The unpardonable sin

In Matthew 12:31-32 Jesus made several statements concerning what is most commonly referred to as the “unpardonable sin.” Considering the seriousness of this passage it is something that every one of us should understand. We will also discover, in looking at this passage, that it gives us more insight into both the nature of God and us as well. Look at this passage again with me: “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.”

The first thing that strikes me about his passage is that it begins with the declaration that God will forgive “every sin and blasphemy” that men commit. Our tendency when reading this passage is to focus only on the negative portion of it – that there is a sin that God will not forgive. But Jesus brought balance to this verse with the positive statement that God will forgive every other sin and blasphemy that men commit. This same thing is true in the story of the Garden of Eden. We tend to remember only that God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But before telling them this, God first told them, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.” (Genesis 2:16)

This reveals something powerful about both God and us. First is shows us that it is God’s desire that we always experience his goodness and mercy both before and in greater measure than we experience his judgment. This is confirmed in James 2:13, which tells us that God’s mercy “triumphs over” his judgment. But we also see in this our natural tendency to both focus on and remember the negative aspects of things, experiences and people. For some reason we always seem to remember the hurtful things people say or do to us better than we remember the encouraging and helpful things they say. This same tendency characterizes many Christians’ relationship with God, giving them a perception of him that is distinctly negative.

But clearly the most powerful point in this passage is that even though God’s mercy is great enough to forgive every other sin men commit, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, and anyone guilty of this is “guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:29) This verse also makes it clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists of “speaking a word against” the Holy Spirit. The word “blaspheme” comes from the Greek word “blasphemeo” which literally means, “to speak something hurtful.” Mark 3:30 tells us that Jesus gave this warning as a result of the Pharisees’ comment that the Spirit within him was the “unclean spirit” of Satan.

The essential quality of God is Holiness, or absolute purity. 1 John 1:4 says, “God is light, and in him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL.” To say then, that the Holy Spirit is an unclean spirit is to blaspheme in the worst possible way. But I do not believe this is the only way to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. I pointed out before that the literal definition of blasphemy is saying something hurtful. Even though many people do not realize it, the Holy Spirit of God can actually be hurt or grieved by our words. This is seen clearly in Ephesians 4:29-30, where we are admonished to “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth… Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

This passage makes it clear that our words can have an effect on God’s Holy Spirit – even to the point of being able to “grieve” him. This really shouldn’t surprise us when we consider how many times we have grieved others with our words or been grieved by the words of others and knowing that we were created in God’s image and likeness. May we always take seriously this admonition, and make it our ambition not to grieve either man or God with our words.