Question: What about the sin that is not unto death in 1 John 5:16? This clearly shows that a Christian can sin and it is not unto death.
Answer: Concerning “them that sin not unto death” (1Joh 5:16). I would see this is a willful and known sin that can be forgiven versus “a sin unto death” of which we are instructed to not pray for. This is state where the Holy Spirit can’t conviction you of your need for salvation. I would view (1Joh 5:16) in the same way I would view the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mat 12:31) and those that “fall away” and are “impossible… to renew them again unto repentance” (Heb 6:6).
I would hold that the Bible teaches this is a state that a person can get themselves into by consistent rejection of God to the point where they have so hardened their hearts that the Holy Spirit can no longer deal with them.
None can come to Christ except that God draw them by the Spirit (Jn 6:44). If they have so hardened their heart to the point that the Spirit can no longer deal with them, then there is no way for them to be saved.
In Mat 12:22-32 we have the account where Jesus cast out the devil of a man that was blind and dumb, and healed him. The Pharisees who were present were so deceived and had their hearts so hardened that they could be in the presence of God incarnate, see Him perform a notable miracle of healing, and attribute this to the working of the devil.
I would hold that the reason there was no forgiveness for this blasphemous state of deception was because the Spirit of God could no longer penetrate their hardened hearts and convict them of their sins.
Hence, in 1Jn 5:6 we are told that there is no reason to even pray for those who sin a sin unto death.
In Heb 6:4-6, I would hold that those who have fallen away to the degree that it is impossible to repent have likewise sinned a sin that is unto death and have entered a blasphemous state of deception where the Spirit of God is unable to bring conviction to their hardened hearts.
I would like to also add that anyone who is in this state will have no concern for their soul at all and will only scoff at the claims and works of Jesus, as did the Pharisees who held Jesus was operating under the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.
While committing willful or known sin is like a dog going back to its vomit, a pig going back to wallow in the mire (2Pe 2:22), and counting the blood of Christ as an unholy thing (Heb 10:29), if a person will have godly sorrow for their wickedness and repent (2Co 7:10), there is forgiveness (1Jn 2:1).
February 5th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
This is concerning the sin that is not unto death.
I will try to make this brief but to the point:
Sin is the transgression of Gods law (Ten Commandments)
Sin consist of the lust of the eyes, flesh and the pride of life. 1John 2:16
Jesus said:Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? Mat.12:5
They had to work on the sabbath to offer up sacrifices unto God but this was
OK because God told them to do it, but they also were working on the sabbath which was forbidden, yet were blameless.
Paul tells us he didn’t know what lust was except the law had said thou shalt
not covet. Rom. 7:7 (desire of that which belongs to another)
This is the sin that’s not unto death but it is still a sin:
(sex between a married couple)
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Lust (desire) for our wife and through this relationship we have born a child.
This is the only way we can have children.
Now as we grow in Christ, he tells us flee youthful lust. 2 Tim 2:22
God tells us through Paul how we ought to possess his vessel, Not in the lust of concupiscence and.The. 4:4-9.
Make not provision for the flesh. Rom. 13:13
We need to look at God’s words more closely not that I cannot enjoy my wife,
but hopefully we will be growing more spiritually that we may mortify the deeds of the flesh and walk in the spiritual likeness of Christ not after the hunger of this world but after things that are above. Col. 3:1-6
1 Cort. 2:11-16