The Sin Against the Holy Spirit

How should the Christian understand the following words?

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. [Hebrews 6:4-6]

What follows is an explanation of these words, drawn from Holy Scripture and enlightened by much more learned theologians than myself!

For starters, this passage reminds us that believers can fall away from the faith. “Once saved, always saved” is false doctrine. Jesus Himself teaches this in the parable of the Sower and the Seed (cf. Luke 8:13).

This passage speaks about believers—those who have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come—who have fallen away. The Greek word parapipto, translated here as “fallen away,” is used only here in the New Testament. It means to fall to the side, to fall completely away. This is not Joseph’s brothers’ jealous actions, King David’s adulterous affair, or Peter’s threefold denial. It is a complete, absolute, and final rejection of Jesus Christ.

According to the author of Hebrews, it is impossible to restore such believers who have fallen away again to repentance. Such words place this type of falling away into the category of the sin against the Holy Spirit. Jesus teaches:

“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” [Matthew 12:31]

“But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” [Mark 3:29]

Saint John the Apostle also speaks of this sin against the Holy Spirit:

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. [1 John 5:16-17]

The author of Hebrews later writes:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. [Hebrews 10:26-31]

The sin against the Holy Spirit is the complete, absolute, and final rejection of Jesus Christ. In this life, we are not to judge if a person has committed this sin. Only God, who knows the heart, can judge this. We are to call sinners—all sinners—to repentance.

Simply put, the Church’s mission is always to make disciples, to baptize, to teach, to call to repentance, to pray, to encourage, to admonish, and so forth. In any and every situation, in one form or another, the Church is continually calling sinners to repentance. This is true of unbelievers who have never known Christ, Christians who confess Christ, and former Christians who no longer believe in Christ. Repentance and faith in Christ is the sinner’s only hope!

If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. [1 John 2:1-2]

The Lutheran Study Bible contains an excellent article entitled “Sin That Leads to Death” that is worth reading. It is found on page 2181.

Martin Luther writes:

Some think that these words are spoken by the apostle about those who in any way have fallen into sin. … That repentance remains for those who have fallen is clear, in the first place, from what the apostle Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:21-22: “Lest perhaps … God should humiliate me … and I should mourn over many of you who have not repented of the … fornication.” … In like manner he instructs Timothy and Titus to use the Word of God with gentleness (cf. 1 Tim 3:5; 2 Tim 2:25; Titus 1:7f; Titus 3:10), in hope that in some way the godless and heretics may be converted. Indeed, if there were no repentance, the entire Epistle to the Galatians would amount to nothing, since it is not the so-called actual sins that are censured in this epistle but the greatest sin, namely, the sin of unbelief, because of which they had fallen away from Christ to the Law. Thus we read in the Old Testament that the very saintly David fell three times and rose again just as often. In like manner the brothers of Joseph, although they were fratricides, were restored through repentance. And lest the heretics reason captiously that their opinions are in accord with the New Testament, behold, Peter, along with all the apostles, fell from faith; and they all fled. Yet they were restored. Therefore one must understand that in this passage the apostle is speaking about the falling of faith into unbelief. … Accordingly, it was the need of the primitive church that compelled the apostle to speak so severely against those who had fallen. Here there was danger not only with regard to the changing of morals after faith had taken root but more so with regard to the newly planted faith itself. [Luther’s Works, AE 29:181-183]

Another commentary notes:

In the earliest tradition, especially in the Latin West, and among rigorists like the later Tertullian, the sense of Hebrews 6:4 that it is possible to repent from sins after baptism was taken literally. Gradually, however, the tradition interpreted this text to mean that baptism, with its symbols of crucifixion, death and life, was a once-and-for-all event that was unrepeatable. Thus, according to Ephrem, while baptism cannot be repeated, the door of repentance is always open to the penitents. Repentance is always possible, however, because what is impossible with humans is possible with God. There is always hope of forgiveness (Ambrose). Origen compares those who need to repent after apostasy to Lazarus in the tomb, who needs to hear the voice of Jesus to live again. Chrysostom is most concerned that this passage not become an occasion for Christians to become judgmental, and he defines what it is to be a saint: Every believer is a saint in that he is a believer. Faith makes saintship. In fact, Chrysostom argues that everyone in affliction needs help; we are not to become judgmental and overly curious about the state of a person in need. The person in need is God’s, whether he is heather or Jew; even an unbeliever in need still needs our aid. Repentance, like baptism, signifies rising from spiritual death to new life (Origen, Chrysostom). [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Hebrews, NT X:83]

Finally, this passage does not deny Christ’s objective justification of the entire world. He died for all people. Thus, there is salvation for all people in His name!