Mark 3:20–35
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
As we saw yesterday Mark is using a literary technique known as a sandwich technique. If you haven't yet, read yesterday's devotional to get the big idea of this section. The middle story (v. 22-30) gives us the theological meaning behind the larger story (v. 20-21; 31-35). Yesterday we focused on the larger story. Today we will focus on the middle story.
Again in this story we see that witnessing the miracles of Jesus lead not to faith but outright rejection. Note the scribes don't deny the miracles. How could they? Instead, they redefined the source of the miracles from God to Satan.
Jesus answers their accusation first with a simple logical argument. He couldn't be casting out demons by the power of Satan because then Satan would be working against himself and his own kingdom. Pretty simple logic there.
The parable of entering the strong man's house to plunder his goods is a play on the name Beelzebul, which means "master of the house of Baal". In Jewish theology the earth is the realm in which Satan, along with the rebellious humans have distorted God's good creation. The earth is his house so to speak. So Jesus gives a clue to his mission here. By casting out demons (Mark 1:21-28; 32; 3:11; 5:1-20) he is "binding the strong man" to "plunder his house" and restore God's creation to good. To attempt to restrain him from this mission is to act as Satan—his adversary.
The part of this passage that likely jumped out to you the most (of which I've been holding you in suspense) is the "eternal sin" in v. 28-30. Remember this is not the main point of this text yet it is a strong statement, perhaps the most startling statement in the book, that needs clarification. Here, the word for "sin" is a derivative of the normal word for sin in the NT. It carries more of an emphasis on the sinful act itself, not the motive or intent behind it. "Blasphemy" means to slander, revile or defame. It is almost always used in reference to irreverent statements against God.
Remember Jesus has been empowered by the Holy Spirit for ministry at his baptism. So in the context those who witness the work of Jesus empowered by the Spirit in the gospels and say, "This is the devil" are guilty of an "eternal sin", (a sin with eternal consequences). It is more than a denial of Jesus, it is an outright hostility and rejection of Jesus' source of power being in God, claiming he is indeed evil.
There is no shortage of possible interpretations of the unforgivable sin. In my view there are three possible interpretations: 1) The unforgivable sin is to witness the miraculous work of Jesus and declare that it is the work of the devil. It is debatable whether this sin can be committed today by extension of reading the gospels (1a) or if it was restricted to those who lived and walked with Jesus (1b). It certainly shouldn't be expounded to all miraculous works today since the devil does have power and discerning the spirits and testing for false prophets is a task all Christians are called to (1 John 4:1). 2) Some commentators expound on this and say that the unforgivable sin is a persistent state of unbelief and rejection of Jesus as the Son of God. Faith in Jesus is the criteria for acceptance into the people of God. So, on this view, he is simply stating that persistent, ongoing rejection of him is unforgivable in the sense that those people would not pursue forgiveness in the first place. 3) Some take the unforgivable sin to be apostasy—claiming to be a follower of Jesus but later walking away from the faith and denying him. On this view, one has rejected the internal witness of the Spirit of God revealing Jesus to be the true Son of God and atone for our sins. So to experience that work of the Spirit and reject it is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
It is my view that (1) is the best reading of this text in its context. The question of whether one can still commit this sin today or it was restricted to Jesus immediate hearers is unclear—(1b) would make the most sense as to why the NT authors didn't tease this out more specifically. The definition I like the most comes from Jonathan Pennington. He says the unforgivable sin is "a specific, active and final choice to declare the person and work of Jesus as being demonic in origin." The scribe's decision on Jesus was final and their hardness of heart was being used by God to bring about his ultimate purpose—the crucifixion of Jesus for the atonement of sin. In any case, even if it still applies today, it is a sin one is extremely unlikely to commit. I have never heard of someone doing this specifically.
If you are concerned with whether or not you have committed the unforgivable sin, you haven't. If you believe and confess the works of the Spirit in Jesus' ministry to be of God than whatever you may have once thought or said of Jesus, that determination was not final as it was in the case of the scribes accusing Jesus. You have placed your faith in him, confessing him to be of God and his work of the Holy Spirit. You can trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross to remove all of your iniquity. His atonement is complete and comprehensive. There is no need for you to replay all of your previous statements to be sure you didn't commit the unforgivable sin. Take comfort in Jesus' words that "all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter." Yet, heed his warning to not be so calloused and hard hearted to deny the obvious work of the Holy Spirit displayed in Jesus.