{"id":90818,"date":"2025-09-26T22:08:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T03:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=90818"},"modified":"2025-09-26T22:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T03:08:03","slug":"can-you-be-forgiven-if-you-intentionally-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-forgiven-if-you-intentionally-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you be forgiven if you intentionally sin?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Hello,<\/p>\n

I was told by my parents (who are a deacon and a deaconess in a church) that if someone sins intentionally (meaning that they know what they’re doing is a sin), God would not forgive them. Is that true?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

I assume your parents are thinking of: “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins<\/em>” (Hebrews 10:26). Draw your attention to the phrase “go on sinning<\/em>.” It refers to continuing in willful sins. Not all translations make this clear, but in Greek, it refers to continuing in willful sins. There is no forgiveness while a person remains in sin. This passage does not address the person who sinned but then turned from his sins. See\u00a0A Sin Leading to Death<\/a>” for more details.<\/p>\n

God does not withhold forgiveness. He wants everyone to repent (II Peter 3:9), and that would include people who intentionally sinned. However, if a person refuses to repent, then there will be no forgiveness. Esau is an example of such a person. “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance<\/strong>, though he sought for it with tears<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:15-17). Esau wanted the benefits of living godly without giving up his sins, and such a thing cannot happen.<\/p>\n

Also, see: “Can you be forgiven in old age if you willfully sinned in your youth?<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Hello, I was told by my parents (who are a deacon and a deaconess in a church) that if someone sins intentionally (meaning that they know what they’re doing is a sin), God would not forgive them. Is that true? Answer: I assume your parents are thinking of: “For if we go on sinning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[705,179,863],"class_list":["post-90818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-intentions","tag-sin","tag-willful-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-willful-sins-irremissible\/","url_meta":{"origin":90818,"position":0},"title":"Are willful sins irremissible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I repented wholeheartedly and believed that I would never (willfully) sin again.\u00a0 I was determined to not sin.\u00a0 I was overjoyed to be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins because I knew what Jesus went through to make it possible, and I thought that surely I would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45281,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-willfully-sinning-blaspheming-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":90818,"position":1},"title":"Is willfully sinning blaspheming the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm ashamed of my sin. I know you and others say that God forgives, but I committed the sin willingly. Is that not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that Jesus discussed? Answer: We need to get a good definition of what blasphemy is: Smith Bible Dictionary: \"in its technical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54363,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-know-jesus-forgives-mortal-sins-we-are-traumatized-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":90818,"position":2},"title":"How can we know Jesus forgives mortal sins we are traumatized over?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm just enquiring if you can help me. I read comments about sin on your site. My question is: How can we know Jesus forgives mortal sins we are traumatized over? Answer: The Roman Catholic church uses the term \"mortal sins,\" instead of just saying \"sins.\" Even though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2426,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-what-if-we-sin-willfully-in-hebrews-1026-means\/","url_meta":{"origin":90818,"position":3},"title":"Can you explain what “if we sin willfully” in Hebrews 10:26 means?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am confused at what I am reading in\u00a0Hebrews 10:26-27: \"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries\" (ESV). I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-continue-to-ask-for-forgiveness-if-jesus-died-for-all-our-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":90818,"position":4},"title":"Why continue to ask for forgiveness if Jesus died for all our sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend and I found a small church to attend, but their pastor prays at the beginning of their service asking for forgiveness of their sins. This made me wonder: Jesus died on the cross for us and he put the past, present, and future sins on that cross\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-blasphemy-of-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":90818,"position":5},"title":"What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Mark 3 it talks about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and we do not understand what that means. Maybe you can explain that so we can understand. Answer: The passage you are referring to says: \"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}