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"Blaspheming the Holy Ghost," "sinning against the Holy Spirit," and "the unpardonable sin," are all familiar terms to most Christians today that refer to that horrible, dreaded sin, the sin that cannot be forgiven. Many Christians have wondered at one time after making statements that could have fallen under the category of blasphemous, whether or not they had committed this sin or not. The fear of committing this sin comes from the many misnomers and false teachings about the subject that have resulted from people not understanding the meaning of God's Word. I personally vividly remember a Sunday School teacher teaching us when I was very young that "nobody knew what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was," that same teacher went on to teach us 8-9 year olds that she believed that using bywords was getting close to the unpardonable sin! The teaching had an effect, and for the next several days some normally excited boys became very quiet and VERY polite. My mother noticed the difference and asked what was wrong. When she found out what I had been taught, she realized that I was scared that if I said "ouch" when I stubbed my toe that I had committed the unpardonable sin. She laughed, told my dad, and they sat down and explained to me that "whatever the unpardonable sin is, it's NOT using bywords!" This humorous story illustrates the confusion that results of when people do not take the whole council of God's Word to teach on a subject. Some have mistakenly taught that unforgiveness or any willful sin was the unpardonable sin. Christians do need to know what the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is exactly and need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt whether they have committed it or not. Usually, the very fact that some Christians are worried about it and want to correct their error is a sign that they have not actually committed such a sin.

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Before we learn about the unpardonable sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, we need to understand what normal blasphemy is. The Bible uses two words for blasphemy, a Hebrew one in the Old Testament and a Greek one in the New Testament.

Ne'atsah or ne'atsah- (Hebrew) 1) contempt, contumely 2) contempt, blasphemy

Blasphemia- (Greek) 1) slander, detraction, speech injurious, to another's good name

2) impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty

Basically put, blasphemy is anytime that we speak slanderous words and remarks against God. Blasphemy can be a broad spectrum of statements. For example, the Pharisees considered Jesus' claim of being God as blasphemous (Matthew 26:65). It was the crime of blasphemy by saying that He was God, for which Jesus was put to death on the cross. Saying that God is not real was considered blasphemy (II Samuel 12:14). At times, cursing God's name was considered blasphemy (Leviticus 24:10-16) For the early Christians, denouncing that Jesus Christ was the Messiah was akin to blasphemy (Acts 26:11)

It is important to understand that there is a difference between simple blasphemy and the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. In our text, Jesus made it clear that all blasphemies could be forgiven EXCEPT the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost which could not be forgiven. Simple blasphemy is a sin, and a Christian must learn to overcome sin through the Word of God and the Power of the Holy Spirit, but blasphemy CAN be forgiven as long as it is not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Paul commanded the church in Colosse' to put away such sins as blasphemy even though they had once committed the acts before coming to Jesus (Colossians 3:8).

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What then is the difference between simple blasphemy and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Where is the line crossed? Before answering this question, let's look at the scriptures of Jesus' teaching on the subject. Jesus Himself coined the phrase "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" and made the distinction of it being unpardonable.

Notice that Jesus makes a distinction between blasphemy against the Son of man, and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Only blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is forgivable.

Mark adds new information, that a person that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost "is in danger of eternal damnation," and then refers to the context of what Jesus was addressing.

Luke basically gives the same information that there is a difference between blasphemy against the Son of Man and the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

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There are two points that are critical in identifying the unpardonable sin. First, Jesus makes the distinction between blasphemy against the Son of man and against the Holy Ghost. Second, we must consider the context of the teaching and under what circumstances that Jesus made the statement.

The Bible teaches that there is only one God and that He became flesh for the purpose of shedding blood to pay the price for our sins (I Timothy 3:16 I John 3:16 Deuteronomy 6:4). Father, Son of Man, Son of God, Holy Spirit, and Holy Ghost are all titles of the one God and are not names, but refer to the various roles that God has taken in dealing with mankind. These are not the only titles of God as there are many others (ie.. Healer, Counselor, Comforter, Great Physician, Chief Shepherd, etc...), but these titles are used throughout the New Testament to differ between the roles that God takes on. For example, the term Father, refers to the eternal Spirit of God that created the universe and that has always been. The term the Son, or Son of Man, or Son of God, refers to the flesh that God became in order to shed blood. The terms Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost apply when God's Spirit moves among or inside men. The different terms do not make a plurality of God's persons anymore than I being a Son, Husband, and Bible teacher make me three persons, but merely make the distinction between whatever role I am fulfilling at a particular time. Just as I can fulfill more than one role at a time so can God, explaining how God could walk in flesh (John 1:1, 10, 14 I Timothy 3:16 Colossians 1:15) and also be everywhere else at the same time! The Oneness of God is another study for another series, but if we try to make every title of God a separate person in a Godhead, then why stop at only three, for there are over 1,200 titles for God in Scripture?!

So why did Jesus make the distinction between blasphemy against the Son of Man and the Holy Ghost? Some Trinitarians have tried to use this scripture as proof of the Son and the Holy Spirit as being separate persons in the Godhead. A Trinitarian view of God, however, believes that there are three separate persons in one Godhead that are coequal and co powerful. If this is so and "God the Son" and "God the Holy Spirit" are coequal then why would blasphemy against one not be as severe as blasphemy against the other? Scripture therefore rejects any possibility of this scripture referring to two separate persons in a Godhead.

The distinction of terms does refer to the roles and method of God's operation. The title "Son of Man" refers to the flesh in which God lived. As already stated, the title "the Holy Spirit" refers to God's Spirit operating in and among the lives of men, and therein lies the key to understanding the distinction between blasphemy against the Son of Man and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. A person could commit blasphemy against the MAN Christ Jesus, and say that He was not the Messiah, that He was not God, and that He was not the Saviour, and then later find a place of repentance and realize that Jesus was exactly who He said He was. A person cannot however, blaspheme against the Spirit of God moving in their lives and find a place of repentance because, as the Gospel of Mark added, to do so would put themselves "in danger of eternal damnation." This scripture goes along with what we have been studying in the last two lessons, if we ever reach a place where the Holy Spirit cannot move us, then we are in danger of crossing a line where we can never be reached!

As there are many ways to blaspheme, then where is the line crossed that is the unpardonable sin? In other words, in which way can we blaspheme the Holy Spirit which will result in us not being able to find forgiveness? The answer is found in the other aspect we must understand, the context of the commandment of Jesus.

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Before Jesus warned against blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, He had just perfomed a miracle with the Pharisees and Saducees watching.

Someone brought to Jesus a man possessed with a devil and who was both blind and unable to speak. Jesus cast out the devil and healed his blindness and speech, and the people were truly amazed and many of them began to realize that Jesus was the Messiah. When the Pharisees heard about it, they said that Jesus was able to cast out devils because He was of the prince of devils. Jesus had just healed the man and cast out the demons through the power of the Spirit of God.

This is the major point! AFTER the Pharisees attributed the working of the Holy Spirit to being the Spirit of Satan, THEN Jesus warned them about Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and made the distinction between His Humanity and the Spirit of God that would be working in the world after He was gone.

When a person rejects the operation of the Spirit of God in their life and verbally attributes that work to some other source, then that would be blasphemy. When a person feels the Spirit of God moving in their lives and say that the Spirit of God is really the spirit of Satan, then they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. If every time a person feels the moving of God's Spirit tugging at their heart they say that it is the power of Satan, then that person will eventually reach a place where the Spirit of God can no longer reach them. That is why Mark said that someone who did blaspheme against the Holy Spirit was "in danger of eternal damnation." Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not a one time verbal statement but an attitude and a place where a person can get because of their verbal statements where they can no longer find a place of repentance. If every time a person feels the Spirit of the Lord convicting their heart to repent, they say it's the spirit of Satan and do not repent, then how will they ever find their way to God?

Many denominations today teach that signs of the Spirit of God moving such as speaking in other tongues are demonic and of the devil. What they are doing is stopping any chance of God being able to work in their churches. How can God move if every time that He tries, the people say it is the devil? When Paul had Jesus Christ that day stop him on the road to Damascus and he asked the question "who art thou Lord" (Acts 9), what would have happened if when God said "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest," that Paul would have gotten up from the road and attributed his experience to the devil? What would have happened if Paul had said "sorry guys, I'm having trouble with my eyes because of sunstroke, the devil must be coming against us in our quest to persecute the Christians, so let's press on and take out these Jesus name believers?" Paul would have never found a place of repentance and would have been forever known as Saul, the greatest persecutor of the Early Church. We also would not have had two-thirds of the New Testament. Thank God that Paul did not respond that way, but many have responded in such a way since that time. They have not repented of rejecting the working of the Spirit in their life because they will not listen to the Spirit telling them to repent!

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Before his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee and was of the belief that the workings of the Spirit of God were of the devil (Acts 22:3-5 Philippians 3:5). In fact, Paul was there when the Pharisees stoned Stephen and "consented unto it," meaning that Paul agreed that he deserved to die (Acts 8:1). Saul also "breathed out threatenings and slaughter against" the disciples of the Lord and began to persecute the church profoundly, yet despite blasphemy against everything holy, including the Holy Ghost, Paul found forgiveness. This tells us that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost can sometime be forgiven and Paul told us why in our other text:

Because Paul blasphemed the Holy Ghost in ignorance and unbelief, he was forgiven. Ignorantly means Paul was unlearned about the moving of the Spirit, and had never experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit. So just because a person equates the moving of the Spirit of God to the devil does not mean that they can never be forgiven, IF they have never received the infilling of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. They have blasphemed against the Holy Ghost, but have done it in ignorance. Like Paul, it is then possible to find a place of mercy and forgiveness.

What this means is that only someone who has truly been born again, and understands what happened can commit the unpardonable sin. A person may have ignorantly blasphemed against the Holy Spirit and be forgiven, but once a person has believed, and has received the Holy Ghost, then God views speaking such blasphemy against His Spirit in a much severer light.

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This all correlates with the past two lessons on a person refusing the sacrifice by refusing to genuinely repent when they sin. Repentance is more than just saying "I'm sorry," but is an action and an attitude. We must repent the right way. There are several examples of Old Testament scripture that illustrate this point.

Esau sought repentance bitterly with tears and yet could not find a place of true repentance before God, because he was repenting the wrong way. Esau had sold his birthright (his inheritance) to his brother so when Jacob received the blessing, Esau was bitter. Esau repented still desiring the inheritance. In other words, the only reason Esau suddenly felt the need to repent was not because he realized his great wrong at not keeping the sacred things of God precious to himself, but because he realized that he had just lost the blessing. He was the little kid caught with one hand in the cookie jar. When people only repent when they get caught, they are not truly repenting. Whether man sees what we do or not, God does and we are sinning against Him! This is not to undermine when God uses a man of God to reveal our sin, in that case we need to find a place of repentance, but we must repent with the intentions of making a true change in behavior with God's help, and not just say "I'm sorry" to try to undo whatever punishment we may face for "being caught."

In a similar way, King Saul also did not truly repent even though he went through the motions of repentance. Saul was pressured by the man of God and the spirit of God for quite a while to repent and continued to defend his position until he realized the seriousness of his situation. THEN King Saul said "alright, I have sinned." As if to say, "all right, you say that I have sinned. I don't think I've done anything that horrible, but if God insists, alright, I will say I'm sorry." That was not true repentance and was not accepted by God because of Saul's attitude toward repentance. King Saul should have been like King David who recognized his wrong and how it hurt God. David did not blame anybody else for his wrong, but took full responsibility for what he had done and asked God to renew his whole life. David realized that God was not interested in excuses or sacrifices until God saw his broken and contrite heart:

Some people try to make up for their sin by doing good, giving a "sacrifice of their time, effort, or money" to God. But David realized that the sacrifice that God is looking for from humanity in forgiveness is a broken spirit! Remember, if Adam and Eve had not adamantly sinned against God, tried to blame the sin on each other, and then stubbornly tried to hide it from God, humanity would not be in this mess. Attitude is the most important element in repentance before God!

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So the reason that Jesus warned the Pharisees of the unpardonable sin when they attributed the working of God to the wrong spirit, was because He knew that if a person reached a place where they WOULD not respond to the conditions of repentance, then the person would eventually reach a place where they COULD not respond to the conditions of repentance. When a Spirit-filled person attributes the working of the Spirit of God to the workings of the devil, and does so with the attitude that they do not need the Spirit of God, then that person will reach a place where forgiveness is not possible because of their attitude when they repent. God has given man a choice and unlimited freedom to live a life of sin or a life according to God's Word. When that freedom is abused to the point that the Spirit of God no longer has any effect on the believer's life, then that person has placed themselves in a place where true repentance is not possible.

To summarize, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is verbally expressing an attitude that the working of the Spirit of God is really the working of Satan. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost can be forgiven if committed in ignorance and unbelief. When a Spirit-filled believer attributes the working of the Spirit in their life to being the spirit of Satan, then God takes a much stronger view and the person is, as Mark recorded, in danger of eternal damnation and committing in both words and attitude the "unpardonable sin." Let us never reach a place where we are in the danger of committing this sin!