I am sometimes asked, "What is the unpardonable sin?" As a child growing up in a conservative Baptist church I was taught the unpardonable sin was rejecting Jesus Christ as personal savior. While it is certainly true that Christ must be embraced as Lord and Savior if there is to be any hope of eternal life, the unpardonable sin relates to another transgression.

To understand the words of Christ in Mark 3:28-29, it must be remembered that the religious leaders of Israel were mocking the great works Christ was performing. The scribes were attributing the miracles of Jesus to Satan. "And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils" (Mark 3:22).

When the Lord heard these slanderous remarks He took the occasion to teach how impossible the concept was that the source of His power came from Beelzebub, Satan, the Devil. "And he [Jesus] called them [His disciples] unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house" (Mark 3:23–27).

The message found in the words of Christ are compelling. He spoke the truth. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18–19). It was impossible that He should derive His spiritual power and authority from the source of all evil.

But then the Lord added another theological truth. Anyone who ascribes to Satan the works of God has committed such a serious transgression it shall never be forgiven. What makes this particular transgression different from all other sins is its relationship to the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit’s working that opens the hearts and minds of unbelievers and persuades them to repent. However, when this power is specifically refused, God permits the hardened heart to remain as such and leaves the sinner in state of enmity towards God.

Any person who has the desire to repent of his sins has not committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit lives within him. Only those who continuously and perpetually harbor a deep hatred towards God are capable of committing this unpardonable sin—the one transgression that will never be forgiven in this life or in the next.