There is a Sin that Leads to Death

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. ¹⁷ All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

1 John 5:16-17 nkjv

I will admit that even during my transition into the message of grace – I still thought that there were some sins that would create a disconnection from God and there were others that would not. I assumed that, for instance, swearing was sinful – but it would not affect your relationship with God all that much. Whereas, something like committing adultery would have major implications with regards to your relationship with God. It’s only been during this year that I’ve finally come into the truth on this subject.

I was listening to a Podcast* by Paul White last week on the subject of sin that leads to death. Paul White said that there was only one sin that leads to death and that is rejecting Jesus Christ as Saviour. That makes a great deal of sense to me now because as far as the Bible is concerned, all of our sins were already put upon Jesus on the cross (see 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 6:6). I like the way in which The Living Bible renders Romans 6:6.

⁶ Your old evil desires were nailed to the cross with him; that part of you that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded, so that your sin-loving body is no longer under sin's control, no longer needs to be a slave to sin; ⁷ for when you are deadened to sin you are freed from all its allure and its power over you. ⁸ And since your old sin-loving nature "died" with Christ, we know that you will share his new life.

Romans 6:6-8 TLB

I thought I’d do a search on Google to see what it came up with in response to the phrase “sin that leads to death”. Surprisingly, I came across this explanation from www.gracethrufaith.com which is in keeping with what Paul White talked about.

The Unpardonable Sin

There is also much debate surrounding what has become known as “The Unpardonable Sin”. Most believers think that the unpardonable sin that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 12:31-32, has something to do with getting angry at God in reaction to certain unpleasant circumstances.

The Unpardonable Sin is related to “the sin that leads to death” mentioned in 1 John 5:16-17 – it is not believing in Jesus. This is the only sin that cannot be forgiven and the only sin that will lead to damnation.

You can read what www.gracethrufaith.com says about the subject here.

You can read what www.christiananswers.net says about the subject here.

You can read what www.allaboutgod.com says about the subject here. I particularly like the following statement made in this article:

“If you are afraid that you have committed the unpardonable sin that is sure proof that you have not! Those who committed the unpardonable sin had no godly regrets. They had no interest in the forgiveness of God.”

Conviction of Sin

⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

John 16:7-11 nkjv

I think just about every Christian would agree that the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin. But most Christians seem to believe that it is the job of the Holy Spirit to continually point-out believer’s mistakes in order to “correct them”. We have been given the impression that when a believer feels guilty about committing a sin, it is because the Holy Spirit is convicting them. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Word of Faith Bible teacher, Kenneth E. Hagin, wrote that the Holy Spirit does not need to convict us when we do something wrong, because we already know when we do something wrong in our spirit. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict believers that they are right with God just the way they are. It is also the job of the Holy Spirit to convict unbelievers of their need for a Saviour. Romans 8:14 tells us that the Holy Spirit leads us, because we are children of God. There is a big difference between being led by the Holy Spirit and being convicted and condemned by Him when we do something wrong.

Is a Believer Saved if he Sins?

The Bible often gives the impression that if a believer sins, it is because he is not saved or he is being punished by God (see 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:15 and 1 John 3:9). But we need to take these verses into the context of the message of grace. Let’s take 1 John 3:9 for instance. What this verse saying is that if someone has been born again, they do not have a tendency to sin. If a believer does sin, it is likely to be caused by their not being convinced that they are right with God just the way they are.

What the church has done is to “reverse-engineer” such verses as a means of condemning the congregation and controlling them through fear of hell-fire and damnation. 1 John 3:9 could be taken to mean that if a believer sins, it is because they are not born of God, and therefore, accepted by Him. Therefore, in order to be accepted by God and born of Him, we must first stop sinning.

It is impossible to become born of God by first relinquishing sin and living a moral lifestyle. Jesus came to save the ungodly – not the self-righteous. Romans 5:8 says that Jesus died for us when we were still sinners. Romans 5:10 says that we were reconciled to God through the death of Christ – when we were still enemies of God. God does not save those who keep all the rules – God saves those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit (Psalms 34:18). The word contrite in Psalms 34:18 means crushed (literally dust or powder). It all comes down to seeing our need for a Saviour rather than looking to our own works to save us.

Will God Bless You When You Sin?

There does seem to be a lot of debate and controversy over the subject of whether or not a believer can sin and still have the life of God in him and be blessed and highly favoured. I intend to write a blog entry about this subject soon, but I would say that the key to answering this conundrum is to be found in the notion that sin is a fruit – not a root: sin is the fruit of not being assured of your right-standing with God through Christ - this sense of insecurity is the root cause of sinful lifestyle.

* Paul White Ministries – What is the Sin Unto Death? – 5^th October 2009