What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

[directory]

That part always scared me. An unforgivable sin? You can throw out your whole chance for redemption with a single utterance? I would be very careful when I so much as thought about the Holy Spirit.

Recently, I mentioned it to a few friends of mine, and one of them, a Christian, told me that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means denying the divinity of Christ– means dying an unbeliever, basically. It doesn't just mean saying negative things about the Holy Spirit. I did some googling, and apparently, other people make the same argument.

But I wanted to submit the question to this tribunal, too. Was my initial assumption right, or was my friend right? Neither? Thanks kindly.

 

[lutherangerman]

I have had my difficulties with the doctrine of this too. Why should murder be forgivable and a bad word against the Spirit not? This became clearer to me once I separated, in this instance, forgiveness and salvation. Salvation means that we learn that God loves us and does not condemn us and gives us eternal life. Forgiveness is something else, it is when God speaks good to us even when we have done bad. In the historic case of the pharisees blaspheming the spirit by saying to Jesus that he did the works of satan, Jesus could not simply speak well of that and say kind words. He had to say that he could not forgive the Jews this. Note that this happened in the context of Jesus forgiving men who had been driven mad by an evil spirit. In effect the Jews were saying, Jesus' big project for forgiving mankind came from the satan. They were blaspheming the very power that wanted to spread forgiveness on Earth. This does not mean that the jews in question could not be saved. They got, after Jesus had performed his sacrifice on the Cross. The forgiveness for things like this blasphemy against the Spirit, and for other things like murder, comes later because Jesus cannot say His amen to all things when there was no repentance yet. But generally God can forgive all things, including the most severe blasphemy. He just does not come running to those people to make a feast like to the prodigal son. It is another forgiveness that waits here that takes a while because God has to work repentance first.

 

[oi_antz]

That part always scared me. An unforgivable sin? You can throw out your whole chance for redemption with a single utterance? I would be very careful when I so much as thought about the Holy Spirit.

Recently, I mentioned it to a few friends of mine, and one of them, a Christian, told me that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means denying the divinity of Christ– means dying an unbeliever, basically. It doesn't just mean saying negative things about the Holy Spirit. I did some googling, and apparently, other people make the same argument.

But I wanted to submit the question to this tribunal, too. Was my initial assumption right, or was my friend right? Neither? Thanks kindly.

It was given when those were accusing Jesus of operating not in the spirit of God but of Satan. So to accuse The Holy Spirit of being unholy, more so to actually slander Him as such, that is a blasphemy against The Holy Spirit. Notice that when someone does this, they must be choosing consciously to slander Him even while He is testifying to their conscience of the truth. I suppose the inverse can be true, if someone is attributing to The Holy Spirit words and works that are not His. But in this very situation, the teachers of the law were so against Jesus that they began to accuse Him of using demonic powers. To accuse the spirit of God of being unholy is something quite different to accusing Jesus of making false claims, though technically they do go hand in hand.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Here is the passage from Matthew 12 in context:

"Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.” He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

The Pharisees here who sought to accuse Jesus did not commit the unpardonable sin by blaspheming against Christ by accusing Him of casting out demons with the power of demons; rather they were endangering themselves by denying the redemptive work of God and the Spirit's power exercised through Christ. Not that they had already committed it, but that if they continued to be so obstinate to the reality of God's work right in front of them then their hearts were continually hardened and would oppose the work of God every step of the way.

The general consensus among most Christians is this: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit isn't a sin one just "does" but involves a lifelong opposition against God and the Spirit's power--it is the Spirit who convicts and converts the hearts of men. Therefore the unpardonable sin is not unpardonable because God is unwilling or unable to pardon it, it is unpardonable because man refuses to be pardoned. What does this mean?

It means that if you are concerned that you have committed the unpardonable sin, then you haven't committed the unpardonable sin.

The only way you can commit such a sin is through wholesale, lifelong rejection of God's redemptive work. And, again, it's not that it is not forgiven because God refuses to forgive it--God will refuse no one who repents--it is because they will, both in this life and in the age to come refuse God's forgiveness. So that even should they, on the Day of Judgment, be offered free pardon and life everlasting they would still refuse it.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Niblo]

Here is the passage from Matthew 12 in context:

"Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.” He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

The Pharisees here who sought to accuse Jesus did not commit the unpardonable sin by blaspheming against Christ by accusing Him of casting out demons with the power of demons; rather they were endangering themselves by denying the redemptive work of God and the Spirit's power exercised through Christ. Not that they had already committed it, but that if they continued to be so obstinate to the reality of God's work right in front of them then their hearts were continually hardened and would oppose the work of God every step of the way.

The general consensus among most Christians is this: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit isn't a sin one just "does" but involves a lifelong opposition against God and the Spirit's power--it is the Spirit who convicts and converts the hearts of men. Therefore the unpardonable sin is not unpardonable because God is unwilling or unable to pardon it, it is unpardonable because man refuses to be pardoned. What does this mean?

It means that if you are concerned that you have committed the unpardonable sin, then you haven't committed the unpardonable sin.

The only way you can commit such a sin is through wholesale, lifelong rejection of God's redemptive work. And, again, it's not that it is not forgiven because God refuses to forgive it--God will refuse no one who repents--it is because they will, both in this life and in the age to come refuse God's forgiveness. So that even should they, on the Day of Judgment, be offered free pardon and life everlasting they would still refuse it.

-CryptoLutheran

This is what I was taught many years ago. Very well said!

 

[Aidan K]

Here is the passage from Matthew 12 in context:

"Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.” He knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."

The Pharisees here who sought to accuse Jesus did not commit the unpardonable sin by blaspheming against Christ by accusing Him of casting out demons with the power of demons; rather they were endangering themselves by denying the redemptive work of God and the Spirit's power exercised through Christ. Not that they had already committed it, but that if they continued to be so obstinate to the reality of God's work right in front of them then their hearts were continually hardened and would oppose the work of God every step of the way.

The general consensus among most Christians is this: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit isn't a sin one just "does" but involves a lifelong opposition against God and the Spirit's power--it is the Spirit who convicts and converts the hearts of men. Therefore the unpardonable sin is not unpardonable because God is unwilling or unable to pardon it, it is unpardonable because man refuses to be pardoned. What does this mean?

It means that if you are concerned that you have committed the unpardonable sin, then you haven't committed the unpardonable sin.

The only way you can commit such a sin is through wholesale, lifelong rejection of God's redemptive work. And, again, it's not that it is not forgiven because God refuses to forgive it--God will refuse no one who repents--it is because they will, both in this life and in the age to come refuse God's forgiveness. So that even should they, on the Day of Judgment, be offered free pardon and life everlasting they would still refuse it.

-CryptoLutheran

The concept of man refusing to be pardoned is very intriguing. I have never thought of it before and it seems so very obvious!