If anyone sees his brother 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 a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. 1 John 5: 16

This verse has to do with intercessory prayer, which, in this case, is praying on behalf of another who is sinning. To help the person willing to pray, the apostle John points out that there are only two categories of sin: redeemable sin and unredeemable sin.

The apostle wants it understood that for the prayer to be effective – having God respond – it should only be employed on behalf of those committing redeemable sin. This would be in line with what the apostle had just stated in verses 14 and 15. That is, God hears and will grant our requests when we pray within His will.

All sin naturally leads to the second death, which is the eternal death that John is speaking of. But redeemable sin is that which can be turned from that particular death to eternal life; that is, if repentance and an acceptance of Jesus occur. Of course, that is within God’s will.

However, unredeemable sin is committed by those souls who are hardened by persistent wrongdoing. They smugly and publically continue their offenses against God; self-righteously setting themselves up as the moral arbiters of right and wrong’s eternal consequences. In other words, they set themselves up as God.

That, of course, is a rejection of and is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That means the one committing unredeemable sin is one committing the unpardonable sin. It is a person with a seared conscious whose mind is forever made up. He or she doesn’t seek nor want God’s forgiveness.

In such a case, it is God’s will that the Spirit be withdrawn from striving to help, and that His divine pardon be withheld. For it is the Lord’s will to not force His salvation upon a person. He will not do it even if the request to help that person comes through prayer. Instead He will honor the trangressor’s choice to continue on the road to death.