If a Christian commits suicide, is he still forgiven?

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Matt Slick of www.carm.org examines a very difficult subject.

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If a Christian commits suicide, is he still forgiven? This might seem like a perplexing question, but it does have an answer.
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Though the Christian who has committed suicide has committed a grave sin, he is still forgiven. But in order to understand why a
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Christian who commits suicide is forgiven, we first need to understand what salvation is and what it is based on.
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Salvation is the state of being saved from God's judgment upon the sinner. The only way to be saved is to trust
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Jesus for the forgiveness of one's sins. All who do not trust
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Jesus alone by faith, Romans 5 .1, Romans 6 .23, Ephesians 2 .8
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.9, show that we are saved by grace through faith alone in Christ alone. If you don't trust in Jesus alone, then you are not forgiven and you are going to go to hell on the
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Day of Judgment when you die. When Jesus forgives someone,
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He forgives all of their sins and gives them eternal life and they shall never perish.
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Jesus says, My sheep hear My voice and I give eternal life to them and they shall never perish.
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He didn't say they won't perish unless they do this, this, or that. He says they shall never perish.
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He does not give any temporary eternal life. If He did, it wouldn't be eternal, would it?
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Salvation is not based upon what you do. In other words, you don't have to obey any law of God in order to become saved.
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This is because no one is saved by keeping the law of God. That's what Galatians 2 .21 says and Romans 3 .24
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-28. But that does not mean that you can go out and sin all you want and do all kinds of bad stuff.
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No, we do not teach that and we do not promote that. Instead, Romans 6 .1 -3 clearly condemns such an idea.
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We are not to sin that grace may abound. We are saved from sin and so we are to avoid sin.
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Even though our life is eternal in the person of Jesus Christ and we can't lose it because of His work, it doesn't mean it's okay to go out and sin.
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We are saved for the purpose of purity. 1 Thessalonians 4 .7 says so.
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Our salvation is strictly from God. Ephesians 2 .8 says, by grace through faith you have been saved.
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You have been saved. You didn't save yourself. You didn't do that. God saved you. Other than acting by faith in trusting and accepting what
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Jesus did on the cross, you don't do a thing. John 1 .12 -13 says so.
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We receive Christ but we are born again not of our own will. In order to become saved, you have to trust
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Jesus. Since you do not get your salvation by what you do, you can't lose it by what you do.
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What about the unforgivable sin? Is that suicide? No, it's not. Suicide is not the unforgivable sin.
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Jesus spoke of the unforgivable sin in Matthew 12 .22 -32. The context is when the
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Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of the devil. Therefore, suicide is not the unforgivable sin.
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Is repentance necessary for salvation? That's a good question. The answer is yes and no.
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Before you start throwing stones, hear me out. Repentance is a necessary result of the saving work of God, not the cause of salvation.
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If repentance brought salvation, then salvation is by works, or rather by the ceasing of bad works.
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God grants repentance to the sinner. 2 Timothy 2 .25. The Christian then turns from his sin to repentance.
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He is able to repent because he is saved, not to get saved.
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In 1 John 1 .9, it says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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Confession of sin and its natural result of repentance are necessary elements of the
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Christian life. But what about the sins that we don't know we have committed?
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If we do not confess them and we don't repent of them, are we still saved? If repentance of all our sins is absolutely necessary for salvation, then what about the sins we forget about?
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What about the ones we don't realize we have committed? If we don't repent of them by confessing them and stopping them, then if repentance is necessary for salvation, then we couldn't be saved.
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But it doesn't make any sense like that. Because we are saved and because we are regenerated and changed inside, that is why we are able to turn from our sins.
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Otherwise, we would be forced to confess and repent of every single sin we ever committed in order to keep ourselves saved.
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In effect, we would be back under the law, living by a rule of absolute repentance of every detail, lest you become damned.
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This is bondage, not freedom. Jesus said that His yoke was light, easy to bear, and not difficult.
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Matthew 11 .27 -30 So, repentance is not the cause of salvation.
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It is the result of salvation. The believer repents from his sins upon trusting in Christ and thereafter continues to repent of further sins that the
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Lord reveals to him. Back to the suicide issue. Suicide is, in effect, self -murder.
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The unfortunate thing about it is that the one who commits it cannot repent of it. The damage is permanent.
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We can see in the Bible that murderers have been redeemed. Moses was a murderer and he was redeemed.
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David was a murderer and he was redeemed. But they had opportunities to confess their sins and to repent.
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With suicide, the person doesn't have that opportunity. But that does not mean that the person is lost.
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Jesus bore all the person's sins, including the sin of suicide. We know that Jesus will not forgive the unforgivable sin, which is saying that He committed the miracles
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He did by the power of the devil. That is not what suicide is. If Jesus bore a person's sin on the cross 2 ,000 years ago and if suicide was not covered, then the
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Christian was never saved in the first place and the one's sin of suicide is able to undo the entire work of the cross of Christ.
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This cannot be. Jesus either saves completely or He does not. Is suicide always wrong?
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That is a tough one to answer. We have to know every single situation in order to say always yes or always no.
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But it seems obvious that suicide is clearly wrong, though forgivable. However, there are general categories of suicide in which we could briefly comment.
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What about medical -assisted suicide? This is for saving someone from pain and is an emotionally charged issue.
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In my opinion, this is not acceptable. The doctor is supposed to save life, not destroy it.
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But lately, as destroying the lives of the unborn is more and more acceptable, destroying the lives of the sick has become the next logical step.
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What about suicide due to depression? Of course, this is never a good reason for suicide.
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Seasons pass and so does depression. The one who is depressed needs to look to Jesus and get professional help.
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Depression is real and powerful and is best fought with help. Also, severe depression robs the mind of clear thinking.
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People in such states are despondent and are not in their right minds. What about suicide due to a chemical imbalance in the brain?
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The human brain is incredibly complex and the medical community is full of accounts of extraordinary behaviors by people whose circuits got crossed.
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But I don't see how a situation like this would make it justifiable. What about accidental suicide?
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Sometimes, people accidentally kill themselves. This could mean leaning over a balcony too far and falling to one's death, or actually purposely taking a stupid risk like playing with a gun.
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Of course, with either, stupidity does not remove us from the grace of God. If it did, we would all be lost right away.
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In conclusion, let's just say this. The Christian is forgiven of all of his sins.
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Not some of them, not most of them. When Jesus, 2 ,000 years ago, bore our sins in His body on the cross, 1
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Peter 2 .24, He bore all of them, except, of course, the one that He stated was not forgivable.
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That's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, saying that He did His miracles by the power of the devil, Matthew 12 .22
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-32. But this is not what suicide is. Suicide is not the unforgivable sin.
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But it's also not a viable option. We do not have the right to take our own lives.
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That belongs to God. And if you are thinking about committing suicide, don't.
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Look to Jesus first. Pray. Ask Him to deliver you from the situation that you are in.
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Get help. You need help. And Jesus is the one who can change your heart and change your mind.
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You've got to come to Him and trust in Him. That's where hope and life dwell.