Problem: Can you be forgiven of all sins or not? The Bible implies in some verses that all sins are forgiven but elsewhere says that some sins are not forgiven. How do we reconcile this apparent discrepancy?

Solution: Not all sins are forgiven

Matthew 12:31-32, “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come.”
Mark 3:29, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

All sins are forgiven

Acts 13:39, “and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.”
Titus 2:13-14, “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; 14who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
When interpreting the Bible, context is everything. Anyone can take a verse out of context in one place and compare it to another verse out of context in another. Such is often the case when critics quote these types of scriptures listed above as criticism of the Bible. Each verse must be examined in its own context to see what the author is really saying.

So, does the Bible teach that all sins are forgiven or not? The answer is simple. We are to take all of God’s word into account, in context, when developing a teaching. Therefore, the Bible teaches us that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. All other sins are forgivable. However, this does not mean that all sins will be forgiven. It means that all these other sins can be forgiven. We are forgiven only when we trust in Christ and Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins. Those who have committed blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will never seek Christ because the Holy Spirit will not work on them. So, for the believer who comes to Christ by faith, each and every transgression will indeed be wiped away.

Problem: Paul writes, “Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus” (Titus 2:13). Does this refer to Christ?
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Problem: Paul writes, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (Titus 2:11). Does this passage teach that everyone will be saved in the end?
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Problem: Paul writes that women should be “workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored” (Titus 2:5). Does this mean that women have nothing better to do than cook, clean, and tend to their family?
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Problem: Paul writes, “One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons’” (Titus 1:12). Muslim apologists argue that this is a self-defeating statement. If all Cretans are always liars, then Epimenides (a Cretan) would also be a liar.[1] But, if this is the case, then this statement is false. One Muslim apologist argues:

“One of the interesting things is that Paul quote the Epimenides’ Paradox, specifying that the speaker himself was a Cretan. ‘Cretans are always liars…’ he then says that the man himself spoke the truth. But when the statement is spoken by a Cretan it is definitely not true. If it was true then at least once, a Cretan was not a liar, in which case the statement is false. The conclusion is the denial of the assumption, so the statement is not true. The writer Paul at least on this occasion, was without Divine Guidance for he did not discern the subtlety.”[2]
Did Paul commit a logical fallacy here?
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Problem: Christians believe that only the Bible is the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16). Yet the Apostle Paul quotes pagan poets on at least three occasions. But in so doing he seems to give assent to the sources he quotes as inspired, just as when he quotes OT Scripture as the Word of God (cf. Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).
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Problem: Paul quoted a Cretan who said that “Cretans are always liars” (1:12). But if this was said by a Cretan and Cretans always lie, then he too was lying. But if this Cretan was lying when he said Cretans always lie, then Cretans do not always lie and there is a lie in the Scripture. If, on the other hand, this Cretan was telling the truth about Cretans, then Cretans do not always lie, at least not the one who said this. In either event, by incorporating this statement in Scripture, the apostle seems to have included a falsehood.
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Problem: Some argue that traditional translation of 2 Timothy 3:16 is misguided. They often cite the New English Bible (NEB) as an alternative. The NEB translates 2 Timothy 3:16 in this way: “Every inspired scripture has its use for teaching.” If this translation is correct, then Paul is saying that only some passages of Scripture are inspired—not all—and only some parts of Scripture have a use for teaching. We reject this erroneous translation, and we will look at 2 Timothy 3:16 word by word demonstrate that the traditional translation is indeed correct.
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Problem: Paul says in this passage that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Some think that the word “all” should be replaced by the word “every.” Plus, some believe that the copula “is” should be placed after the remark concerning the inspiration of the Scriptures, not before. In doing so this can lead to the conclusion that some Scripture is not inspired.
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