What is the sin unto death?

In the inspired words of the Apostle John, we must recognize this portion of one verse is a very small part of a much larger Epistle. Though 1 John is not a lengthy letter, it still has a larger, surrounding context. Romans 6:23 reads, "The wages of sin is death," but that is not what the sacred writer was dealing with in this verse because he wrote conversely in 1 John 5: 17, "There is a sin not unto death."

What had the Apostle been dealing with in this Epistle? John had just returned from his exile on the Isle of Patmos. He was well over one hundred years old, was the last living of the original Apostles personally chosen by Christ during His earthly ministry, and had seen many of the conditions revealed to him in the Revelation working on the church. The ship of the faith was veering off course because of the winds of apostasy blowing fiercely upon it. 

In this letter, the Apostle was working to steer the church back on course. He spoke of those who said they had "fellowship with him, and walk in darkness" (1 John 1:6). He proceeded to address those who "deceive" themselves (1 John 1:8). John even went further and rebuked those who "saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother" (1 John 2:9). He boldly declared they were "in darkness even until now" (1 John 2:9). In Chapter 2 (this letter was penned in the proximity of A.D. 100), he warned, "Even now are there many antichrists" (1 John 2:18). John sadly stated, "They went out from us" (1 John 2:19).

When viewing the overall tenor of the Epistle, we see John was dealing with spirits that were loose (1 John 4:1) and working and producing apostates and antichrists. The sacred Hebrew writer spoke of those who "it is impossible ... to renew them" (Hebrews 6:4-6). The Hebrew writer dealt with much the same issue. In the verse in question (1 John 5:16), John was speaking of "death" in this text as a finality. He was speaking of the same sin Jesus spoke of in Matthew 12:31-32 concerning "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." This text pronounces the sobering words that this "shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." This chilling warning is recorded in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:29; Luke 12:10). 

Mark 3:29 states, "He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." This is why Jesus repeated seven times in the seven letters of Revelation (representing the seven periods of the Gospel Day), "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).

First John 5:16 is sadly speaking of a people who, as the songwriter, Brother B. E. Warren penned, "Slighted, the warnings repeated, Leave you in Satan's control; And with all heaven rejected, Lost your soul." This verse is addressing the terrible condition of those who have crossed the line, or as 2 Chronicles 36:16 says, they were in a position where "there was no remedy." When this occurs, 1 John 5:16 says, "I do not say that he shall pray for it." The Lord essentially said the same thing to the Prophet Samuel concerning King Saul, saying, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him?" (1 Samuel 16:1).
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I trust it is plain how the Apostle used the expression "death" in this text. In verse 17, he wrote, "There is a sin not unto death," making it clear that he intended verse 16 as speaking of finality, that sin against the Holy Ghost. May God help each of us that we ever keep an attentive ear and open heart to "hear what the Spirit saith."

Earl R. Borders

From the January 2024 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter