I 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. 17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.”
“There is a sin unto death”; that is, “There is a sin” that casts a dark pall of “death” (pain and shame and misery) upon the sinner that plagues them until their natural “death”. This “death” in life is a separation from the blessing and joy and peace that our God graciously gives His Children in this life. Paul put it this way: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Isaiah graphically explained the blessings of obedience and sufferings of disobedience this way: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 1:19-20). It seems that Adam’s “sin” was “unto death”; for, because of his disobedience (“sin”) he immediately lost the Lord’s blessings of innocence and the peace and joy and provisions in the Garden (Genesis 3), and he never regained it in life. And the “death” penalty of Adam passed upon “all men” (Romans 5:18). But, thank the Lord our merciful and gracious God that “they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). Likewise, it seems that David’s “sin” was “unto death”; for, the Lord sent him a doleful message by Nathan the prophet, “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.” (II Samuel 12:9-10). But, God also said of David, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart” (Acts 13:22). The rebellious Jews committed the actual “sin unto death”; for, they ignorantly, committed the heinous “sin” of “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost”. When our Lord heard “the Pharisees” say, “This fellow (Christ) doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Matthew 12:24); He told them “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. 31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” (Matthew 12:30-31). Our Lord told these most wicked people that “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44). The wicked Jews soon began to experience the result of their “blasphemy”; they lost all the natural blessing, lost their city, lost their country, lost the peace, and many lost their lives. The “born again” Children of God (John 3:1-8) may make some off-handed or unreasoned remark, but they cannot truly ever commit such a “sin unto death” “against the Holy Ghost”; for, as Paul clearly tells us, “the Spirit of God dwell in you” and “Christ be in you” and “the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you” (Romans 8:9-11); and, our Lord, Who dwelleth in us, “cannot deny himself” (II Timothy 2:13). Like Adam and David, we can certainly make our lives miserable by our sinful behavior, but it is not possible for “born again” Children of God to truly commit “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost”!