At the end of John’s first epistle, he mentioned two different kinds of sins – one that leads to death and one that does not lead to death. What was he talking about? Is there a certain class of sins that God permits or tolerates and, therefore, allows them to go unpunished? Or does John mean something else? Notice what he wrote:
“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death” (1 John 5:16-17).
This is a difficult passage, and some portions of Scripture are like that (cf. 2 Peter 3:16). We must take care not to misinterpret it, but we can understand it (cf. Ephesians 3:4). To do this, we must seek to harmonize it with the rest of Scripture.Continue Reading
People sometimes have questions about sin and forgiveness. Are some sins unforgivable? If so, and they commit those sins, are they forever lost without any hope? These are important questions, and we need to examine the Bible to answer them.
For many religious people, when they talk about salvation, they talk about “getting” saved. It is common to hear phrases like these:
