Why people who think they’ve committed the Unpardonable Sin are their own worst enemy
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For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
--Romans 8: 6-7
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
--Heb. 12:3
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit...
--Heb. 4:12
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The following article is going to be rather esoteric and metaphysical because it’s going to present some esoteric themes dealing with the foundation behind why many people doubt their salvation. The basis for this work will be the verses cited above, for they are the key to understanding why some people simply cannot seem to break free of the belief they’ve committed the Unpardonable Sin.
To start with, we need to define the difference between what the “spirit” and “soul” of a man is.
In contemporary Christianity, theologians will usually define the “spirit” of a man as his immortal essence--his “ghost” if you will--while the soul is said to be made up of his “mind, will, and emotions”. This is generally as good an explanation as we can arrive at for two non-temporal subjects.
Building upon that foundation, I would like to suggest that...
The spirit of a Christian is the place where the Holy Spirit dwells. It is the place in his thinking where the Holy Spirit manifests and empowers faith instead of doubt, obedience instead of rebellion, revelation instead of logic, love instead of hate, and peace instead of worry. It is a place the Devil has no access to.
The soul is all attitudes, logic, feelings, and beliefs outside of that. It is the place empowered and influenced by both Society and the Devil himself. The soul and its thoughts and feelings is the heart of the struggle the Christian has against doubt and sin in his life.
Time after time when I deal with people questioning their salvation, there is one consistent factor they all have in common: It is next to impossible to convince them they haven’t committed the Unpardonable Sin.
Some tell me they’ve emailed or contacted literally dozens of web sites or counselors seeking reassurance. Of these, a few, no matter what I say to them, come up with arguments against the points I make, some of which are almost brilliant in their logic. These people have come seeking reassurance, but across the board they seem to bend over backwards to refuse the very assurance they’ve come for.
Why?
The simple answer is that they come seeking assurance on an intellectual level, in a manner that will satisfy their rational mind. There’s only one problem with that...
It’s impossible.
The reason it’s impossible is that the person is approaching the subject from their soulish realm, hoping to placate and convince the soul they’re Saved when their soul has been doubting that.
The reason the soul doubts, is because the soul is not truly redeemed at the Cross, and since it is a part of man’s body that will go down to the grave in death, a person operating out of that realm--the realm of human logic, doubt and fear--cannot be convinced he is Saved because the soul itself is not Saved! Thus, a person who has come to doubt his salvation typically cannot be intellectually persuaded of his salvation, nor will his “feelings” consistently give him reassurance of God’s love for him. As Paul says, the “carnal mind”--i.e. the soulish, human part of man’s thinking and feelings--is against God’s truth and, according to Paul, cannot receive it. Again--not that it has a hard time accepting it; according to Paul it cannot be placated. It cannot intellectually be satisfied. It cannot understand spiritual things. It cannot truly even love God. It cannot serve God. It cannot hear from God, for all the things necessary for an individual to receive from God cannot come from the human part of man’s thinking and emotions; it can only come from the spirit of a man which has been awakened by the Holy Spirit!
This is why the person who doubts his salvation cannot be intellectually persuaded he hasn’t committed the Unpardonable Sin--he’s trying to convince a carnal mind that is unsaved and cannot be Saved, that it is Saved! He can’t do that, and so that inability for human reason to be convinced gives birth to a type of unbelief mentioned in the New Testament which is referred to by the Greek word apeithei--which means a stubborn refusal to believe. (See http://centralcal.com/crist9.htm for an article on the subject.)
And so our worried Christian stews in a sea of fear and doubt coming out of his soul because his unsaved soul knows it’s not Saved and thus can’t be persuaded that it is Saved. By focusing in on and remaining in a state of confusion coming out of the soul, the person’s spirit--which is Saved--becomes stifled in its growth.
The whole time this is going on, all the person’s doubts and fears are being reinforced and empowered by the Devil, who has the ability to influence thoughts and emotions in the soulish realm. It thus becomes a vicious circle of doubt, demonic thoughts resulting in fear, and a final constant worry that the person must not be Saved.
Let me give an example of someone stuck in this rut who doesn’t realize the difference between his soul and his spirit. Assume someone who doubts their salvation sits down with me and we have a conversation about it.
Me: “So you think you’ve committed the Unforgivable Sin. What makes you think you did that?”
Worried person: “Well, the Bible says (this, this, and this) and I think I....”
Me: “Well--deep down in your spirit, do you think you hate God and hate Jesus?”
Worried person: “Well, no, I think I love Jesus, but...”
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Everything that falls into the “but” comes from the soul, not the spirit. As Paul says, For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? (1 Cor. 2:11)
Only what the person knows and feels deep down inside of him, away from his surface thoughts and feelings, is what the ultimate truth is. Thus, when he tells me that deep down he wants Jesus, and may even love Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but he thinks he’s committed the Unpardonable Sin, I know he can’t possibly have. If his answer was that he hated Christ, hated the Holy Spirit, and so on, then I might well agree he had committed this sin.
This is why we counselors tell them if they’re worried about it, they can’t have done it--for if they had done it, both spirit and soul would reject Christ and the person would feel no remorse, but instead an absolute intellectual satisfaction with their actions. Thus, they wouldn’t be trying to find a way to convince themselves they hadn’t committed the sin--they simply would be content with their decision, and they sure wouldn’t be here! Witness the Pharisees who rejected Christ and were specifically told they had committed the Unforgivable Sin--there was no fear in them. No worry. No doubt. They were absolutely unconcerned about what they were doing, didn’t realize it was wrong, and that very inability to see the need for repentance removed them from any chance of obtaining forgiveness for their sins! This is completely the opposite of what a Christian goes through when he worries he’s committed the Unforgivable Sin.
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“So how does one overcome this bondage?”
The answer is first to realize when one is experiencing demon-empowered soulish thoughts, and reject them. The Devil is a liar, and if he’s telling someone they’re unsaved--they obviously are Saved! So the next time a wave of doubt washes over you, that blasphemous thought against the Holy Spirit arises in your head, etc.--just sit back, empty your mind of those surface thoughts, then concentrate and focus in on that part of your thinking that knows it wants God.
That’s your spirit.
Once you’ve banished those thoughts for a moment, just give thanks to God for His grace and the atonement of Christ for your sins. Just stay focused on that inner part of yourself that’s deep down and doesn’t think or want those thoughts, and take comfort in the fact that’s the part of you that is Saved, and does have eternal life.
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“So does this mean we have to walk around in continual schizophrenia?”
No. God’s purpose is for man’s spirit to grow to the point where, instead of man’s actions being directed by his soul, his spirit directs his actions and the soul either falls in line or else assists to the degree it can in helping the Christian follow God’s will for him. The key to this is growing in one’s spirit, and one’s spirit grows as it is fed with the things of God. I don’t have to go into detail about that; I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Start with listening to some good Christian music or teaching. I recommend a tape series by Joyce Meyer called Fickle Feelings, for one. When you’re in church, don’t sit there daydreaming because you’re bored (as I’m certain you do), but close your eyes, empty your mind, stop thinking, and let your sprit get fed! You will start to see changes.
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