A Sin unto Death?

[Neal of Zebulun]

1 John 3:

4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.​

1 John 5:

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.​

How do I know which sin is a sin unto death so I don't pray for it?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

1 John 3:

4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.​

1 John 5:

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.​

How do I know which sin is a sin unto death so I don't pray for it?

The spiritual oppression is pretty rough when it gets to that degree, sin is conceived, but when it is given birth to, it becomes as death. It's optional to pray in these circumstances, because it's quite a terrible affair.

 

[mukk_in]

1 John 3:

4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.​

1 John 5:

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.​

How do I know which sin is a sin unto death so I don't pray for it?

I think blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (rejecting God's grace) along with unforgiveness is the sin that leads to death. Peace in Christ .

 

[test]

All sins for which God commanded people to be killed with stones is for death.

 

[Bible2+]

Neal of Zebulun said in post #1:

1 John 5:

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

1 John 5:16a means that if a Christian sees a fellow Christian commit a sin, before that fellow Christian dies it is possible for the first Christian to exhort him to repent from that sin (Hebrews 3:13), and to pray with him that God would forgive him for it (1 John 1:9). But 1 John 5:16b means that it is possible for a Christian to wrongly employ his free will to commit a sin without repentance until he dies, at which point there is no use praying for forgiveness for that sin, for there is no forgiveness for sin which is not repented from while someone is still alive (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Galatians 5:19-21).

That is, Hebrews 10:26-29 shows that Christians, who have been sanctified by Jesus Christ's sacrificial blood (Hebrews 10:29), which sanctification requires faith (Acts 26:18b, cf. Romans 3:25-26), can, after they get saved, wrongly employ their free will to commit sin without repentance (Hebrews 10:26). By doing this, these Christians are unwittingly trampling on Jesus and His sacrificial blood and doing despite unto the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29), turning the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jude 1:4), so that their ultimate fate will be worse than if they had never been saved at all (2 Peter 2:20-22). Even though Jesus' sacrificial blood is sufficient to forgive all sins (1 John 2:2), it actually forgives only the sins of Christians which are past (Romans 3:25-26), as in sins which have been repented from and confessed to God (1 John 1:9,7). Jesus' sacrificial blood doesn't remit unrepentant sins (Hebrews 10:26-29). So a Christian can ultimately lose his salvation if he wrongly employs his free will to commit unrepentant sin (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46).

Some Christians say that Hebrews 10:26-29 isn't for Christians. But note that the immediate context of Hebrews 10:26-29 is Hebrews 10:25, which is addressing "we" Christians. Hebrews 10:25-29 is the same idea as Hebrews 3:13: Christians need to gather together and exhort each other so that no Christian will fall into any unrepentant sin. For any unrepentant sin will ultimately result in the loss of salvation (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46, Matthew 7:22-23, Galatians 5:19-21; 2 Peter 2:20-22, Romans 8:13; 1 John 5:16, James 5:19-20).

One way that a Christian could come to desire to commit sin without repentance would be if he finds a particular sin to be very pleasurable, so pleasurable and so fulfilling (in the short term), that he continues in it over time until his heart becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13), to where his love for God grows cold because of the abundance of iniquity (Matthew 24:12), to where he quenches the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), to where he sears his conscience as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2), to where he becomes so infatuated with his sin that he can no longer endure the sound doctrine of the Bible (such as the doctrine of Hebrews 10:26-29), but instead latches onto a mistaken, man-made teaching which contradicts the Bible (2 Timothy 4:3-4), such as the mistaken teaching which assures Christians that there is no way that they can ever lose their salvation, even if they sin without repentance.

 

[tdidymas]

1 John 3:

4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.​

1 John 5:

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.​

How do I know which sin is a sin unto death so I don't pray for it?

IMO I think the Bible is clear on what John means by "sin unto death" which means (as the NIV depicts) "sins leading to death." Which is something that someone practices without restraint, and will not be held accountable. Gal. 5:19-21 has a partial list of these "sins unto death": "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." Thus, these are sins that lead to eternal condemnation.

Other similar partial lists are found in:
Col. 3:5-6
1 Pet. 2:1
Eph. 4:31
2 Cor. 12:20
Mk. 7:21-23
Mat. 15:19

If anyone who claims to be a Christian is seen practicing any of these things, they must be confronted for the welfare of their soul. If they don't repent, they are to be treated like an unbeliever (Mat. 18). God may send an evil spirit to torment them until they repent (1 Cor. 5:5, 11).

Incidentally, John doesn't say "do not pray" but rather "I'm not saying he should pray." We could pray for such a person once, and then give them over to God's judgment. I think John's idea is not to spend a lot of time praying for unrepentant souls. There is plenty of prayer work to be done for people who commit sins that don't lead to death. No?
TD

 

[1213]

...
How do I know which sin is a sin unto death ...

I believe it is the things which lead to death penalty in OT.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

I think blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (rejecting God's grace) along with unforgiveness is the sin that leads to death. Peace in Christ .

I believe it is the things which lead to death penalty in OT.

Good thing Christians don't practice stoning........

John 10:33 The Jews answered Him saying, "About a good work not we are stoning Thee, but about blasphemy, and that Thou, being a man, are making thyself a god".
[Romans 2:23/Reve 16:11,21]

Acts 6:10 And not they were strong to withstand to the Wisdom and to the Spirit to which he talked.
Acts 7:
1 And the High-priest said, "are these things so?"
54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed upon him with their teeth.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon [the Lord], and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"

Reve 16:
11 And they blaspheme the God of the heaven out of the miseries of them, and out of the sores of them, and not they reform out of the works of them
21 And great Hail as a talent-weight is descending out of the Heaven upon the men.
And the men blaspheme the God out of the blow of the Hail, that great is the blow of it/her, tremendous.

The Unpardonable Sin: The Unpardonable Sin; What Is The Sin? There Is No Unpardonable Sin! No Forgiveness To The Age; The Day Dawns

When the Pharisees heard this, they were filled with jealousy and rage. Here was a manifest miracle of undeniable wonder and power, and the common people were fast drawing the proper inferences from it, and coming to the conclusion that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of David, the Son of the living God. They were acquainted with the messianic prophecy of Isaiah, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped" (Isa. 35:5). It was a perpetual fear among the Pharisees and rulers that they might lose their hold on the people and they were willing to do almost anything to keep the people from following Jesus.
They were proud of the reputation they had among the people; that fed their pride, supported their power, and filled their purses. Not unlike the religious systems of today! They saw very clearly that if the popularity and power of Jesus continued to rise, their power would be absolutely gone. Upon occasion they said, "What can we do?" for "the world is gone after Him." It was necessary for the Pharisees to account for the wonder that had been wrought in some way. Whatever way they chose, it was necessary that they should acknowledge that there was super-human power; the people were fully persuaded of this and no man could deny it. So the Pharisees proclaimed to the people, "This man casts out demons only by and with the help of Beelzebub, the prince of demons."

But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: BECAUSE THEY SAID, HE HAS AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT." Ah - now there's a clue - the Pharisees' opposition to Jesus was not a spur of the moment, hotheaded fit of pique. These men knew what they were doing. Their schemes against Jesus were deliberate, calculated. A leading Pharisee, Nicodemus, once confided to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him" (Jn. 3:2).

Many of them knew better, but unlike Nicodemus they still plotted to destroy Him. They had developed an implacable contempt for Jesus because He presented a threat to their prestige and power over the people. Jesus warned them of the dire consequences of their attitude and actions. They were not just sinning against God in heaven above, or against the Son of God on earth - they were resisting, opposing, withstanding, impugning, confronting, assailing, attacking and repulsing the Holy Spirit - THE VERY ACTIVITY AND MINISTRATION OF GOD TOWARDS THEM! They were in danger of blaspheming the Holy Ghost!

 

[Bible2+]

LittleLambofJesus said in post #8:

But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: BECAUSE THEY SAID, HE HAS AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT."

Blaspheming God's Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29) means saying something against the Holy Spirit, which is unforgivable even if it's repented from (Mark 3:29), unlike all other blasphemies (Mark 3:28), such as blaspheming Jesus Christ (saying something against Jesus), which is forgivable (like other sins) if it's repented from (Luke 12:10; cf. Luke 13:3, Hebrews 10:26-29).

An example of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29) would be to say a miracle performed by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28) was performed by an evil spirit (Mark 3:22,29-30). So it's possible for even a Christian to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, if, for example, he were to say another Christian speaking in tongues today (by the Holy Spirit: 1 Corinthians 12:10b-11) is the work of an evil spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:39b; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).