The Unpardonable Sin?

There is a lot to comment on in this passage today. However, I find that the attention of most people who read this passage inevitably comes to verses 31-32. I have even had people who have never darkened the door of a church ask me: "So what is the unpardonable sin?" More to the point, I have had sincere believers sit in my office and say to me: "I may have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Can I be forgiven?"

Perhaps no words in all of the Gospels are more misunderstood then the ones Jesus speaks in verses 31-32. "And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (NIV). One thing is immediately clear from this passage. There is a unpardonable sin. Jesus absolutely speaks of a sin that will not be forgiven in this time or the time to come. The big question is what is that sin? What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?

To answer that question, one has to think about the context. Jesus is exorcising demons. Apparently, He is exorcising lots of them. That alone speaks to His great power. But not only is Jesus exorcising many demons. He is exorcising them quite effortlessly. First-century Israel had many who fancied themselves exorcists. Some were apparently successful at their trade. Occasionally, they got a demon to go. But this happened only after hours if not days of toil and struggle. With Jesus, there is no toil and struggle. Jesus speaks; the demons leave. As good theologians of the Old Testament Scriptures, this would have made very clear to the Pharisees who Jesus was. It may have been tough for the Pharisees to admit that Jesus was God. That was a stretch for their way of thinking. But they should have known that the Spirit of God was upon Jesus in a mighty way. The ease with which Jesus cast out demons- many of them- should have told the Pharisees that Jesus was a Spiritual guy. Even the crowds, who don't have the Pharisees' theological acumen, suggest that Jesus is the Son of David (the Spirit filled Messiah that Israel was expecting). But the Pharisees won't tolerate such talk it. Instead, they tell the crowd that Jesus is acting by the power of demons.

The Pharisees had to know better. They had to know that it was God, not Satan, who was behind all these things. And so what were they doing? They were willfully, consciously, repeatedly rejecting Jesus' claims about His identity and lordship. And that is what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to persistently reject Jesus as Savior and Lord. Those who blaspheme the Spirit are those who never exercise faith in Jesus. Those who blaspheme the Spirit reject Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Blasphemy of the Spirit is not a sin committed by Christians. It is a sin committed by those who reject Christ. If our faith and trust are in Jesus, then blaspheming the Spirit is something that we cannot do.