Suicide
Suicide is very difficult to understand. People have a very difficult time reconciling it with their theology. This is especially true when a believer has made this heartbreaking choice. Poor teaching complicates this for many. Passages in 1 Corinthians and 1 John are often presented as evidence that suicide is unforgivable, raising questions about eternal life.
Let’s take a closer look at this. In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 we find, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are." (NASB20)
From these verses it seems to some that Holy Spirit (through Paul) is speaking about suicide. Adding 1 John 5:16, which speaks about a sin that leads to death, complicates matters. The verse reads, “If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will, for him, give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I am not saying that he should ask about that.” (NASB 2020)
Putting these two passages together, some mistakenly think the Bible is teaching that suicide is unforgivable. This is error and the text CANNOT mean that.
When we translate ancient koine Greek to English, we lose some things. In the passage from 1 Corinthians, EVERY time the word "you" appears, it is in the plural form. In the more southern parts of the U.S. we might say, "y'all", or even “all y’all.”
The King James Bible actually helps us with this problem. However, since we no longer use Elizabethan English, most of us miss the significance. The KJV translates “you” as “ye” in this passage. In the form of English used by the KJV, “Ye" is the plural form of "you."
Translating these verses in a way that makes clear the plural “you” might look like this, “"Do all y’all not know that all y’all are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in all y’all? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what all y’all are.”
Friends, 1 Corinthians is speaking of the body of Christ. It is speaking of the Church as a whole. And it is speaking of those who would destroy the Church, the body of Christ.
Similarly, we must interpret the 1 John passage in light of the whole of Scripture. Jesus addressed this topic directly. In Matthew 12:31 He said, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven." (Matthew 12:31 NASB20) Folks, suicide is not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
The unforgivable sin that leads to death is rejection of the Lord Jesus. Such willfulness is the God-given choice of every person. However, because it elects not to accept Father’s gracious gift of righteous through the Lord Jesus, it maligns His Holy Spirit and calls Him a liar. Hebrews 10:29 asks, “How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29, NASB 2020)
Please do not be confused about this. Anyone who is in Christ remains in Christ after physical death no matter how that death comes about. Eternal Life is Life that has no beginning and no end. Only the Life of God is such Life. That is why Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write in Colossians 3:4 that Christ IS our Life, and in Galatians 2:20 that it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us.
We can agree with the Scriptures when they say, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, NASB 2020)
