Bible Q&A: What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

December 13, 2002

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Bible Question: "Please share with me and my friend your interpretation of the unpardonable sin Scripture in Matthew 12:31-32. We had a discussion on this recently, as I've discussed it with others many times. I've heard of this controversy all my life and have yet to hear the same interpretation twice."-- J.S.
Bible Answer: I wrote about that Scripture briefly in a previous column about a believer's suicide.
The scripture in question, Matthew 12:31-32, quotes Jesus. "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 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."
Essentially, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin, which is simply saying that Satan is responsible for a work of the Holy Spirit, or in essence, saying God is the devil, evil and not good.
Previous verses in the chapter indicate clearly what Jesus was speaking about.
Matthew 12:22-24 says, "Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?'
"Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'"
What the Pharisees had done was accuse Jesus of using the powers of Satan and not God to heal the blind and mute man.
And Jesus rebuked them and warned them they were committing the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for it was the Holy Spirit's work to cast out the demons and heal the man, not Satan's work.
That sin, and that sin alone is the only sin that men can commit that will not be forgiven. As I wrote earlier, suicide or nothing else is referred to in the Bible as the unpardonable sin. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the only unpardonable sin, according to Jesus Christ Himself.
I, too, have heard many, many interpretations of what the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is, but I believe we're on sound ground when we allow the Bible to speak for itself and provide it's own commentary, which is always better and more sure than the commentaries of men.

Submit Bible questions by email to writeme@johnwmyers.com

(John Myers has been a Christian lay speaker, Sunday School adult teacher and newspaper Bible study columnist for more than 20 years.)