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What is "blaspheming the Holy Spirit," the unforgivable sin?

by James Barringer  
3/30/2010 / Bible Studies

One of Jesus' more cryptic sayings appears in two of the four gospels, Matthew 12 and Mark 3, where he drops a disturbing reference to an "unforgivable sin," which he describes as "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." A lot of the Christians I know have wondered - some just once, some in daily terror - whether they have committed this sin, and whether they will find themselves unexpectedly shut out of an eternal reward after a lifetime of following God in vain. I would like to explore the issue a little, using Scripture to define "blasphemy" and then demonstrating that blasphemy against the Spirit is not something any Christian can commit.

First, Matthew 12 and Mark 3 tell of Jesus casting a demon out a man. The Pharisees object, arguing that Jesus is only casting out demons through the power of Satan. Jesus reminds them that if Satan were casting out Satan, that wouldn't be very efficient, and Satan couldn't stand under those conditions. However, this story also appears in Luke 11, except that there, Luke makes no mention of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. He just leaves that line out of Jesus' monologue. Whatever Jesus was saying about the topic, it can't have been too terribly important if Luke didn't even bother including it. It wasn't a major component of Jesus' theology, and neither should it be an important part of ours.

With that said, what exactly is blasphemy? Most people have a general idea of what it means, but asked to define it, we stumble a bit. Let's turn to Scripture for an answer. Paul uses the term in Romans 2, quoting Isaiah: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." However, if you flip back to Isaiah 24:5, which Paul was quoting, you'll find that it doesn't contain the word "blasphemed" at all, but "despised." Paul considered those two words to be the same thing. To blaspheme something is to despise it.

That still may not be very helpful to you, so let's go to the beginning of Isaiah, 5:24, where the prophet accuses Israel: "They have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel." This is a Hebrew poetic technique called parallelism, repeating something for emphasis. The way Isaiah used the words, "rejecting" and "despising" are the same thing, which means that "rejecting" and "blaspheming" are the same thing as well. So, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit means to reject it - not just once, but a lifelong pattern.

See, the Holy Spirit works on all of us before we are saved. Go back to the first chapter of Romans, where Paul says, "What can be known about God is plain to everybody, because God has made it plain to them." How does God make things plain? By using the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts. So, if you have the Holy Spirit working on your heart (everybody does), and you spend your whole life rejecting it and never embrace it, then you are guilty of what Jesus called "the eternal sin." You have rejected, despised, and blasphemed the Holy Spirit.

If, however, you are a Christian, then it is already impossible for you to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, because you have already not-rejected it. In Ephesians 1, Paul says, "when you believed in Him, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it." At salvation, God's Spirit comes to live inside us, dwelling in our hearts and "giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases God" (Philippians 2).

So, if the Holy Spirit is in your heart, how could you blaspheme the Holy Spirit by rejecting it? How can the Holy Spirit reject itself? Just like Jesus said, Satan cannot cast out Satan. Likewise, the Spirit cannot blaspheme the Spirit. If you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised him on the third day, then the Holy Spirit is guaranteeing your salvation, your eternal inheritance, and you can't commit the unforgivable sin.

I don't think Jesus meant for his words to strike terror into the hearts of Christians for centuries to come; he was merely stating an obvious fact, which is that a person who lives on earth as if God does not exist will live eternally as if God did not exist. Those of us who live on earth as if God does exist will experience an eternity in which we commune with him and each other the way we would have on earth without the influence of sin. That's all his words mean.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin, is not something you can accidentally commit. Despising and rejecting describe a lifelong pattern, not a one-time action. If you are reading this and have trusted God for salvation through Christ's blood, it is impossible for you to commit it, because God has guaranteed your salvation by that same Holy Spirit. God cannot reject his own. Upon your salvation, you were made into a new creation, clothed with Christ's righteousness (2 Corinthians 5) and made perfect in God's sight. He can't reject his own Spirit inside you, any more than Satan could cast out demons. As long as you are reading this, if there is breath in your lungs, there is still time to take hold of salvation and guarantee that eternal reward by trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus. If you already have made that trust, then be content that the Holy Spirit inside you has already claimed you for God.

Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.

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