Is Suicide the Unforgivable Sin? |
Matthew 27:3–9; Acts 1:18–19 Every year in the United States, approximately 1.6 million people attempt suicide, and 50,000 people die from it. It is the eleventh leading cause of death in this country, and men are nearly four times more likely than women to die from it.1 Nearly everyone knows of someone or has a relative who has attempted suicide or died from it. If you are one of the few who haven't been touched by this tragedy, consider yourself fortunate. It is by far one of the saddest and most heartbreaking realities we face in this fallen world, and it underscores the crisis of mental health and spiritual emptiness that grips our society. Though it is not the unforgivable sin, as many wrongly suppose, it nevertheless must be as a sin — as an act of self-murder. - We are all created in the image of God, and therefore our lives matter and have inherent value.
Anyone who teaches the Bible should not avoid this subject just because it's uncomfortable to think or talk about. Many people we encounter walk in silent pain, wishing they could talk with someone about their thoughts, feelings, and struggles. One of the worst things we can do is avoid addressing suicidal thoughts, because God wants us to be delivered from the temptation to think it is an escape, the only way to solve life's difficulties or hardships. God's grace and power far exceed our understanding, and His transforming love can rescue anyone even in their darkest and most hopeless moments. The Bible records six instances of suicide. Not surprisingly, the first one is in the book of Judges, which covers a dark period in Israel's history. Abimelech, the son of Gideon and a judge of Israel, commands his armor-bearer to take his life after Abimelech's skull was fractured by a large millstone dropped on his head from a tall tower by a woman. Because he was more concerned about his reputation than anything else ("Draw your sword and kill me, or they'll say about me, 'A woman killed him'" [Judges 9:54 CSB]), he chose to end his own life via proxy. One of the more famous suicides is that of King Saul, Israel's disgraced first king, who was wounded by archers in battle with the Philistines. He, too, commanded his armor-bearer to strike him down rather than let him die at the hands of the Philistines. The armor-bearer was too afraid to lift his hand against God's chosen king of Israel, so Saul fell on his own sword, followed shortly after by the armor-bearer himself, who took his own life as well (1 Samuel 31:4–6). Next is the story of Ahithophel, former adviser to King David, who betrayed him in the conspiracy with Absalom, David's son, to usurp the throne. When Ahithophel's advice to Absalom in the skirmish with David was not heeded, he considered himself useless, both to the king's son and to the king he had betrayed, and he hanged himself (2 Samuel 17:23). Another Israelite king, Zimri, who had killed Elah, the previous of Israel, along with all his family and friends, also took his own life after just seven days of serving as king, the shortest reign in Israel's history. When the army loyal to King Elah heard of Zimri's murder and treachery, they named their own commander, Omri, as a rival king and went after Zimri. When the city Zimri lived in was captured, he set fire to his own royal palace and died in it (1 Kings 16:18). Before we turn to the suicide of Judas Iscariot, note that some commentators think that Samson was guilty of suicide in Judges 16, but the Bible never portrays his death as such. Rather, he is seen as sacrificing his own life in the war against the Philistines for the sake of the people of Israel. Praying to the Lord for strength, which was granted to him, he pushed against the two middle pillars of the temple, where his enemies were gloating over him. The temple collapsed and killed them all, which led to his own death as well. Scripture states that those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed in his life. — Judges 16:30 CSB Interestingly, the Bible lists Samson as one of the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11:32. Despite his shortcomings and obvious sins, Samson was regarded as a warrior who fought for the cause of the Lord and the Israelites in the Old Testament. His status as a hero of the faith wouldn't have merit had he committed suicide. Rather, his death was seen as a self-sacrifice. By far, the most controversial and well-known suicide in the Bible is that of Judas, one of the twelve disciples Jesus lived with and trained for ministry. Judas is infamously known as the betrayer (Matthew 27:3), the coward who sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders who were plotting to kill Jesus. Judas was not a true believer. Jesus pronounced him spiritually unclean at the Lord's Supper (John 13:10–11). Earlier in John, Jesus said, figuratively speaking, that Judas… Continue reading on the blog... |
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God's grace covers all our sins — past, present, and future — if one is truly saved. |
God's grace covers all our sins — past, present, and future — if one is truly saved. |
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was "a devil" (6:70).2 Satan himself was said to have entered Judas (13:27), a true sign that he was an unbeliever who could be possessed and used by Satan. Later, Jesus would refer to Judas in his prayer for his disciples as the lost one, the "son of destruction," whose role as the betrayer was a part of God's sovereign plan "so that the Scripture may be fulfilled" (17:12 CSB). Judas's impending judgment for his treachery was so bleak that Jesus pronounced a woe on him and said, It would be better for him if he had not been born. — Matthew 26:24 John called him "a thief" (John 12:6), with his lust for money on display in his betrayal of Jesus (Matthew 26:14–15). Peter's attitude was that this betrayer of Jesus "left to go where he belongs" (Acts 1:25 CSB), a likely reference to hell. The betrayal itself was especially heinous. A prearranged sign was agreed on between Judas and those who came to arrest Jesus — a kiss, a Middle Eastern custom used as a sign of affection between those who were quite familiar with each other, perhaps even friends. Michael Card captured the horrific nature of this betrayal: "Why did it have to be a friend who chose to betray the Lord? Why did he use a kiss to show them? That's not what a kiss is for."3 The Bible says that Judas later regretted and felt guilty about his decision to betray Jesus, saying he had sinned by betraying innocent blood (Matthew 27:4). Once he saw Jesus condemned by the Jewish and Roman authorities, he tried to give back the money the chief priests and elders had bought him off with, but to no avail. They didn't care about the money; they were interested in only one thing — Jesus. Judas ended up tossing the money back into the temple courts, and the chief priests refused to use it for temple purposes because it was "blood money" (Matthew 27:6). Instead, they bought an open field as a place where strangers (people known by no one) who died in Jerusalem would be buried. The field was known as the "potter's field," apparently because its dirt had a claylike texture used for the making of pottery. The field was then renamed "Field of Blood," since it was bought with the blood money (27:8). Luke tells us that since the field was bought with Judas's money ("unrighteous wages"), it was as though Judas had bought the field himself (Acts 1:18 CSB). After tossing the money back, Judas went out and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5). The graphic detail of his suicide is described by Luke: He fell headfirst, his body burst open and his intestines spilled out. — Acts 1:18 CSB Commentator Darrell Bock suggests that "this kind of gruesome detail matches the description of the death of Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:23, making a similar point about God's judgment."4 Many have tried to reconcile the idea that Judas hanged himself with that of him falling headfirst, since hanging by the neck wouldn't necessarily give the idea of the head falling before the body fell. But taking the Matthew and Acts passages together doesn't seem to present a problem if Judas hanged himself and then after the hanging fell in a way that caused his head to fall first and his body to rupture.5 Bock remarks, "The image is vivid and graphic, intended not only to describe but also to leave an emotive impression on readers to prevent their following Judas's negative example of unfaithfulness and betrayal."6 The preacher/teacher who teaches on this passage should recognize several things. First, as we've said, Judas was never a true believer. John teaches that those who may have once professed to be followers of Christ may eventually demonstrate through defection and apostasy that they never were believers to begin with: They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us. — 1 John 2:19 CSB Many people have walked away from Jesus (John 6:66) in spite of having full knowledge of who he was, even after seeing or experiencing evidence of his divine power. And the writer of the letter to the Hebrews seems to suggest that those who do walk away will never circle back and genuinely repent (6:4–6). It is the ultimate rejection, despite all the evidence. Judas clearly rejected Jesus. Second, the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow is clearly evidenced in this text. Judas may have felt guilty for his sin of betrayal, but it did not lead him to truly repent. Paul tells us, Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death. — 2 Corinthians 7:10 CSB In Judas's story, we do not see him embrace the kind of repentance that leads to "times of refreshing" (Acts 3:19), the kind that erases sin and brings about salvation. Rather, Judas continued in his rebellion by murdering himself. This is not to suggest that anyone who takes their own life sins in such a way that they are destined for hell. Surely believers can fall prey to this temptation in moments of weakness. It is not, as we suggested earlier, the unpardonable sin. - God's grace covers all our sins — past, present, and future — if one is truly saved.
Remember, the Bible makes it clear that Judas never believed in Jesus, and that his greed, betrayal, and subsequent suicide reveal a heart rooted in rebellion — one that stayed rebellious all the way to death. He intentionally rejected and turned away from the grace of God made available to him in Christ. Third, and finally, this passage will always be challenging when there are people in your audience who have been impacted by, thought about, or attempted suicide. A gentle and compassionate manner of communicating when teaching this text is essential. You must be prepared to give people hope by proclaiming the availability of the grace that covers all sin. ~ Eric J. Bargerhuff |
- "Suicide Statistics," American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, accessed February 17, 2025, https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/.
- For more on the difference between Jesus saying to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matthew 16:23) and Jesus calling Judas a devil in John 6, see my book The Most Misused Stories in the Bible: Surprising Ways God's Word Is Misunderstood (Baker, 2017), 111–12.
- Michael Card, "Why?," track 6 on Known by the Scars (Sparrow Records, 1984).
- Darrell L. Bock, Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2007), 84.
- In The Acts of the Apostles (Pillar New Testament Commentary [Eerdmans, 2009], 124–25), David Peterson makes another suggestion: "There is also the possibility that the Greek expression prenes genomenos in v. 18 means 'swelling up' instead of 'falling headlong', in which case we can imagine the corpse becoming bloated in the heat and bursting open while still hanging. Whatever the precise meaning, the sense of the passage is that this was a form of divine retribution for his evil betrayal of Jesus (cf. 12:23 note)."
- Bock, Acts, 85.
Excerpted with permission from What's God Saying Here? by Eric J. Bargerhuff, Matthew D. Kim, copyright Eric J. Bargerhuff, Matthew D. Kim. * |
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Has your life been affected by suicide? Have you wondered if it's the unpardonable sin? Those we love who struggle with suicidal ideation need our prayers and support, for sure, but you can be comforted knowing that if they are Jesus followers, God's grace covers all of their sins. Past present, and future. ~ Devotionals Daily |
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How to Navigate Awkward, Troubling, and Bizarre Passages We Would Rather Skip |
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Preachers and teachers are expected in Scripture to teach the whole counsel of God. Yet, in the Bible, God says some rather odd things, and strange things seem to happen. The natural tendency for preachers and teachers alike is to skip over such troubling texts. We tend to cherry pick from passages that we like and conveniently stray from texts or verses that are confrontational or bizarre. Many teachers of the Bible will ask, "How do you teach that? Let's just move on to the next passage or the next verse." In What's God Saying Here? Eric J. Bargerhuff and Matthew D. Kim offer advice on how to handle and communicate 30 of the most confusing verses, passages, sayings, and stories in the Bible. With the authors' advice and encouragement and help from the Holy Spirit, preachers and teachers will be less fearful about teaching such confusing passages. Providing suggestions for exegeting, illustrating, and applying these difficult passages, this book offers guiding principles for teaching peculiar texts with greater precision and confidence. |
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