1 John 5:16-17 “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not to death. There is sin to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. (17) All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not to death.”
In the previous section we have seen that there is no sin that believers can commit that is fatal to the born-again human spirit, except one. We also saw in an earlier section that, because of free will, Christians are able to reverse their decision to follow after Christ. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle John teaches us that there is a sin to death. In other words this is the one sin that will kill the born-again human spirit. In this passage John goes on to tell us not to even pray for the brother who commits this sin. So why would John tell us not to even pray for the one who commits this sin? The reason is simply because there is no forgiveness for this sin, and so it is futile to pray for it. So what is the sin to death? This is the sin that believers commit when they choose to reverse their decision to follow after Christ. In other words it is the sin of denying Jesus as Lord. It is only Christians who can commit this particular sin, which is why the apostle Paul taught us that if we deny Him, He will deny us (2 Timothy 2:12). Therefore, Christians that deny Jesus as their Lord are the ones who commit the sin to death. And so we see that just as scripture teaches us that there is only one way into the kingdom of God i.e. to confess Jesus as Lord, so it is that scripture also teaches us that there is only one way out of the kingdom of God i.e. to deny Jesus as Lord. As an aside, unbelievers cannot commit the sin to death, because their spirits are already dead and so one cannot kill that which is already dead.
Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Adam committed the sin to death. That truth is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, for in this passage God warned Adam that if he chose to disobey God, and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that he would die. Adam was created spiritually alive to God, and so we know that God was speaking about the death of Adam’s spirit in this passage. So how do we know that? We know that because God said Adam would die the moment he ate the forbidden fruit, and yet Adam died physically only nine hundred years later. And so clearly God was referring to the death of Adam’s spirit in this passage. The reason that Adam committed the sin that was fatal to his spirit i.e. the sin to death, was because Adam knew exactly what he was doing when he deliberately chose to turn his back on God (1 Timothy 2:14).
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, (5) and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, (6) if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit is teaching about the sin to death, for as we have already established, Christians who deny Christ are the ones who commit the sin to death. And so in the above passage of scripture, when the Holy Spirit says “If they fall away”, He is referring to those who renounce Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. In this passage the Holy Spirit gives us clear guidelines as to who can commit this sin. Firstly, He says that they must have heard the gospel and come under conviction that they need to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, for He refers to “those who were once enlightened”. Secondly, He says that they must have been born-again, for He refers to those who “have tasted the heavenly gift”. Jesus is the heavenly gift, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that we can believe in Him and have eternal life (John 3:16). Thirdly, He says that they must have been filled with the Holy Spirit, for He refers to those who “have become partakers of the Holy Spirit”. Fourthly, He says that they must have been exposed to enough of God’s word to know how the Lord expects them to live, for He refers to those who “have tasted the good word of God”. And then finally, He says that they must have experienced the gifts of the Spirit operating in their lives, for He refers to those who have “tasted … the powers of the age to come”. And so this passage clearly reveals to us that new born believers cannot commit this sin, and that only those who are relatively mature in their walk with the Lord can commit this sin. We can see that same principle taking place in the natural, for whereas babies are not held accountable for their actions; mature adults are held fully accountable for their actions. And so in the spirit our Lord treats us in that same manner. In other words if a new born believer were to turn their back on Christ and later repent and turn back to Him, the Lord would forgive them. But if a mature believer were to turn their back on Christ then they would be guilty of committing the sin to death, for which there is no forgiveness. For in this passage the Holy Spirit says that it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.
Michael E.B. Maher
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