An honest question
Does God forgive everything? Is there an unforgivable sin?
Key points
- Short answer: Yes. Jesus said, “All sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven.”
- What Jesus did: Jesus forgave people before they had fixed anything.
- The Lutheran view: Lutherans say forgiveness is something God speaks to you, not something you earn by feeling sorry enough.
The short answer
Yes. Jesus said, “All sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven.” Nothing you have done is too big for God to forgive.
If you are worried that you have committed the “unforgivable sin,” that worry is itself a sign you haven’t.
What Jesus said and did
Jesus forgave people before they had fixed anything. He forgave a paralyzed man let down through a roof. He forgave a woman everyone at a dinner looked down on, and a tax collector up a tree. When Peter asked how many times he had to forgive, Jesus said seventy times seven: stop counting.
In the same breath as “all sins will be forgiven,” Jesus warned about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. He said it to religious leaders who had watched him heal someone and called the healing the devil’s work. They were refusing God’s goodness when it stood right in front of them.
A little longer
Most Christians understand the “unforgivable sin” as a settled, lasting refusal of God’s forgiveness, not one terrible act or thought. Forgiveness can’t be received by someone who will not have it. That is the only limit.
People who lie awake afraid they have committed it are, by definition, not refusing God. They want to be forgiven. That desire is the Holy Spirit at work, not gone.
Being forgiven doesn’t mean what happened didn’t matter, and it doesn’t mean trusting someone who hurt you again. It means God won’t hold it against you.
Where Christians disagree
Christians agree God’s forgiveness is wide. They differ on what has to happen first: some stress being sorry and changing, others stress that forgiveness comes first and change grows out of it. They also differ on whether a person can lose faith for good.
How Lutherans see it
Lutherans say forgiveness is something God speaks to you, not something you earn by feeling sorry enough. That is why Lutheran worship begins with confession, and the pastor saying out loud that you are forgiven. Luther told troubled people to hold on to two words: “for you.”
Where it is in the Bible
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Mark 3:22–30 All sins forgiven; the warning, and who it was for.
Read Mark 3:22–30
22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.” 23 He summoned them, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can’t stand, but has an end. 27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder unless he first binds the strong man; then he will plunder his house. 28 Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; 29 but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.” 30 —because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Matthew 18:21–22 Forgive seventy times seven.
Read Matthew 18:21–22
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
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Luke 7:36–50 “Your sins are forgiven.” Said at a dinner, in front of everyone.
Read Luke 7:36–50
36 One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table. 37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.” 40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.” 41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?” 43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
What do these words mean?
| The word | It means |
|---|---|
| Sin | Anything that turns us away from God and from loving other people. |
| Holy Spirit | God present and at work in people now, giving faith and comfort. |
| Faith | Trust in God. Lutherans say it is a gift God gives, not something you work up. |
| Confession | Telling God, and sometimes a pastor, what you have done wrong. |
| Pastor | A church leader who preaches, teaches and cares for people. |
Tap a word for more. All 228 church words: the glossary, A to Z
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Other questions people ask
Written by Digital Lutheran Church, a small, free website from the nonprofit Hope for Americans, in the tradition of the ELCA. Bible passages are from the World English Bible.