Predestination And Free-Will

What About The Sin Of Unbelief?

 
Some people who claim that man has a free will to accept Christ are also saying that the only sin that keeps a person out of heaven is the sin of unbelief. That idea probably comes from this verse:
 

John 8:24 – “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not.”

 
This verse is certainly true in what it says. But, are we to understand that Jesus died for all the sins of all the people in the world EXCEPT for the sin of unbelief, so that everyone in hell has had ALL their sins paid for by Christ, EXCEPT for the sin of unbelief? Can we get such theology from John 8:24 or similar passages dealing with believing or not believing in Christ? The Bible says that any single sin of any kind will damn a person to hell:
 

James 2:10 – “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Isaiah 59:1-4 – “1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.”

Ezekiel 18:4 – “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

 
Note that there is no special mention of the sin of unbelief in the above verses. People who end up in hell will be punished for ALL their sins, not just the sin of unbelief. Believing in Christ is something that all men are commanded to do, yet all men are incapable of doing unless the Father draws them:
 

John 6:44 – “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 6:65 – “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”

 
In addition to believing in Christ, God commands the human race to do a multitude of things (like the ten commandments) that they are incapable of doing in their fallen state.
 
Summary: This article is a section of a much larger article on the Bible doctrines of Election and Predestination called “Who accepts Whom?“. You are urged to check out that larger article for many other thought provoking questions pertaining these “Doctrines of Grace”. — RM Kane