Does true repentance mean no longer having fear?

[Jeffwhosoever]

I went round and round for months with a guy who thought he claimed to have committed the "unforgivable sin" of resisting the Holy Spirit. That is not what the Scripture tells us. The example in Scripture happened when some Jews credited Satan or demons for things the Lord did, so it is not possible to repeat that now, cause Jesus is not alive on earth at this time in physical form. Others say that the unforgivable sin is to repeatedly deny the Lord's saving grace until you die, and as long as you are alive, it is therefore impossible to commit such a sin, so either way, stop worrying and apply yourself to Scripture and find a church that ministers to you, and put away this idea that you did something God cannot forgive, cause it just is not true.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I went round and round for months with a guy who thought he claimed to have committed the "unforgivable sin" of resisting the Holy Spirit. That is not what the Scripture tells us. The example in Scripture happened when some Jews credited Satan or demons for things the Lord did, so it is not possible to repeat that now, cause Jesus is not alive on earth at this time in physical form. Others say that the unforgivable sin is to repeatedly deny the Lord's saving grace until you die, and as long as you are alive, it is therefore impossible to commit such a sin, so either way, stop worrying and apply yourself to Scripture and find a church that ministers to you, and put away this idea that you did something God cannot forgive, cause it just is not true.

This is how I have seen some take to the passage, but I'd offer this as an alternative approach: A group of Pharisees came blaspheming Jesus, saying what He did He did by diabolical power--to this Jesus says that blasphemy against the Son shall be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven, neither in this age nor the age to come.

Jesus gives the warning, not because the Pharisees in question have already committed the unpardonable sin, but because the hardness of their hearts against the in-breaking of God's kingdom was leading them toward a place of total rejection of the work of God. Their blasphemy against Jesus was pardonable, there was still time for them to repent--as we read time and again in Scripture, it is God's will and desire that all come to repentance, and that all be saved.

The unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not unpardonable because God is unwilling or unable to pardon--for there is no such thing as sin which God cannot or will not pardon; it is rather unpardonable because the one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit insists against grace, strives against God's work, and colludes, to the end, in their own death, destruction, and judgment.

If it is the power of the Spirit who appropriates to us all the precious grace and work of God in Jesus Christ for our own salvation--and it is. Then such a thorough rejection of the Spirit's power amounts to blasphemy of the Spirit. Not as a singular act of unbelief, or doubt, or even of callously blaspheming Christ. But rather, such a rejection that, at the last, at the Judgment, such a person would still reject mercy even should they stand before He who is Mercy and Love.

I'm reminded of what C.S. Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce, of a man giving into the grumble, and if not addressed, results in the ever-shrinking of man until all that is left is the grumble, "There is no you left to criticize it" Lewis writes. Because "hell" is not the place of punishment which God sends the bad people, or the people who happened to not have the right set of religious doctrines or theological propositions--but hell is what it looks like when man, quite deliberately and quite fully, denies the good Creator God and thus, denies and rejects the world which God has made, and therefore, has come to reject even his own God-given humanity.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[tturt]

Just like there's different types of love, there's various types of fear. We need the fear of the Lord.

We decide if we're going to have the fear of the Lord. Then God teaches those who fear Him. (Pro 1). Having the fear of the Lord is loving Him, giving Him honor, respect, devotion, right worship, serving Him, following Him and being submitted and obeying His Word, His will.

- teach children to have the fear of the Lord (Psa 34:11).
- How to have the fear of the Lord:" (Pro 2:1-5).
- Having the fear of the Lord means we love what He loves and hates what He hates (Psa 97:10, Pro 6:16-19).
- "...we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:" Heb 22:28 Having the fear of the Lord is the true and acceptable way of worshipping the Lord (Benson commentary).
- It "...prolongs one’s days..." (Pro 10:27).
- "In the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children shall always have a place of refuge." (Pro 14:26)
- It causes men to depart from evil (Pro 16:6),
- "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life." (Pro 22:4)
- "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant" (Psa 25).
- It is a treasure (Isa 33:6l, and churches walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31).

Having the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, instruction, and is the fountain of life (Pro 1:7, 9:10, 14:27).

"The reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it rests satisfied; he cannot be visited with [actual] evil." Pro 19:23

Plus "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,, and make our abode with him." John 14:23

 

[tturt]

Instead of focusing on our sins, we can turn our attention on Scripture such as "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Notice is says if we confess - you`ve done that so God does His part. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Psa 103:12).