My reply is in response to brother Ivan, the first response in this forum. With all good intentions, my brother in Christ, I would like to point out that an opinion that you have expressed could be very damaging to one who is worried or haunted with the apprehension that he/she may have committed the unpardonable sin. It could lead one from fear and discouragement to the path of hopelessness and eventually even to suicide. I pray to God that such an eventuality does not happen to anyone who has read your post. It could be especially dangerous to the one who has a scrupulous conscience. You may have voiced your opinion with a good intention and you may not have understood its seriousness when you posted your comment. But I would request you, in the name of God, to take that down, the portion of your comment that I have mentioned below.
With regard to the unpardonable sin, you had mentioned, “Can we know if we have committed it? Well, can we know if we are unrepentant? I think so, but we will not desire to repent. We will only desire the reward of the repentant. We will want eternal life, or at least want to be saved from punishment, without actually having to make a change in the life.”
Wanting eternal life and the desire to be spared from punishment (the fires of hell) is perfectly all right. Every person in his right and normal senses will want to be spared of such a punishment. But there is something that marks out an unpardonable sinner. He is not worried about committing the ultimate transgression – the unpardonable sin. He would lose all concern about God or offending Him. He will not be interested in the salvation of his soul.
To suppose that a person who fears punishment (and/or who desires the reward of salvation without being repentant) without being repentant is an unpardonable sinner would be wrong. A person may or may not feel repentant; he may not even have the desire to repent, but even that does not make him an unpardonable sinner as long as he chooses salvation, as long as he chooses to do God’s will, as long as he chooses to serve God. I will explain why. First of all, not only repentance, but also the desire to repent is something which God gives; it is not something that we do on our own. Ellen White, referring to Philippians 2:13 says, “we cannot change our heart, we cannot of our own give to God it’s affections, but we can choose to serve Him. He will then work in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure.” Now the freedom of choice, the power to choose, is a faculty which God has given man. And that is one faculty which neither the Almighty God nor satan will interfere with. That is a faculty which only man has the sole authority over. And that is the faculty which will never be taken from him, whatever his state of sinfulness or whatever his degree of sanctification. No matter what the circumstance, man will always have the freedom to choose. And the exercise of that freedom to choose should be possible prior to repentance or prior to even the desire to repent (because these are things which God gives). The point to be remembered here is we can choose even against our own evil heart, against our own will, because we are at no point in time devoid of that power to choose. It is always there in us whatever the state of our consciences, whatever the state of our mind. The scripture clearly says, “It is God who works in you both to WILL and to DO of His own good pleasure.” Not only the desire to change (the desire to repent, the desire to obey) but even the working out of that desire in our lives – the determination to act out that desire – also is from God. We can only choose; only God can give us repentance and even the desire to repent. Choosing is solely ours; giving us the desire and the determination to repent/obey is the work of God.
So what differentiates an unpardonable sinner from a pardonable sinner is not the desire for the reward or the desire to be spared punishment without being repentant, but it is this: The unpardonable sinner will not choose salvation, he will not choose repentance, he will not choose to obey. The pardonable sinner, in spite of his unrepentant heart, will choose to be saved.
Now you may think, what then could or would be the motivation or incentives to choose to change or to choose to repent or to choose salvation. Well, it cannot be repentance or even the desire to repent (that is God’s to give after we choose). For that, I will quote what Ellen White has said in Steps to Christ: “Heaven is expending to reclaim the lost and bring them back to the Father’s house. Motives stronger and agencies more powerful could never be brought into operation; the exceeding rewards of right doing, the enjoyment of heaven, the society of angels, the communion and love of God and His Son, the elevation and extension of all our powers throughout eternal ages – are these not mighty incentives and encouragements to urge us to give the heart’s loving service to our Creator and Redeemer? And, on the other hand, the judgments of God pronounced against sin, the inevitable retribution, the degradation of our character, and the final destruction are presented in God’s word to warn us against the service of satan.” Again to quote her (I do not know the exact context, but Ellen white has been referred to in The Principles of Life in the chapter Predestination – Free Choice), “We cannot change our hearts. We cannot of our own give to God it’s affections, but we can choose to serve Him. He will then work in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure.”
So a person may have the desire for the reward of salvation, he may want to be spared the punishment of hell, he may even be unrepentant or he may not even have the desire to repent, but in spite of this he still has the power to choose life, and if he chooses salvation and chooses to serve God, whatever maybe the motive behind that choice (the enjoyment of heaven, the exceeding rewards of right doing, the desire not to be thrown into the fires of hell… ) if he chooses life, if he chooses for God to change his heart, he has not committed the unpardonable sin. God works out the repentance when we choose to serve God.
There could be a lot of people who under feelings of guilt and a sense of condemnation would feel a compulsion to obey the commands of God. In their fear and anxiety, they would feel forced to keep a rule and could perhaps attempt at giving into a forced obedience to the will of God. Again I want to stress that God never forces the will, God never compels the conscience. To operate from principles of force and compulsion would negate the whole great controversy and it’s evidence accumulated at such tremendous cost. “If a man it to be convinced, the truth as it is in Jesus must be presented to his mind and must appeal to his heart. Christ refuses every other method – everything like compulsion or restriction or force. His only weapons are truth and love. ‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, He says, will draw all men unto me.’ Fallen humanity is drawn, not forced into any position.” – Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, June 28, 1898.
Let it not appear that this is a sanction or freedom to sin. NOT AT ALL! This is a message to the large number of believers who suffer in silence, haunted by the fear that they may have committed the unpardonable sin. Also to those who are miserable and in despair, distressed by feelings of guilt and condemnation and feel compelled or forced to obey the laws of God.
May anyone who may be fearful or feeling worried or feeling hopeless that he may have committed the unpardonable sin get solace from these thoughts. And always remember that God is a God of Love who never forces, but only convicts and draws the sinner, if only he would Choose to serve him.