the garden, there was no sin. We all know what happens next. I struggle with why it happened. The LORD created heaven and earth, the garden and Adam and Eve. Why did he allow the serpent into the garden? Did he know we would fall into sin? I know the Bible doesn't address this, but I really wonder...
Invariably, when thinking people read the Bible, certain questions come to mind. Your question is one of them. You have already given the primary response to your own question: "I know the Bible doesn't address this . . . ." Since God has not chosen to satisfy our curiosity, we can only enter the less-than-fully-satisfying world of speculative theology -- or we can train ourselves to be content with the limits God has placed on our understanding of what happened and why. I invite and encourage contentment for you as well as for myself.
We believe and teach that God knows all things perfectly and intuitively (not partially or progressively through study or observation), including what we call future events. So he knew mankind would fall into sin through the fall of Adam and Eve. Yet he allowed this to happen just as he had allowed Satan and the evil angels to rebel and sin against him. Therefore questions like "Why?" come to mind. Here is one way of articulating the question and the kind of answer we can give:
How could God permit sin to enter the world without violating his wisdom?
- We really don’t have a fully satisfying answer. We must be content with the limitations of divine revelation.
- We affirm and confess God’s wisdom (and love) and the entrance of sin against his will at the same time.
- We see the fullest expression of wisdom in God’s plan of salvation centered in and accomplished by Jesus Christ.
- We believe that sin ultimately must serve God’s glory (but not that God wanted sin to enter the world for this purpose).
Please note that in addition to admitting our ignorance, we refrain from making up answers but consciously and deliberately speak of things that we DO know, especially the solution to sin, namely, salvation centered in Jesus Christ.
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In trying to define sin, I think I’m correct when I say it is the disobedience of God’s commandments. The first sin was when Adam and Eve ate from the tree in the Garden of Eden after God gave specific instructions not to eat its fruit. My question is what happened between the time of the Garden of Eden until the Ten Commandments were given. What were considered sins?
Specific sins, of course, could not be charged against someone where there was no law, but they had the natural knowledge of the law. Cain's murder and his faithless sacrifices were charged against him, as were the sins of the people who died in the Flood. Noah and Enoch preached against those sins.
The natural knowledge of the law was also reflected in the many law codes which nations had before the time of Moses, such as the Code of Hammurabi. Already at the time of the Flood, people were aware of the ceremonial distinction of clean and unclean animals. So though they did not have a divinely inspired written code until the time of Moses, there were many expressions of natural law in the written codes of the nations.
Sinners were held accountable for the natural laws which they knew and sinned against nevertheless. This is still true today for people who do not know the Bible. Romans 2 talks about this.
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I have been involved with Internet pornography for several years. I feel ashamed and guilty and I pray to God for help, but I keep falling back into it. This sin weighs me down, and I'm worried about my salvation. What can I do?
We thank you for your question because it certainly shows us the danger of pornography as an addictive agent. I don't know if you are addicted to it, but it seems to be the case because of the way you describe your continued use of pornography. Now Satan is not only tempting you with pornography, but has combined your pornography use with your lifelong doubts about your salvation.
Get help now! I would suggest that you go to a Christian counselor who specializes in addictions. Work with an accountability partner to overcome your use of pornography.
Now, let's talk about your salvation. The addiction does not help the situation at all. It gives you every reason to doubt that God could love a sinner like you.
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, NIV). Cling to these passages. Ask yourself, "How many people did Christ die for to reconcile them to God?" The answer is "all." Ask yourself, "Why you think that you should be left out and are not be one of the people for whom Christ died?" He died for all people. You are not left out. He loved the woman at the well in Samaria with her five husbands and her live-in boyfriend. He loved the woman caught in adultery. St. Paul, inspired by God, told the Corinthian congregation to forgive the repentant man who was guilty of incest. God is in the business of forgiveness and Jesus is his agent. He has forgiven you and all people. Jesus went to the cross to pay for your sins of pornography also.
Trust in your Jesus, not in your commitment to him. Trust in his commitment to you. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39, NIV). -
My boyfriend and I intend to get married but we are having an issue in our relationship regarding sex. We have both made the mistake of having premarital sex in past relationships, even in ours, but now we want to abstain until marriage. Can we be forgiven for our previous sexual sins?
You ask about forgiveness for your sins of premarital sex. Listen to what God tell you in his Word. In 1 John 1:9 it says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." These words were not just written for some people who lived 2,000 years ago. They were also written for you. From what you say, I am assuming you have confessed your sins to God. As this passage says, God has forgiven your sins. Those sexual sins you committed in previous relationships. God has forgiven them. Those sexual sins you and your present boyfriend have committed, God has forgiven them.
Listen to another passage. 1 Peter 3:18 states, "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." This passage explains the reason why God has forgiven your sins. It is because of Christ. Notice that it says Christ died for sins once for all. It is an accomplished fact. When Jesus suffered his passion and death, he did it for your sins. When he was walking to Calvary he was carrying the load of your sins. When he was nailed to the cross, he was put there for your sexual sins. When he was forsaken by God in the darkness of that Friday afternoon, he was forsaken for your sinful sexual thoughts that led up to your sinful sexual actions. Christ paid for them all. You are forgiven.
Listen to another passage. In John 8 we have the account of some Pharisees bringing to Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus did not condemn her. He knew she was penitent. He forgave her. But as he sent her away he told her, "Go now and leave your life of sin." This is something Jesus also says to you. You have repented of your sexual sins. As a fruit of repentence, avoid such sins in the future.
It appears you already have a good start on avoiding sexual sins with your boyfriend. But you wonder, "Exactly what is a sexual sin? How far can I go with my boyfriend in showing affection? How far is too far?" God's Word does not provide a list of dos and don'ts when it comes to the relationship between a man and a woman who are dating. You will have to use your Christian judgment. Avoiding times when you are alone with your boyfriend and may be tempted to have sex would be wise.
Remember—Christ has paid the price of all your sins. He did this because he loves you and your boyfriend. He wants you to be with him in heaven, which leads to another passage. Romans 12:1 tells us, "In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship." Remember who you are—one of God's children. Remember who Christ is—the one who died that you might live for him now here on earth and live with him forever in heaven. -
I pray for forgiveness every day and feel guilty if I do something wrong. What I don't understand is if we are born with original sin, why should we feel guilty about sinning since we can't help it?
Thank you for your question. You are right that it may not seem fair that we are guilty if we can't help but sin. Yet the fact is that we are guilty and deserve eternal punishment because God says so. In his Word he points out that he actually holds us accountable for what our first parents, Adam and Eve, did in the garden of Eden. This is called imputed guilt (Romans 5:12-19). God credited the guilt of Adam's sin to every human being. What is more, our first parents have also passed down to us a sinful condition called inherited or original sin (Psalm 51:5). This means that we do sinful things as did our parents. So we are guilty because we have both the guilt and the sinful condition of Adam and Eve.
The good news is that God also credits what his Son, Jesus Christ, did for us to our account. This is called imputed righteousness. And that really isn't fair either. We are declared sinless for something that someone else did. Yet that is the beauty of the gospel. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). God offers this forgiveness of sins to all people. He tells us, "It's yours. Take it." It is through faith in Christ as our Savior that we make this gift our own.
You also speak about feeling guilty for what you have done. The important thing isn't how guilty we feel over our sins. The key is to recognize that we are guilty before God but then also to trust that through Christ God has set us free. He has removed the guilt of our sin. Therefore we don't have to feel guilty, because we are not. -
I am very concerned for my salvation. I know that Jesus died on the cross to forgive us our sins, however, many years ago I committed adultery and got a divorce. I fear that breaking one of God's Ten Commandments is a sin punishable by damnation to hell. Would God forgive me for this sin?
You are correct in some of the things you say or imply: Yes, adultery is a sin against the Ten Commandments; and, yes, like any and all other sins it is punishable by damnation in hell. It seems that you understand these truths and have taken them seriously. I am thankful for that.
You are, however, not enjoying other truths clearly revealed in the Bible for us all. While you say you know that "Jesus died on the cross to forgive us our sins," your strong feelings seem to deny that truth. On the one hand you seem to be saying, "Jesus died for me to forgive my sins," but at the same time you ask, "Would God forgive me for this sin [adultery]?" So you end up in effect contradicting God and being tormented with a terribly burdened conscience, a guilty conscience.
I have exceedingly good news for you. Your sin of adultery (and the subsequent divorce if that is also traceable to your sins) has already been forgiven. It was forgiven 2,000 years ago when the penalty for it was paid in full by Jesus Christ. He did this for you as part of a sinful world. The problem you are wrestling with is that somehow, and for reasons I do not know, you consider yourself an exception to the rest of us forgiven sinners. But you are not. Jesus Christ is your Savior from sin and guilt and eternal damnation.
This is a truth not to be argued, debated, or doubted. It is a truth to be trusted, a promise to be received. And your and my gracious, loving God leads us to trust this good news as we hear, read, or in any other way receive the message. "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). So I counsel you to stop worrying about your sin, stop focusing on your burdened conscience and feeling of guilt, and go back to focusing on the objective and unchanging (and unchangeable) Word of God that declares you forgiven through Jesus Christ and his work for you.
I also strongly urge you to sit down with one of our pastors and allow him to give you counsel that will properly reflect his personal knowledge of you and allow you to ask questions and share pertinent information that is not possible in this e-mail format.
Rich blessings to you as you do this!
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Do confessional Lutherans classify sins as mortal and venial as Catholics do? If so, what is the difference and why is it important? Is there a scriptural basis for this classification of sin?
The Catholic church claims that some sins are mortal (that is, damning) by their very nature. That would be all sins that are really bad like murder, stealing a lot of money, etc. The Catholic church says these sins can only be forgiven through the sacrament of confession and the other sacraments of the church. Other sins by their very nature are not considered bad enough to be damning. They are called venial (or, less offensive, excusable).
This is wrong. We confess with Scripture that every sin is by its very nature damning (Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23; 1 John 3:15). It does not matter whether the amount of money stolen is small or large, whether the murder attempt succeeds or fails. Every sin of the unbeliever and the impenitent is damning by its very nature, regardless of whether people consider it to be big or small. On the other hand, every sin of the repentent believer is forgiven, whether it is a careless word or a heinous crime (1 John 1:9). This forgiveness depends on repentance and faith in Christ whose blood purifies us from all sin (1 John 2:1-2), but does not depend on confession to a priest. The Catholic view of forgiveness is based on the false premise that there is a greater power of forgiveness in sacramental confession to a priest.
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As a lifelong Christian I understand that God grants us full pardon for our sins when we repent, but what happens when we repeat the same sins over and over again? I am terrified that I am living a life of unrepented sin, and that I'll end up going to hell. I pray to God for forgiveness, but I keep repeating the same old sins anyway.
To give you specific help, the kind of help you should receive, I would need to know you much better, be able to share a variety of questions and answers with you to help with a diagnosis, and should be able to speak with you in person as I offer answers and counsel. All I can do now is address your concerns in a general way. I invite and encourage you to sit down with your pastor, express to him your questions and concerns, and allow him to address them more suitably.
Not all repeated and persistent sins in the life of a Christian are the result of impenitence. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 7:14-25, describes a lifestyle that is continuously marked by unintended yet real sins stemming from the influence of the sinful nature he had just as we have. This was not from an absence of a repentant lifestyle. Some sins, including some that stem in part from deeply ingrained bad habits and reflect in part personal histories and cultural biases, often grip people strongly. We daily sin much and daily look to our gracious God for forgiveness. The truths of 1 John 1:8-10 apply to us all, even when the Lord grants us the gift of godly repentance. Over the centuries the church has used terms like "sins of weakness" or "sins of ignorance" to indicate that conscious, deliberate, or willful sinning is not what we're talking about here.
And, yes, there are certain kinds of sin that may best be described as occupying a gray area that challenges us to offer a firm definition. Sins like persistent speeding, masturbating against conscience, or sinning against our neighbor by gossiping are normally not done instantaneously or in a moment. They take time, and each event involves a succession of decisions on one's part to continue the activity once begun. Perhaps you are not speaking of sins of weakness, but you may be flirting with a serious and grievous lifestyle of deliberate sin—despite your claim of really being sorry or really wanting to reject and turn from such sins. You may be playing a kind of game with yourself, one flowing from a lack of self-discipline and perhaps a spirit of defeatism or pessimism. Maybe you really do not trust the Holy Spirit to grant you renewal and newness of life along with the free and full forgiveness of sins. You may be trifling with grace. Please note the "perhaps," and "maybe" words here—I cannot diagnose well from this distance. But you must face the issue. Do not neglect to discuss it with a qualified Christian counselor in person.
Ultimately, the important thing is not coming up with improved definitions for sins and possible classifications. These won't change attitudes or behavior patterns. What counts is our growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ, growing also in our holy hatred of any and all sin, and our turning from sin and toward Christ continuously as lifestyle. These are gifts of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. Focusing on terminology will not bring that about. Listen to your God-given conscience and even more to your Lord who guides you into newness of heart and life.
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I have a friend who is using the story of Jericho to prove that God condones murder and is therefore imperfect. My friend states that because God told the Israelites to take over the city, he is saying that the murdering of these "innocent" people was okay, and therefore murdering of any sinner is all right. I am unsure what to reply to him. Could you give me some feedback?
In Scripture, "murder" means "unjustly to deprive someone of life." As C. S. Lewis wisely put it, all killing isn't "murder" any more than all sex is adultery.
God is the giver of life, and it is up to God to decide when life will end (Job 1:21). We don't charge God with murder every time a person dies. Usually God carries out his decision to end a life directly. He may, however, carry out that decision through his representatives--for example, the government (Romans 13:1-5).
You might also ask your friend what makes him/her so sure that the inhabitants of Jericho were "innocent." The Bible paints a very different picture of the culture and lifestyle of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan (e.g. Deuteronomy 18:9-12).
At the time of the conquest of that land by Israel, God had decided that the lives of the inhabitants of Jericho should end, and that is God's prerogative. Israel was simply acting as God's representative--as the means that God used to carry out his decision.
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