Unlimited: Stumble And Recovery | Good News Unlimited
Unlimited: Stumble and Recovery
May 19, 2025 875
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! (Romans 11:11a).
The apostle Paul has just quoted harsh words from Psalm 69 and applied them to Israel. You might be led to think that those Israelites who had rejected the Messiah had fallen beyond recovery.
But there is no one who can fall in their lives beyond recovery. There is no one who can fall so low that they are beyond the grace of God. Jesus taught that,
…every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven
It seems odd to me that while the main point of Jesus’ teaching here is that every sin can be forgiven, so many Christians use this verse to highlight the idea of the “unpardonable sin” (though no such expression is found in Scripture). Thus, they choose to emphasise the words:
…but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven (Matt.12:31.)
There is no one who can fall in their lives beyond recovery.
Blasphemy against the Spirit is simply the rejection of the Spirit’s offer of God’s forgiveness. It is an unwillingness to be forgiven.
Most of the Jewish people in Christ’s day had rejected him, abused, tortured, and crucified him, yet forgiveness was offered to them also (Acts 2:23–24, 37–39.) If you were to ask the apostle Paul if there is a sin that cannot be forgiven, his answer would be found in Romans 11:11.
Not at all!
Spiritual Application
There are many people today who reason, “If I cannot forgive myself, how could God ever forgive me?” But they forget that God is far more loving, merciful, compassionate, and powerful than we could ever imagine. Does this apply to your life? Is it time for you to surrender your sin fully to God and accept his forgiveness?
