| Once saved, always saved -- difficult passages explained |
Once saved, always saved -- difficult passages explained
Mark 3:22-30, NKJV
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said,"He has Beelzebub," and, "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."
23 So He called them to Himself 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 And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.
27 No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
28 "Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter;
29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" --
30 because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."Matthew 12:22-32, NKJV
22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.
23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
31 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
That Jesus was working mighty miracles among the people of His day was undeniable. The lame walked, the dumb spoke, the deaf heard, the dead arose and the demon-possessed were set free.
The religious scribes and Pharisees who were against Jesus could not ignore or deny the miracles performed by Him, especially those that were done right before their eyes and in front a large crowd of witnesses. So they had two choices: To attribute Jesus' miraculous powers to the Spirit of God, or to attribute His powers to a demonic spirit. Of course, they did the second.
Jesus told the people that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28). But the scribes said to the people, "He has Beelzebub. By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons." The Pharisees said the same thing: "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
In other words, they credited the wonderful and gracious works of God that were setting oppressed folks free to the most evil being -- Beelzebub, the prince of demons. They rejected the obvious truth before them and perversely twisted it to influence the crowds. By doing this, they were also implying that Jesus was a sorcerer in league with Satan.
That was how hardened and firmly set their hearts were against accepting Jesus as the Messiah. They kept rejecting the Christ despite all the proof given by the Holy Spirit. Their blaspheming against the Holy Spirit was equivalent to rejecting Christ with such finality that no future repentance was possible.
This is the unpardonable or unforgivable sin -- permanently rejecting all attempts of the Holy Spirit to draw one to Christ. Pre-cross, the Holy Spirit's role was to empower Jesus to perform all sorts of miracles (Luke 4:18, Acts 10:38), thereby proving that He is the Messiah. Post-cross, the Holy Spirit's role is to confirm the gospel with signs and wonders (Acts 14:3. Romans 15:18-20), as well as to convict the world of sin (John 16:8-9). What sin is that? It is the sin of all sins -- unbelief in the Christ, which only non-believers can be convicted of.
The unpardonable sin is not this idea of speaking generally against the Holy Spirit. For example, some Christians believe that they are on their way to hell because they had a bad thought towards the Holy Spirit or because they had said some unkind words to Him. Then, there are some Charismatic Christians who say that traditional Christians who attribute speaking in tongues, holy laughter or miraculous healings to demons have committed the unpardonable sin. They say that such Christians have spoken against the Holy Spirit and are thus hell-bound. All that is simply not true and it just shows a lack of understanding of what blaspheming against the Holy Spirit really is. Those who believe such nonsense should read the verses again in context.
When the scribes and Pharisees spoke against the Holy Spirit, it was because their hearts were already firmly set against accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Their sin was the permanent rejection of Christ as their Saviour. But when traditional Christians speak unknowingly and unintentionally against the Holy Spirit by attributing tongues, holy laughter and other supernatural manifestations to demons, it simply shows their ignorance of Scripture and even their fear of the supernatural.
They simply do not believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still for today. Most of them are just naive and do not know any better. Therefore, they attribute supernatural manifestations in the church to trickery, psychology, science or demons. But they are certainly not rejecting Jesus as their Saviour. How can they be when they are already Christians? And they are certainly not out to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. Why would any Christian want to speak against the Spirit of God?
Case 2: 'Not all who call Me Lord, Lord...'
Matthew 7:21
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
A rule of thumb in Bible study is to interpret difficult verses in the light of simple, clear-cut ones. We cannot build doctrines on one or two difficult verses.
That said, many have taken the above verse to mean that Christians can lose their salvation if they do not do what God tells them to do. To them, the "will of my Father" means just about everything God tells them to do.
But if that is true, who can enter heaven? Who can obey God perfectly all the time?
Obviously, the "will of my Father" here is not to be interpreted generally as "anything and everything that God tells us to do". So, what is it, specifically?
The context of the verse is salvation -- "enter the kingdom of heaven". So, the Father's "will" should relate, specifically, to salvation, and it does.
John 6:29
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."John 6:39
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.John 6:40
40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."1 John 3:23
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to
love one another as he commanded us.
God's will in Matthew 7:21 is simply salvation for man. In fact, He is not willing that anyone should perish.
Matthew 18:14
14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
How, then, do we fulfil the will of God in Matthew 7:21? What should we do? Actually, there's nothing we can do except to believe, since everything that needs to be done for man to be saved has already been done perfectly by Christ Jesus. We cannot add to it. Our part is simply to believe.
John 6:29
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."1 John 3:23
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
So, in Matthew 7:21, Jesus is saying that only those who believe in Him will enter the kingdom of heaven. He is not saying that He will reject some Christians because they were not obedient enough. If entering heaven depended on our obedience, we would all fry -- and rightfully so!
Case 3: 'I never knew you...'
Matthew 7:22,23
22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
"On that day" refers to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He returns to earth in power and great glory (Matthew 24:30) to reign as King for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4,6).
At that time, many non-believers will call Him "Lord" out of fear or because it will be apparent to them that He is the Christ. But it will be too late then. The time is up. They should have believed earlier. They can't be saved now by calling Him "Lord" since faith is no longer required -- they can see with their own eyes that Jesus is Lord.
Therefore, Jesus will tell these people that He never knew them and to depart from Him. After all, they never had a personal relationship with Him, and calling Him "Lord" then will just be a vain attempt to start one.
But how can we be sure that these people are not Christians who had, at some point in their lives, lost their salvation (assuming that it is possible for a Christian to lose his salvation)?
The clue lies in the word "never" when Jesus says, "I never knew you". If Jesus is addressing Christians who had "lost their salvation", He would be lying if He said "never" because He would have known them at least once -- perhaps the first 10 years of their Christian life before they "lost their salvation".
So, who are these people who prophesied, drove out demons and performed miracles?
It must be noted that the "evildoers" themselves are making these claims, not Jesus. It sure sounds like they are saying those things in a desperate attempt to gain the Lord's recognition and acceptance.
Perhaps it will be Syed Baba, some Taoist spiritualist or a cult leader saying those things "on that day", with a misguided belief that they had performed all those counterfeit miracles in the name of God, whom they now realise is Jesus.
Today, such non-believers do have demonic power to sort "heal" the sick, "tell" the future and "drive out" another demon if the demon whom they serve holds a higher authority in Satan's kingdom.
Such exorcists often invoke a higher spirit to get rid of a lower one. But a demon's retreat which draws attention to another of Satan's servants would only be a strategic retreat. The "deliverance" is thus not long-lasting and worse, it usually comes with a price -- the demon doing the job will want something in return.
Case 4: If you deny Him, He will deny you
11This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. 12 If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Let the Bible interpret the Bible. Is there a similar passage in the Bible that helps us understand what Paul is saying?
Yes, there is in the gospel of Matthew. Here Jesus Himself talks about disowning Him:
Matthew 10:32-35
32 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
If you look at the context of Matthew 10, Jesus is talking to the Jews about Him coming to the earth or Israel, and the Jews acknowledging or not acknowledging Him as their Messiah.
So He, like Paul, is telling the Jews, "Look if you reject, deny or disown Me as Messiah, I will also reject, deny and disown you."
The gospel of Matthew is written to the Jews. That is why the term "kingdom of heaven" appears rather than "kingdom of God". The Jews don't say the name of God because they fear taking God's name in vain. It is the reason Messianic Jews spell "God" as "G_d".
So 2 Timothy 2:11-13 is not talking about a Christian losing his salvation because he chooses to deny or disown Christ. (Whenever we make such statements, we are ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian.)
What is comforting though is that same passage says that when we are faithless, Jesus remains faithful. So even during those difficult times when you are angry at God and you turn away from Him and even deny Him, "He remains faithful" and will help you get back on your feet again!
Here is a verse in that helps us understand what "He remains faithful" means. Again let the Bible interpret the Bible.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9, NIV
8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Case 5: Those who 'fall away'
Hebrews 6:4-8
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,
6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.
8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
The book of Hebrews (as its name implies) was written to Jewish believers and non-believers, not so much to the Gentile church, although Gentile Christians can benefit greatly by reading the book. Contrast this book to Paul's epistles to the churches and the difference is quite clear. In fact, the very first verse of the book of Hebrews tells us, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways." The author says, "our forefathers", which means that he is addressing his fellow Jews because God spoke to their forefathers through the prophets. So unless you are a Jew, "our forefathers" does not include your forefathers.
The Jews were deeply entrenched in the laws, customs and sacrifices of Judaism. That is why Hebrews focuses on the fact that Jesus is the final sacrifice and the High Priest of high priests, and that He supersedes Moses, Abraham and all the other heroes of faith mentioned in the Old Testament (Hebrews 12:2).
Due to spiritual blindness (John 12:40, Romans 11:7), the Jews had failed to recognise Jesus as the Messiah. They rejected His message of salvation by grace and crucified Him.
Now, after knowing better -- having "been enlightened", having had the gospel explained to them via the Apostles, having seen miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit in Acts -- if they continue to reject Christ, they are in a sense putting Jesus back on the cross -- "crucifying the Son of God all over again".
In fact, in chapter 2, the author already gives them this warning:
Hebrews 2:3
3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
Is it possible that persons "who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age" can be non-believers?
Yes. Judas Iscariot was one such person. He had been with Jesus for about three years, sat under His teaching and even seen the power Jesus demonstrated through the Holy Spirit. Yet, Judas was not a believer. He never addressed Jesus as "Lord". You cannot find this in the Bible. Judas had only addressed Jesus as "Master" (Matthew 26:25).
Similarly, today, there are many people who have "tasted" Jesus and the gospel, seen miracles performed right in front of them or even on them, and yet turn away from God. They are the "land" that has been rained on, yet does not produce any crop but thorns and thistles only (verse 8).
Note also that the verse only says "enlightened", "tasted" and "shared". These are not words the Bible associates with being saved. We know that salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). We don't get saved by being "enlightened", by "tasting" or by "sharing". All that is good but we must still believe in our hearts and confess Jesus as our Lord and righteousness (Romans 10:9).
Finally, let's not forget to read verses 9 and 10 as well.
9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case--things that accompany salvation.
10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
Here, the writer suddenly shifts his focus to the "beloved", as opposed to those who have tasted and rejected Christ. He tells them that although he has said those negative things (verses 4 to 6, 8), he is confident of better things in their case, "things that accompany salvation", not condemnation. He goes on to assure them that God is not unrighteous to forget their works of love done in the name of Jesus.
Again, these two verses show that there are two groups being addressed in the entire passage: Those who reject Christ after hearing the gospel (Hebrews 2:3) and those who are already saved. So, any Christian who feels afraid after reading verses 4 to 6 and 8 because he thinks that they address believers, should read verses 9 and 10 as well to know that the latter verses are not referring to Christians.
Case 6: Those who 'sin wilfully'
Hebrews 10:26-30
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
Christians have used this passage to say that if a Christian sins wilfully, he will lose his salvation. If you think about it, most of the sins that we commit after we are saved are wilful sins! We know that we should not do it, yet we choose to do it. Does that mean that the majority of Christians are on their way to hell? The suggestion itself is ridiculous.
Christians have also used this passage to say that if a Christian keeps sinning, he will lose his salvation. In the first place, a Christian does not keep sinning or live a lifestyle of sin. Paul made it clear when he said, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)
So if the wilful sin here has nothing to do with a Christian sinning today, albeit wilfully, what is it then?
As explained in Case 3, Hebrews is written mainly to the believing and unbelieving Jews. Under the old covenant of law, the priests had to offer animal sacrifices for the sins of the Israelites year after year because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), but only cover their sins until the next sacrifice. That is why these animal sacrifices could not make the offerers perfect (Hebrews 10:1). Neither could they clear the offerers' consciousness of sins. In fact, they reminded them of their sins (Hebrews 10:3), causing them to have a sin consciousness or what the Bible calls an "evil conscience" (Hebrews 10:22).
But now that the true Lamb of God has come and taken away their sins (John 1:29) once for all (Hebrews 7:27) through one perfect sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 10:12) to end all animal sacrifices, if the Jews continue to reject the Christ, "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins" (verse 26). Christ is it. If they reject Him as their sacrifice for sins, there is no other sacrifice for sins that they can turn to. The system of animal sacrifices has ended or expired. Christ is not going to come down to die for them again. Neither does God the Father have a "plan B" of some sort. Christ is it!
So the wilful sin of the Jews here would be to reject their Messiah. It would be wilful because they would be rejecting Christ "after we have received knowledge of the truth" (verse 26). So there were many Jews who rejected the Christ after the truth of the gospel was preached to them. And the Jews who did this "trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace" (verse 29).
To count the blood a "common thing" is to put the eternal blood of the Son of God on the same level as the temporal blood of animals. To insult the Spirit of grace is to slap God's hand of grace, to reject the covenant of grace, to reject the Holy Spirit, and to go back under law, works and sacrifices.
This was the unpardonable, wilful sin of many of the unbelieving Jews. And the result was "a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries" (verse 27). Did such a terrible judgment come to pass? Yes, their temple in Jerusalem was burned and utterly destroyed by the Romans in AD70.
Jewish historian Flavius Josephus records that 1,100,000 Jews were killed in Jerusalem and that some 97,000 others were taken as slaves into captivity. It has been estimated that some 1,337,490 Jews in Jerusalem (and in the regions adjacent to Judea) died -- by famine, by the sword, by burning and by crucifixion (Wars 6.9.3-4). Some scholars believe that even these figures are too conservative. In fact, Josephus himself expressed the view that the suffering of this holocaust exceeded anything known to man previously (Wars, Preface, 4; 9.4).
On the other hand, the Christians who were in Jerusalem at the time recognised the assault upon the city by Cestius Gallus as the fulfillment of the words of their Lord: "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place' (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." (Matthew 24:15-16). It is said that every Christian in the city fled. Most of them went to Pella in Decapolis, as they had been instructed.
So the author of Hebrews, which I believe is Paul, was addressing his fellow Jewish brothers, both the believing and the unbelieving. For those who refused to believe in Jesus, it was a warning. For those who believed, it was an exhortation to hold on their faith and not "draw back" (Hebrews 10:38). This does not mean that many of the believing Jews drew back by renouncing their faith and thus lost their salvation. The passage does not say that. In fact, Paul said, "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." (Hebrews 10:39)
Case 7: Those who 'turn their backs'
2 Peter 2:20,21
20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Who are "they" here? It becomes clear when we read the whole chapter. In fact, verse 1 already tells us that "they" are the "false teachers" (and the like) who deny Christ. And people who deny Christ cannot be Christians.
2 Peter 2:1
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
The entire chapter talks about the terribly sinful lifestyles of these people and the punishment that awaits them. Besides introducing "destructive heresies", they are "not afraid to slander celestial beings", "blaspheme in matters they do not understand", behave like "brute beasts", "carouse in broad daylight", have "eyes full of adultery", "every stop sinning", are "experts in greed", "appeal to the lustful desires of sinful human nature" and so on. People who live like that are certainly not Christians.
Romans 6:2
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?1 John 3:6,9
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
In fact, Peter makes a distinction between such "ungodly" and "lawless" people, and "righteous" and "godly" Christians, when he talks about Noah's flood, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In other words, there is a clear "they" (the lawless non-believers) and "you" (the Christian) differentiation.
2 Peter 2:5-9
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
The last verse in this chapter also shows us that Peter is not talking about Christians.
2 Peter 2:22
22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
The Bible usually refers to believers as "sheep" and non-believers as "goats" or "wolves". Here, the terms "dog" and "sow" are used. Straightaway, we know that the verse is not referring to Christians.
Also, it does not say "a sheep transforms into a dog again and returns to its vomit". Once you are born again and have become a "sheep" belonging to the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, you cannot lose your salvation and turn back into a goat or dog again! You will never find such analogies in the Bible. Nature itself teaches us that -- a butterfly cannot change back into a caterpillar.
Finally, "knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" or having "known the way of righteousness" (verses 20 and 21) does not make one a Christian. There are Bible scholars who know Jesus Christ and the gospel, and yet are not Christians.
There are people who have attended church for many years who are not born again. My friend's mother was one such person. We both thought that she was a Christian, since she had been attending an Anglican church for many years. One Sunday morning, she attended our church service. When our Pastor gave the altar call, to our surprise, she raised her hand, went to the front and prayed to receive Jesus Christ into her heart.
The KJV translation shows more clearly that verses 20 and 21 refer only to head knowledge of Jesus Christ and not genuine conversion:
2 Peter 2:20,21
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
In fact, in verse 21, it says that the "way of righteousness" was only "delivered" to them, to which they rejected it by turning their backs on it. A person who has been shown the way of righteousness -- Jesus Christ -- yet turn his back on the Saviour, is obviously not a Christian.
Case 8: The sin unto death
1 John 5:16
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
This verse has been used to say that a Christian who commits the "sin unto death" is beyond hope, and will ultimately lose his salvation and end up in hell. Is this true? To answer the question, we have to know just what the "sin unto death" is.
Instead of relying on man's interpretation, let the Bible interpret the Bible. Does the Bible talk about the sin unto death elsewhere? Yes, it does:
Romans 6:16
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
From this verse, we know that the "sin unto death" is the opposite of "obedience unto righteousness". And in the context, "obedience unto righteousness" simply means obeying the gospel or believing in Jesus as your Saviour and thus becoming righteous by faith.
So the opposite of that, which is the "sin unto death", would be the rejection of Christ as your Saviour. That is the unpardonable sin (see Case 1). That is the wilful sin (see Case 5).
What about the use of the term "brother"? Does not "brother" refer to Christians? Not necessarily. In the Bible, "brother" can also refer to the unbelieving Jews. Paul, for instance, often called the unbelieving Sadducees and Pharisees "my brothers":
Acts 13:38, NIV
38 "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.Acts 23:1, NIV
1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."Acts 23:6, NIV
6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead."
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