Matthew 12:22-37; Mark 3:22-30; Luke 11:14, 15, 17-23
There are many great lessons in today’s reading, but we will focus on Matthew 12:31-32
“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.”
For 50 years, I have heard people debate the subject of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The reason Christians ponder this is because Jesus named it the unforgivable sin.
Since we want to believe that any sin can be forgivable, some have deduced that this sin must be the one for which you never repent. That is not what Jesus is teaching here. He doesn’t speak of the unforgiven sin, but that “whoever speaks a word against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this world nor the one to come.” It is a sin that is literally unforgivable.
So what is this sin?
To answer the question, consider what happened to cause Jesus to teach about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
Jesus accuses those present of committing the unpardonable sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, that is, by charging that Jesus performed His miracles by the power of Satan rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen again to what they did, they charged that Jesus performed miracles by the power of Satan rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The unpardonable sin is not the same as rejecting the gospel; a man may spurn the Savior for years, then repent. Nor is the unforgivable sin the same as backsliding; a believer may wander far from the Lord, yet be restored.
Many people worry that they have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Even if this sin could be committed today, the fact that a person is concerned is evidence that he is not guilty of it. Those who committed it were hard and unrelenting in their opposition to Christ. They had no qualms about insulting the Spirit and no hesitancy about plotting the death of the Son. They showed neither remorse nor repentance.
The great message of the Gospel is that we have forgiveness for sin!
Lonnie Davis