The Bible says that when one receives Christ as their savior, that God is gracious to forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That seems absolute in its wording, but I am still left with two questions. The first is why do we continue to sin after we are saved? and second, are there any sins for which we can not be forgiven after becoming saved?
The reason I ask these questions is that a young man at my daughter’s Christian school took his own life. God, being all-knowing, had to know this was going to happen. If this young man was saved, would God have already forgiven this particular sin in advance?
The reason we continue to sin is because we still have a sin nature (Romans 7:18-20). In other words, sinning is our default setting. This setting will be changed when we’re raptured/resurrected but until then, while the Holy Spirit helps us to greatly reduce our willful acts of sin, we can’t eliminate sin altogether. It’s too much a part of us. In the meantime, God, who knows all the sins of our life and has already forgiven them, chooses to see us as we will be after he’s perfected us, not as we are now (2 Cor. 5:21). He can do this because although Jesus only died once, He died for all time. That means past present and future. (Hebr. 10:12)
The only unforgivable sin is the refusal to accept the provision God has made for our sins in the death of His Son. If the young man who took his own life was saved at the time, then He’s with the Lord today. He will not receive the Crown of Victory (1 Cor. 9:24-25) but his faith will have saved Him.