The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is mentioned in three of our four Gospels. It is found in Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30 and again in Luke 12:10. Many Christians are burdened by the thought that they may have committed this sin, or live in a paralyzing fear that one day they will. It behooves us to examine what exactly Jesus meant.
(1) The religious leaders had just witnessed Jesus casting a demon out of someone, and concluded that Jesus himself was possessed by Beelzebul or Satan, and that it was actually Satan himself who made it possible for Jesus to do this.
In Matthew 12 we are told that a man who was both blind and mute was brought to Jesus. Jesus proceeded to cast out the demon and heal the man. He could see and speak immediately. The miracle was undeniable and beyond doubt. No one doubted that he was indeed blind and dumb. And the scribes had no doubt that he too had been demonized.
Their options are limited. There are only two possible explanations for what happened. This wasn't a magical handshake. This wasn't a case of some sleek magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat or doing amazing things with a deck of cards. This man was blind and mute, and everyone knew it. Either his healing was the work of God or the devil. Because they refused to acknowledge that it was God, they had no choice but to conclude that Jesus did this through the power of Satan.
(2) Our Lord's answer is profound. In essence, he's saying, "Satan may be bad, but he's not stupid!" That is to say, any kingdom, house or city that develops internal strife will eventually destroy itself. Satan's domain is no different. Besides God himself, Satan is probably the most intelligent being in the universe. He is not so insane as to allow internal division or civil war among his demons. Above all, Satan is committed to self-preservation. He will not do anything that could threaten or diminish his power. Jesus is not saying that there is harmony, trust, or loyalty in Satan's kingdom. Undoubtedly, every demon in existence is selfish and perverse. But Satan would never allow a demon to undermine his efforts. Quite simply, Satan does not cast out Satan.
But Jesus doesn't stop there. Satan is the 'strong man'; his "house" or palace is this present world; and his “goods” or possessions are the men and women he keeps in darkness and spiritual bondage (Matthew 12:27). But with the coming of Jesus, a stronger one appeared, attacked and defeated him. Jesus has come to plunder Satan's kingdom by rescuing the men and women held captive to do his will. Jesus “binds” Satan, the “strong man,” by virtue of his sinless life, his resistance to temptation in the wilderness, his authoritative teaching of truth triumphing over falsehood, and ultimately by virtue of his death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven . Father's right hand. So this is the setting or context in which Jesus speaks these ominous words about a sin that surpasses forgiveness.
(3) All sins can be forgiven, Jesus says in Mark 3:28. Whatever blasphemies you utter, they too can be forgiven. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that even sins committed against Him, the Son of Man, can be forgiven. But “he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (v. 29). What is this “eternal sin”?
It's not murder. Murder is a heinous sin, but not unforgivable. Think of Moses, David, and Paul, who were all guilty of murder and yet received God's forgiveness. It's not adultery either. David committed adultery and was forgiven (Ps. 32:1-2). And what about the woman caught in adultery in John 8 who Jesus forgave and told her to sin no more? And what about the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4?
It is not denying Jesus under pressure or threat of persecution. Think about Peter. One can hardly imagine a more serious sin in which he denied knowing Jesus three times. Yet we know that he was gloriously forgiven and restored to God and service.
Some have argued that suicide is the unforgivable sin. But no text in the Old or New Testament says anything like that.
(4) The religious leaders were not accused of blaspheming Jesus himself. In fact, Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew that "whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man [i.e., against Jesus] will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven" (12:32).
Why was their sin against the Holy Spirit and not against Jesus? Their sin was against the Holy Spirit, because it was by the power of the Spirit that Jesus performed his healings and miracles. Jesus himself said in Matt. 12:28 that it was "by the Spirit of God" that he "cast out demons." Once again we see that the life that Jesus lived, He lived in the power of the Spirit. The miracles he performed were done in the power of the Spirit.
So it was their sin to attribute to the devil what the Spirit did. They did not deny the existence of the supernatural. They did not deny the reality of the miracle. They simply said, in a remarkable display of hardness of heart and spiritual blindness, the devil has given you the power to do it.
(5) But why was this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and His work so terrible, so reprehensible, so utterly abhorrent, as to make forgiveness impossible? The answer is found in the relationship between Jesus and the religious leaders and how they responded to him. Their denial of Jesus was not due to ignorance or lack of evidence, or because they believed the negative reports of someone else who did not like Jesus. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is deliberate, wide-eyed slander of the work of the Spirit, attributing to the devil what was undeniably divine. These people had seen as clearly as anyone could see and understood as clearly as anyone could understand that Jesus performed His miracles by the power of the Spirit. Yet they defiantly insisted, contrary to what they knew to be true, that it was Satan who gave him power.
The miracles that Jesus performed were the credentials of heaven. The religious leaders declared themselves credentials from hell. According to Matthew 12:30, they actually accused Jesus himself of being demonized! They did not simply deny the deity of Jesus. They actually declared him a demon! His family may have thought he was mentally deranged, but the Pharisees declared him morally demonic.
So this was not a one-time, temporary error or an unintentional error in judgment. This was a sustained, lifelong rebellion against the inescapable and undeniable truth. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not a careless act committed just once in a moment of anger or rebellion, but a persistent attitude over time; a persistent challenge that hardens and hardens the heart. The Pharisees had been there when Jesus healed the sick. They saw him perform miracles up close and personal. They saw him raise the dead. They saw with their own eyes how the leprosy-infected skin suddenly and decisively became clean, smooth and whole. They had heard him teach with power and authority. They had seen demons flee from his presence as he freed the prisoners. They saw with their own eyes, while He gave sight to the blind. Despite all this, they openly, persistently, angrily and arrogantly declared that he did it all by the power of the Devil!
(6) Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, therefore, is not merely unbelief; the kind of disbelief, rejection or doubt that characterizes our world. This despite what is known beyond a shadow of a doubt to be true. It is not just a denial, but a final denial; not just a rejection, but a thoughtful, deliberate, mean, wide-eyed rejection. This sin is therefore not unforgivable, because there is a flaw in the atoning death of Jesus. It is not unforgivable because there is a limit to God's grace and mercy or because of some other flaw in God's character.
(7) Mark makes it clear that sins are forgiven only when a person repents (see Mark 1:4, 14-15; 4:12; 6:12; see also Acts 2:38 and 5:31). To receive forgiveness of sins, a person must repent. They must turn from sin to God, cast themselves on His grace, and follow Him. So when Jesus says in Mark 3:28, “All sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and every blasphemy that they utter,” he means all the sins and blasphemies that you actually repent of.
(8) Why then does Jesus seem to exclude one sin and one blasphemy from this promise in Mark 3:29: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think the reason for this is that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit takes you beyond repentance, and therefore beyond forgiveness. John Piper has rightly pointed out that verse 29 is no exception to verse 28. Jesus does not say that all blasphemies you repent of will be forgiven, except blasphemy against the Spirit. He says that any blasphemies you repent of will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven because it inherently deprives you of repentance. It is the kind of sin that comes from a heart so unrepentantly hard that a person is simply unable to repent of it. If a sin makes it impossible for you to repent, then it is an unforgivable sin, because forgiveness is promised only for those sins from which we truly repent (cf. 4:12).
This sin precludes forgiveness because it inherently precludes repentance. A sin that can be repented of is not the unforgivable sin. Therefore, those most concerned that they have committed the unpardonable sin have not done so. This is a sin for which there is no concern, no conviction, no fear, and therefore no repentance. It is a sin that is so callous, deliberate, persistent, and defiant that the person committing the sin does not care that he or she is committing the sin.
So yes, it is possible to place yourself outside the possibility of forgiveness. But it's not God's fault. It is not because of a lack of grace in him. It is not because He is limited in compassion, power or grace. It is because a man or woman who has seen and heard the truth and even tasted the truth has chosen to so harden his heart as to make himself impervious to repentance and conviction.
(9) People who are ashamed of their sin have not committed the unforgivable sin. People who feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, who feel the pervasive presence of guilt for transgressing God's word, have not committed the unforgivable sin. People who fear that they have committed the unforgivable sin have not committed the unforgivable sin! People who are broken by their sin, who are saddened by their sin, have not committed the unforgivable sin.
(10) The bottom line is that I know with complete confidence when that is the casedoesn'tcommitted the unpardonable sin. But I don't know when anyone has ever committed a sin in such a way as to put themselves beyond God's forgiveness.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter if other people don't forgive you or don't want to forgive you. It doesn't matter whether or not you can forgive yourself (assuming it's even a legitimate option, which it isn't). The only thing that matters in the end is whether or not God has forgiven you. It's easy to figure out: Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your only hope for heaven? When you think of the cross, you can see what Jesus did there: dying for sinners, satisfying the wrath of God for sinners. . . Do you see that as your only hope for forgiveness and reconciliation with God? If so, I assure you once again that you have not committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. You have not transgressed in such a way that forgiveness is impossible.
