I first want to tell you that you have blessed my life richly. God’s love continues to become more of a reality to me because of your tapes and books. Thank you for sharing the REAL Jesus with me. I have been stumped by Matthew 12:31-32 where it talks about the only unforgivable sin (blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.) It seems like such a contradiction! If Jesus died for the sins of the world, then how come there is one sin that even He couldn’t and didn’t take care of? I have heard lots of theories, and I was wondering what you thought, and if you had an answer. I know it must be a heart issue. I just don’t get it, because He doesn’t really go into what it is. It just says it can’t be forgiven if you speak evil of the Holy Spirit. If you could help me to understand this, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
Your question is one of those that people have debated for centuries. I honestly feel that it would be impossible to give you a conclusive doctrinal answer. So I will share some principles that we must apply to understand this reality.
1. We cannot deny what we know about the finished work of Jesus because of this one verse. No scripture stands alone. All scripture must be understood in light of all we know about God.
2. Many things in scripture are unclear. If they were essential points of doctrine, God would have no doubt made them very clear. Therefore, we know that whatever conclusions we reach about such obscure references, they will probably have little to contribute to our walk with God.
I believe we can trust God enough that He would not allow anything that was essential to our eternal wellbeing to be unclear and obscure. Now, Let’s try to put this in context. Matt 12:30-32, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 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
This statement is tied to what comes before it and what comes after. The rules of interpretation insist that we not lift scripture out of its context. Jesus ties this statement to the idea that you can’t be in neutral, you are either for God or you are against God. This statement came after they accused him of casting out devils by the power of Satan. Then, He warns them of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now we know that the Holy Spirit is the person through whom God manifests His power on earth. Some people hold to the position that should we reject the work of the Holy Spirit in the earth, we have no other source to experience God’s saving power, hence we have a sin for which there is no recourse. If we reject the one who brings the forgiveness, we can’t obtain the forgiveness. I am sure there is some validity to that.
He then makes the statement, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” Matthew 12:33, NIV. By the tree here, he is referring to God and His work in the earth.
Is He good or not? Does He give you devils or not? Is God the one who delivers you or is the devil the one who delivers you? Besides everything else in this passage the thing that is most overlooked is the fact that Jesus is telling them to make up their mind about God. Is He good or not?
Until I know that God is good and only good, I will never know what the work of God is and what the work of the devil is. I know Christians who attribute healing to the devil and sickness to God. They haven’t decided if the tree is good or bad. Therefore, they blaspheme/grieve/reject the Holy Spirit every time He attempts to manifest the goodness of God in their life.
Last of all, we know for sure that the Holy Spirit is with us as long as we are drawn to God. Mental institutions are full of people who believe they have committed the unpardonable sin. Oddly, no one can ever tell you just exactly what that sin was. As long as we have a desire to know God, there is hope. That’s really all we need to know.
I personally think we commit a form of blasphemy every time we refuse to believe the good news about what we have in Jesus. That won’t keep us out of heaven it will just keep us from experiencing God now.
Thanks for the great post
Matt 12:32, Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Blasphemy is a sin that reveals the heart of a person who is unbelieving, defiant, enraged and seeking to do harm to people’s trust in God. This person is moving beyond mere feelings and expressing his or her intent, to words and actions that have a specific intent.
Let’s put this in context Jesus had just cast a demon out of someone. The observers were amazed and obviously moving toward believing Him to be the Messiah. The Pharisees didn’t want that to happen. They wanted to destroy the faith of the people, so as to keep them under their religious control. So, they accused Jesus of casting our demons by the power of the devil, thereby blaspheming, discrediting or speaking against the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the one and only means whereby God manifests His power, leads and directs the believer and speaks to people personally. When a person is closed to the Spirit of God they cannot experience God. They cannot connect to Jesus as Lord, they can’t be born again. So, attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil very obviously alienates people from God and His life-giving power! Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit hardens and corrupts the heart of the violator and those he or she influences.
From a heart perspective, it seems that blasphemy is more than just the words spoken. In the original language blasphemy is clearly a sin of willful defiance, and it seems to imply the intent to control, manipulate or damage others. Thus, intent becomes a key factor.
While it is clear there are no big or little sins: all sin is unfaithfulness to the same God! But somehow we have lost touch with the fact that different sins have different consequences in our life and in the lives of those we influence. For example moral sins have a greater emotional effect and producing a stronger bondage in ourselves and those we involve than theft. Sins committed by leaders have greater consequences on larger numbers of people than the sins of an individual believer. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can have eternal effect on us and others.
This still leaves as more unanswered than answered questions. All I can say to an individual is this: if you still have a hunger for God, is you still feel drawn to Him, and is you still feel conviction then you are still alive to the Spirit.
I hope this addresses you questions!