What is a Sin unto Death
1 John 5:14–17 NKJV
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
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. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
We are nearing the end of our study on 1 John. We don’t know for sure what church he is writing to other than it was probably in the area near Ephesus in Asia Minor. ! John is called an “epistle”, but it lacks things such as a greeting from John to the church or someone in the church. It also lacks a benediction. It more closely addresses a sermon which was addressed to a particular issue in one of John’s churches or to several churches.
In our study, I have taken the position that John was addressing a split which had taken place in the church. A group of people had left the church and went to establish their own church. The people who had left felt they were better than everyone else. They had a special knowledge that those who remained behind were too stupid in their eyes to receive. They had started out with the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles but felt they had progressed far beyond what Jesus could have taught them. they felt that they now were beyond Christ and could access God (Father) directly. The believers they left behind were seen as a hindrance to their further progress into perfection and this secret teachings. John had to reassure those who remained were not stupid and backward. Rather they had the true perfect knowledge because they were in fellowship with the Father and the Son. They had the unction of the Holy Spirit who leads the believer into all truth, They had fellowship with one another as the body of Christ. Those who had left had committed apostacy and had betrayed of the brethren. Far from advancing in the knowledge of the truth, they had completely fallen from grace. There is nothing more stupid than to reject Jesus, especially when one once had heard the true truth.
When we look at this morning’s passage. it begins with John telling the believers whose confidence may have been shaken by those who had left that they had every reason to be confident with their standing with the Father because they had the Son, they also had the Father as well. Their confidence is in Him (Jesus). John then relates for what purpose they were to be confident. The confidence is in their prayers and intercessions. At the general level, this is a confidence we have in prayer for a number of petitions, But note that we have to pray according to His will. There is an old sitcom named “Father Knows Best.” I mention this not that Robert Young who played the father knew best. Only the Heavenly Father knows best.
Whereas 1 John 5:14 can be used in a teaching on prayer in general, we must look at the context to see what specifically the Holy Spirit through John was saying here. The type of prayer here is intercessory in nature. This isn’t personal petition for something the believer needs. It is a prayer that in this situation seems to be addressed for the believers that left. We have already discussed those who had split from the church because they felt superior. But there is also the probability that others had left the church, not to join these apostates, but because of the strife within the church. this is a problem when the church splits. It doesn’t split in two but in three.
Who are we to intercede for? John talks about two categories of sin. These are a “sin unto death” and a “sin not unto death.” John notes that those who have sinned not unto death should be prayed for and that those who have committed a sin unto death would be to no prevail as it was not according to the will of God. God only addresses the intercessions and grants them according to His will. It seems that God wants us to intercede for those who have sinned not unto death. But He does not will to answer the petitions for those who have sinned unto death.
Before we address these deadly sins, let us talk about those who have not sinned unto death. John does not condone sin. All unrighteousness is sin. In this context, those who had sinned not unto death are those who left because they were discouraged and offended by the strife in the church. It was wrong for these to have left, but there was still hope for reconciliation and restoration. These should be prayed for. The disciples of Jesus illustrate this when they were offended when Jesus was arrested and fled. Jesus had interceded for them even before they fled in the intercessory prayer of John 17. This did not include Judas. These eleven were restored after Jesus rose from the dead, even Peter who had denied Him three times (a complete denial). This should give us reason to hope or as John says here in the passage to have confidence. In this we rejoice because if salvation were left up to our own effort, even after having our sins cleansed, we would miserably fail. It is a wonderful thing that Jesus continues to intercede for us. John tells us that if we sin, we have an advocate who intercedes for us and cleanses us from these sins not unto death, if we will only confess them.
We see the model of a healthy church who is in fellowship with the Father and the Son and possesses the unction of the Spirit demonstrated here. It is a church which intercedes for all their brothers and sisters. God wills that we pray for one another, so the petitions we bear to God will be fruitful.
I wanted to bring up the idea of a sin not unto death first to reduce the anxiety of believers. We are always fearful of what is called a “sin unto death.” But what is that sin which is unto death? What is the unforgivable sin? Let us examine the Scripture. The following is a list of Scriptures which talk about unforgivable sin.
Exodus 21:14 NKJV
“But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.
Numbers 15:30–31 NKJV
‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’ ”
Proverbs 6:16–19 NKJV
These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue,
Hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that are swift in running to evil,
A false witness who speaks lies,
And one who sows discord among brethren.
Matthew 12:31 NKJV
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
John 17:12 NKJV
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
The first thing about a sin that cannot be forgiven is that it is willful and premeditated. Exodus says to take such a person who comes to the altar in this circumstance is to be taken away to die. This is reinforced by the Scripture in Numbers as well. The seventh deadly sin in Proverbs is appropriate here because it shows of all the deadly sins, the one who sows discord among the brethren is the very worst of the seven. Surely those who had left the church to pursue “perfection” had caused their share of strife.
Now we look at what Jesus called the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. One could be forgiven for blaspheming the Son of Man, but the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was unforgivable. In the immediate context, it seems to me that Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was to attribute the works of God to Satan and the works of Satan to God. When we look at the local church to which 1 John is addressed, having read that the believers there had the unction of the Spirit, to speak evil of them such as those who had left had done would be close to blaspheming the Spirit who was working in the church. They had left the church to seek perfection and a special relationship with God, but the god they were now chasing was really Satan and the world.
We can look at the example of Judas who was one of the disciples. He betrayed Jesus. Unlike the other eleven, Judas’s sin was unto death. He was remorseful when he heard that Jesus was condemned, so much so that he hanged himself upon a tree and was, therefore, cursed. The Bible said that he went unto his own place. One could say that those who had left the church John was writing to had betrayed those they left behind. Those who had left may have been leaders in that church, and now they abandoned the others.
At any rate, the Scripture implies that these had sinned unto death. As Hebrews 6 states, there were people who were in danger of apostacy. They had tasted of the Holy Spirit which would not have been possible if they had not been Christian. The warning is that anyone who had been enlightened and then leaves cannot be renewed unto repentance. They had committed a willful rejection of the faith even though they had been taught the truth of the faith. Their sin was one of presumption. They same applies here.
What does this mean for us today? Can we lose our salvation? Usually this frightens us because we have sinned and failed to live up to expectations. We can see that there is forgiveness for these transgressions. We need to confess our sin and the blood of His Son cleanses us from all unrighteousness. This does not mean that we need continue sinning, but that if we sin, we have an advocate. The unfortunate thing is the statement “we have sin” is a present tense reality. But because we remain in Christ and His body, we can find forgiveness.
We as fellow believers can have the confidence that the intercessions we make in behalf of others who have sinned not unto death are heard. And we can have confidence that the intercessions of other believers on our behalf are heard also because it is God’s will to reconcile us, as proved by His Son submitting Himself to death on a cross as a propitiation for our sin.
Hopefully, there is no one here contemplating giving up on the faith, or others who have left the faith to follow another way. These words would serve as a stern warning that there is a limit to forgiveness.
But should we pray for those who left, seeing that them might have committed a sin unto death? After all, that person may not actually have committed a sin unto death and could be restored. The simple answer is yes. If we pray, and the person is restored, wonderful. If that person has sinned unto death, there is no harm to us even though it is against the will of God. That petition will simply go unheard. As we do not possess perfect knowledge, it would be better to offer a prayer of intercession than not.
