See also
- Anantarika-karma
- Lincoln's House Divided Speech references the episode in Matthew Chapter 12 and Mark Chapter 3.
- Seven deadly sins
- Catholic hamartiology
In Christian hamartiology, eternal sin, the unforgivable sin, unpardonable sin, or ultimate sin is the sin which will not be forgiven by God. One eternal or unforgivable sin (blasphemy against the Holy Spirit), also known as the sin unto death, is specified in several passages of the Synoptic Gospels, including Mark 3:28–29, [1] Matthew 12:31–32, [2] and Luke 12:10, [3] as well as other New Testament passages including Hebrews 6:4–6, [4] Hebrews 10:26–31, [5] and 1 John 5:16. [6] [7] [8]
The unforgivable sin is interpreted by Christian theologians in various ways, although they generally agree that one who has committed the sin is no longer able to repent, and so one who is fearful that one has committed it has not done so. [9] [10]
Several passages in the New Testament are frequently interpreted as referring to the unforgivable sin:
The importance of prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17: [17] "pray without ceasing") and humility (Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner") in Christianity is reflected by an Orthodox catechism as follows: [18]
Jesus Christ called the Holy Spirit "Spirit of Truth" (John 14:17; [19] 15:26; [20] John 16:13) [21] and warned us, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men" (Matthew 12:31). [22]
"Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" is conscious and hardened opposition to the truth, "because the Spirit is truth" (1 John 5:6). [23] Conscious and hardened resistance to the truth leads man away from humility and repentance, and without repentance, there can be no forgiveness. That is why the sin of blasphemy against the Spirit cannot be forgiven since one who does not acknowledge his sin does not seek to have it forgiven.
— Serafim Alexivich Slobodskoy, The Eighth Article of the Creed
The Church Fathers considered additional interpretations other than it being to attribute the Holy Spirit's works to Satan with Augustine of Hippo calling it one of the more difficult passages of Scripture. [24] Thomas Aquinas summarized the Church Fathers' treatments and proposed three possible explanations:
In the context of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, blasphemy against the Spirit is the sin of attributing to Satan what is the work of the Spirit of God, such as when the Pharisees earlier accused Jesus of driving out demons only by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. [26] The Catholic Encyclopedia cites Matthew 12:22–32; Mark 3:22–30; Luke 12:10 (cf. 11:14–23) and gives one definition of "the unforgivable sin"—or sin against the Holy Ghost—as ″to sin against the Holy Ghost is to confound Him with the spirit of evil, it is to deny, from pure malice, the Divine character of works manifestly Divine.″ The article further states that "sin against the Son of Man" may be forgiven because it is committed against the human person of Christ, which veils the Divine with a "humble and lowly appearance," and therefore such sin is excusable because it is committed through "man's ignorance and misunderstanding." [25]
According to the Council of Trent, referencing Ambrose's Concerning Repentance, the Church believes there is no offence, however serious, that cannot be taken away by Baptism, or absolved from in the Confessional—that no one, however wicked and guilty, may not confidently hope for forgiveness. [27] [28]
Thomas Aquinas lists, or responds to, six sins that go against the Holy Spirit: [29] [30]
Thomas Aquinas explains that the unforgeability of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means that it removes the entrance to these means of salvation; however, it cannot hinder God in taking away this obstacle by way of a miracle. [32] [ full citation needed ]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, while no sin is absolutely "unforgivable", some sins represent a deliberate refusal to repent and accept the infinite mercy of God; a person committing such a sin refuses God's forgiveness, which can lead to self-condemnation to Hell. [33] In other words, one damns oneself by final impenitence (refusal to repent), as taught by John Paul II: [34]
The images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted... hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God... "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called 'hell'"... "Eternal damnation", therefore, is not attributed to God's initiative because in his merciful love he can only desire the salvation of the beings he created. In reality, it is the creature who closes himself to his love. Damnation consists precisely in definitive separation from God, freely chosen by the human person and confirmed with death that seals his choice for ever. God's judgement ratifies this state.
The Catechism says that Christ desires "the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin." [35] As did St Augustine, [36] the Catholic Church today teaches that only dying unrepentant for one's sins is the only unforgivable sin. [37] [38] [39] [40] In Dominum et vivificantem , Pope John Paul II writes "According to such an exegesis, 'blasphemy' does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross", and "If Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven either in this life or in the next, it is because this "non-forgiveness" is linked, as to its cause, to "non-repentance," in other words to the radical refusal to be converted. This means the refusal to come to the sources of Redemption, which nevertheless remain "always" open in the economy of salvation in which the mission of the Holy Spirit is accomplished." [41]
John Calvin, the founder of the Reformed tradition of Christianity (which includes the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Reformed Anglican denominations) wrote:
I say, therefore, that he sins against the Holy Spirit who, while so constrained by the power of divine truth that he cannot plead ignorance, yet deliberately resists, and that merely for the sake of resisting. [42]
The teaching of Jacob Arminius defined the unforgivable sin as "the rejection and refusing of Jesus Christ through determined malice and hatred against Christ". However, Arminius differed with Calvin in believing that sin could be committed by believers, a conclusion he reached through his interpretation of Hebrews 6:4–6. [43] [9]
John Wesley, the father of the Methodist tradition, discussed the unforgivable sin in a sermon titled A Call to Backsliders, in which he wrote that "that this blasphemy is absolutely unpardonable; and that, consequently, for those who have been guilty of this, God 'will be no more entreated'." [7] A prominent Methodist catechism, "A Catechism on the Christian Religion: The Doctrines of Christianity with Special Emphasis on Wesleyan Concepts" states: [44]
The unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy includes ridicule and attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil. [44]
This Wesleyan–Arminian interpretation of the unforgivable sin includes the deliberate labeling of good as evil, as rejecting the conviction of the Holy Spirit, of publicly attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, and attributing the work of Jesus to Satan. The United Methodist Church, a Methodist connexion, thus teaches:
that the penalty of eternal separation from God with no hope of return applies in scripture only in two cases—either, as in Hebrews 6 and 10, to persons who willfully, publicly and explicitly reject Jesus as Savior after having confessed him, or, as in the gospels, to those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit by declaring that the works of Jesus were the works of the Evil one. [45]
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also nicknamed Mormons, have a similar understanding of eternal sin. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, said in the King Follett discourse:
All sins shall be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for Jesus will save all except the sons of perdition. What must a man do to commit the unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and know God, and then sin against him. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it; and from that time he begins to be an enemy. [46]
Church apostle and later President of the Church, Spencer W. Kimball, stated that "the sin against the Holy Ghost requires such knowledge that it is manifestly impossible for the rank and file [of the church] to commit such a sin". [47]
According to Southern Baptist pastor Billy Graham, continuing to reject Jesus is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. [48]
A very similar, although not identical, parallel to Matthew 12:31–32 can be found in the Avot of Rabbi Natan:
But someone who profanes the heavenly Name has no possibility of repenting and waiting for forgiveness. Suffering will not cleanse him. Yom Kippur will not atone for him. They are all held over until death comes and cleanses him. This is what is meant by "This sin will not be forgiven until you die". [49]
However, Talmudic sources [50] in several places qualify the above and similar statements and explain it to mean only that repentance is made more difficult because of the severity of such a sin. The Talmud's golden rule is that the gates of repentance are never, ever closed and, to quote Maimonides, [51] "even if one is a heretic his whole life and repents on his dying day, his penitence is accepted."
In the Quran, shirk is an unpardonable sin: [52]
God does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives anything less than that to whomever He wills. Whoever associates anything with God has devised a monstrous sin... God will not forgive that partners be associated with Him; but will forgive anything less than that, to whomever He wills. Anyone who ascribes partners to God has strayed into far error.
— Quran 4:48, 116
One who persists in shirk without repenting at death is doomed to eternal damnation in Jahannam. [53] Shirk includes polytheism, such as believing Jesus is God or taking rabbis as one's lords in derogation to God.(Quran 9:30)
Justificatio sola fide, meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, from the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian and Anabaptist churches. The doctrine asserts that it is on the basis of faith alone that believers are made right of sin ; and not on the basis of what Paul the Apostle calls "works of the law", which sola fide proponents interpret as including not only moral, legal or ceremonial requirements but any good works or "works of charity."
In Latter Day Saints theology, the term spirit world refers to the realm where the spirits of the dead await the resurrection. In LDS thought, this spirit world is divided into at least two conditions: Paradise and spirit prison:
Confession, in many religions, is the acknowledgment of sinful thoughts and actions. This may occur directly to a god or to fellow people.
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part in confession among Anglicans and Methodists, in which it is a rite, as well as among other Protestants.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.
A mortal sin, in Christian theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. It is alternatively called deadly, grave, and serious; the concept of mortal sin is found in both Catholicism and Lutheranism. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to a separation of that person from God's saving grace. Three conditions must together be met for a sin to be mortal: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." The sin against the Holy Spirit and the sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance are considered especially serious. This type of sin is distinguished from a venial sin in that the latter simply leads to a weakening of a person's relationship with God. Despite its gravity, a person can repent of having committed a mortal sin. Such repentance is the primary requisite for forgiveness and absolution.
In Christianity, contrition or contriteness is repentance for sins one has committed. The remorseful person is said to be contrite.
The means of grace in Christian theology are those things through which God gives grace. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and empower the Christian life; others see it as forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Absolution is a theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the practice of absolution vary between Christian denominations.
Tawba is the Islamic concept of repenting to God due to performing any sins and misdeeds. It is a direct matter between a person and God, so there is no intercession. There is no original sin in Islam. It is the act of leaving what God has prohibited and returning to what he has commanded. The word denotes the act of being repentant for one's misdeeds, atoning for those misdeeds, and having a strong determination to forsake those misdeeds. If someone sins against another person, restitution is required.
The Sacrament of Penance is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, in which the faithful are absolved from sins committed after baptism and reconciled with the Christian community. During reconciliation mortal sins must be confessed and venial sins may be confessed for devotional reasons. According to the dogma and unchanging practice of the church, only those ordained as priests may grant absolution.
In Christian theology, Hell is the place or state into which, by God's definitive judgment, unrepentant sinners pass in the general judgment, or, as some Christians believe, immediately after death. Its character is inferred from teaching in the biblical texts, some of which, interpreted literally, have given rise to the popular idea of Hell. Theologians today generally see Hell as the logical consequence of rejecting union with God and with God's justice and mercy.
Baptismal regeneration is the name given to doctrines held by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican churches, and other Protestant denominations which maintain that salvation is intimately linked to the act of baptism, without necessarily holding that salvation is impossible apart from it. Etymologically, the term means "being born again" "through baptism" (baptismal). Etymology concerns the origins and root meanings of words, but these "continually change their meaning, ... sometimes moving out of any recognisable contact with their origin ... It is nowadays generally agreed that current usage determines meaning." While for Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof, "regeneration" and "new birth" are synonymous, Herbert Lockyer treats the two terms as different in meaning in one publication, but in another states that baptism signifies regeneration.
Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. This article serves as an introduction to various topics in Catholic theology, with links to where fuller coverage is found.
In the Lutheran Church, Confession is the method given by Christ to the Church by which individual men and women may receive the forgiveness of sins; according to the Large Catechism, the "third sacrament" of Holy Absolution is properly viewed as an extension of Holy Baptism. Unlike Roman Catholicism, the practice of private confession in the Lutheran Church is voluntary, not obligatory.
In Christianity, sin is an immoral act and transgression of divine law. The doctrine of sin is central to the Christian faith, since its basic message is about redemption in Christ.
Repentance is a stage in Christian salvation where the believer acknowledges and turns away from sin. As a distinct stage in the ordo salutis its position is disputed, with some theological traditions arguing it occurs prior to faith and the Reformed theological tradition arguing it occurs after faith. In Catholic theology, Lutheran theology, Orthodox theology and Anglican theology, repentance plays a key role in Confession and Absolution.
In Christianity, heaven is traditionally the location of the throne of God and the angels of God, and in most forms of Christianity it is the abode of the righteous dead in the afterlife. In some Christian denominations it is understood as a temporary stage before the resurrection of the dead and the saints' return to the New Earth.
Matthew 12:31-32 are two verses in the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.
Catholic hamartiology is a branch of Catholic thought that studies sin. According to the Catholic Church, sin is an "utterance, deed, or desire," caused by concupiscence, that offends God, reason, truth, and conscience. The church believes sin is the greatest evil and has the worst consequences for the sinner, the world, and the l Catholic Church itself. Based on the Bible, the Catholic Church distinguishes between two kinds of sins: mortal sin and venial sin. The Catholic Church also distinguishes between the state of being in original sin and the commission of actual sin.
The sin unto death, or the so-called unpardonable sin, is to reject the Holy Spirit's wooing.
...this sin is called an everlasting sin because it attributes to Satan, who is the power of evil, what is actually the work of the holy Spirit, namely, victory over the demons.
...no crime, however heinous, can be committed, which the Church has not power to forgive: as, also, there is no sinner, however abandoned, none, however depraved, who should not confidently hope for pardon, provided he sincerely repent of his past transgressions.
Wesley notes that the penalty of eternal separation from God with no hope of return applies in scripture only in two cases—either, as in Hebrews 6 and 10, to persons who willfully, publically[ sic ] and explicitly reject Jesus as Savior after having confessed him, or, as in the gospels, to those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit by declaring that the works of Jesus were the works of the Evil one.
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