Mary, being raised Catholic, was taught that there are different levels of sinning, and that some sins are not forgiven. Mary attended a small Bible study group I was part of, and she once made a statement that sounded like a mixture of assertion and question. It went something like this, “God doesn’t forgive all sins… right?” Mary had left the Catholic Church, and maybe she was inwardly hoping for an answer different from what she had been taught.
Now, I really don’t know much about the Catholic hierarchy of sins, but I do know what Jesus had to say on the subject…
“And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, … Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man (aka, Jesus) will be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
Jesus doesn’t seem to exclude much, when defining for us which sins are forgiven. I wonder; what part of “every” does the Catholic Church not understand?
I just stumbled upon your excellent blog and feel that I can help you here by clarifying the Catholic Church’s teaching on sin. I am afraid that Mary was not taught correctly. The Church teaches that there are two types of sin. Venial sin and mortal sin. The main difference being that unrepented venial sins are not a barrier to salvation but unrepented mortal sins are. There is no sin can cannot be forgiven when repented.
I also think it would be clearer to all if you quote verses 31-32 from Matthew in their entirety, i.e.,
31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
It is my understanding that the sin against the Holy Spirit is the unrepented mortal sin. I hope this helps explain the Catholic Church’s teaching a little bit better.
God Bless.
Thank you rabbrady. I really appreciate your help.
I do not believe Jesus forgives all sins.
Hebrews 10:26
This idea that a terrible evil person can magically be forgiven of all sins is one part of the Christian Faith I can not believe in.
There is such a thing as cause and effect. Karma
Hi Lola Hoi,
Thanks for commenting. Hebrews 10:26 says, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,” I believe this to be absolutely true. But I don’t think it conflicts with what I originally wrote.
Perhaps I should have added some clarification. My point is that there is no sin against Jesus this is unforgivable. It’s not sin that sends us to hell; it’s our response to sin.
For example, if we desire not to sin in the first place, yet sin anyway because of our lack of self-control (this is me on a daily basis); then our response to the sin is that we wish we hadn’t. This is what it means to be repentant.
Another example: if we intentionally sin, but then later realize our error and wish we had not sinned, then this is repentance as well.
But, if we intentionally sin, and keep on sinning without any remorse, then this is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. And note that remorse can come years later, like in my case; decades ago I sinned unceasingly, with no remorse. That was before I knew the truth of Jesus Christ. But now I feel remorse for all those past sins, and I am forgiven.
Again, it is not the sin that condemns us; it is our response. If we respond with remorse (i.e., repentance), than the nature of the sin doesn’t matter. We are forgiven because of our repentant response to the sin.
It all boils down to faith. It’s faith that can feed our love for Jesus, and it’s love for Jesus that can determine our response to our sinful ways. And it’s faith that allow us to believe in the love of Jesus, and that He does forgive us, not by magic, but by grace. We don’t deserve it, but He loves and forgives us anyway. As Jesus said many times, your faith has healed you.
By the way, there is absolutely cause and effect in this story. There must be justice; with justice there is an effect, which is the penalty for the crime. Our sin is the cause. The effect was that Jesus took upon himself the penalty for our sins. As Jesus himself said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:13-14)
By His love for us, Jesus laid down His life for us. All He asks of us is to obey His commands. Repenting of our sins is one way we obey.
To all who may read this, please believe in the magnitude of Jesus’ love for you.