The Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit is among the most feared and least understood concepts in the Bible. For many people they think if they accidently say something bad about the Holy Spirit God will damn them to hell for eternity with no possibility of repentance. Well, it’s not that easy. Today we’re going to look at just 11 verses that talk about this subject and hopefully shed some light and truth and take away some fear!
Let’s answer some questions about this: 1) What is it? 2) Can I accidently do this? 3) If I think I’ve done it, what now?
22 – 32
There are several really important things happening here. First, both the Pharisees and Jesus acknowledged the existence of demons. We should not ignore the fact that Satan’s minions are alive and well and active in our world. They may not be as active on the surface as they were at that time, but they are around.
The Pharisees could not deny the miracle, but they had to attribute it to some power other than God or they would have to admit Jesus was from God. The only thing left to them was to attribute it to Satan. This is a case of denying the truth in the face of the facts!
The fact that the Pharisees would attribute the power of God in Jesus Christ casting out this demon represents a heart attitude that finds no forgiveness. They are mistaken in their logic. If Jesus was in league with Satan why would he stop a demon from having power over an individual—it just doesn’t make sense.
Pharisees also did exorcisms. Some were frauds, some were effective. But they would have to also claim that their colleagues were also in league with Satan.
Then He says “if it isn’t Satan then its God and you’ve got to deal with that.” There are only two kingdoms you can belong to. By default we belong to Satan’s kingdom and will go where he goes. But we can belong to God’s kingdom. The only way to do that is to cling to Jesus. There is no neutrality here—that’s why Jesus says “if you aren’t with me you are against me.”
In verse 29 the “house” is the world where Satan has created evil, death, and destruction using the demons, which are Satan’s agents. The goods are us, which Satan holds to himself. Jesus came and “bound” Satan (the strong man). His purpose is to rescue people from bondage. It is ludicrous to think that he would actually be in league with him.
So then Jesus goes on to talk about how things really are. That all sin and blaspheme can be forgiven in Jesus. There is only one thing that cannot be forgiven, and that is the steadfast refusal to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came as the only way to enter God’s kingdom.
The Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit is not saying bad things about the Holy Spirit, or about Jesus (the messenger), it is rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ. It is steadfastly rejecting the power of God for salvation in Jesus. You could use the words “slander” or “revile”. It is saying things that are not true—in this case, from such a hard heart that you ascribe the power of God to Satan.
Let me quote from the Life Application Bible Commentary:
“Jesus’ words were addressed directly to the Pharisees. They had blasphemed the Spirit by attributing the power by which Christ did miracles to Satan instead of to the Holy Spirit. This is the unforgivable sin -- the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God’s power in Christ. It indicates an irreversible hardness of heart. Deliberate, ongoing rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy because it rejects God himself. The Pharisees’ stubborn refusal to believe demonstrated an impenetrable hardness of heart; thus, forgiveness would not be possible because it never would be sought.”
(from The Life Application Commentary Series copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
There is a passage in Hebrews that could very well be talking about the same thing, though it is not mentioned directly:
Hebrews 6:1-12 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
There is a condition from which repentance and thus forgiveness is impossible. Jesus says in our passage that all sin will be forgiven except this one. So as A=B, C=B so A=C. So to fall so completely that you cannot be forgiven is to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. Notice that the person has “tasted” of God’s goodness. One someone hears the gospel and sees its effect on people, yet rejects it, what more is there? Jesus did say “I am they way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.”
Here is another passage:
Heb 10:26-28 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 29
How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
The same logic applies. The one condition Jesus says where there is no removal of sin is to outrage the Holy Spirit, so it is with someone who remains in their sin and refuses to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf. Doesn’t verse 29 sound an awful lot like what Jesus says in Matthew 12?
Conclusions
The Pharisees rejected the work of the Holy Spirit through the Christ in the face of irrefutable evidence—healing a demon-oppressed man. There is even greater evidence that Jesus gave—and that’s His death, burial, and resurrection. There are few more documented facts of history and all the men who were His disciples and witnessed it were executed for sticking to that truth. What will you do with that knowledge?
As we are seeing in this chapter, Jesus is either rebel, devil (liar), or crazy man (lunatic). Or perhaps is He just who He said He was? Lord.
Can you accidently do this? No. It is a continued state of stubborn refusal to believe. And if you think you’ve done it, then you probably haven’t because a heart so hardened will not even consider repentance.
But what Jesus said is true, if you are not with Him, you are against Him—not a position I want to be in.
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