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Unpardonable Sin Against the Holy Ghost
This non-Biblical English phrasing “unpardonable sin” of the New Testament idea of a sin that cannot forgiven (mentioned by Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, Mk. 3:28–29, Mt. 12:31–32, Lk. 12:10, as well as other New Testament passages including Hebrews 6:4–6, Hebrews 10:26–31, and 1 John 5:16, a sin unto death) dates to the 17th century. For example John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim’s Progress) wrote about it in 1659 in The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded, (republished in the 1751 edition, p.237-p.239); see also the introduction to an edition of The Pilgrim’s Progress about the Life of John Buyan, which discusses John Bunyan’s religious obsessive compulsive disorder (which would now be diagnosed as scupulosity): “The supposition however, that he had committed the unpardonable sin, had such an effect on Bunyan, that it not only distressed his mind, but made his very body tremble for many days together; and produced such a stoppage and heat at his stomach, as greatly disordered him.”
This Google Ngram viewer shows how old the usage of the term is in English, as early as 1611, peaking around the time of 1659 (see Bunyan, above), and then falling off almost to zero by the mid-18th century, with some reprinting of works discussing it, such as Robert Russel’s 1692 sermon being reprinted in 1763, or Bunyan’s 1659 The Doctrine being reprinted in 1751 and 1811. The esteemed John Wesley (founder of Methodism) weighed in on the subject in Sermon 86, 1778, “A Call To Backsliders,” where he discusses the idea at length and mentions the term “unpardonable” and “unpardonable sin.”
However, by the early 1790s the term skyrocketed in popularity until it hit its all-time peak around 1833. So the early 19th century is when it really took off, including:
- 1812, William Law (no, not that one) discusses the unpardonable sin in the context of the other two members of the Trinity, p.30–32.
- 1815, Nathanael Emmons speculates that the unpardonable sin can be committed in public only, a sin of the tongue.
- 1817, The New Evangelical Magazine reprinted a section of Mr. McLean’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews as “On the Unpardonable Sin,” p.321–p.326: (first mentions David falling “into the sin of adultery and deliberate murder; yet he repented and was forgiven,” cf. Alma 39 mentioning the same trifecta of worst sins, and McLean continues: “from this account of the unpardonable sin we may see, that it is not a simple transient act, or occasional transgression of a particular precept, but a wilful, total avowed apostacy from the faith of the gospel … a deep rooted and settled enmity of heart against Christ, his holy character, and the way of salvation through him.” I here point out that Christian ministers would never agree that writing critically about the Book of Mormon (which could be argued is a form of service to the Christian world) would put someone at risk of committing the unpardonable sin, but faithful, believing Latter-day Saints very likely would. They would assume such a critic had sinned against the greater light, yet the critic, in his research would surely be gaining more light, not less? How does that work? It’s all arbitrary and speculative, that’s how all of this theological running-in-circles works.
- 1825: reprints of a 1796 article of Rev. Andrew Fuller, where he expounds 1 John and explains how there could even be a sin outside of the power or the mercy of God, nor yet the efficacy of the Saviour’s blood. p.80–87. (Fuller even accusses unnamed ministers of being wolves in sheep’s clothing or hypocrites “under a mask of disguise,” and that some may even be guilty of the unpardonable sin, because of their sinning against the greater light, having learned to profess so much about Christ, yet not repenting themselves or changing their own ways, secretly hiding a sinful life.)
- 1827 reprint, Bishop William Beveridge, p.337 expounds the doctrine of the Trinity, in the context of an “unpardonable sin” described by Jesus, writing that those “who dare deny the Holy Ghost to be really and truly God, and so blaspheme and speak the worst that they can against him.” Yet another definition.
JS Jr.’s inclusion of the phrase unpardonable sin cannot be said to have been made in a theological vacuum, independently of the discusions of the time (or the previous two centuries really), especially the upswing in popularity of the term exactly as the Book of Mormon was being produced, in the 1820s and early 1830s. The Book of Mormon certainly jumped on that bandwagon.
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