-10 Min Read
Introduction
In Matthew 12 and Mark 3, we read about Jesus casting out a demon and arguing with the Pharisees and Scribes. In that altercation, the religious leaders pronounce that Jesus does these miracles by the power of the Devil, to which Jesus announces that all sins will be forgiven except the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-30). In Luke’s gospel, Jesus teaches the exact same thing to His disciples by saying; “everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him” (Luke 12:10).
Many people take this unforgivable sin and stir up much confusion in the church. Many questions begin to flood the mind; “What is the unforgivable sin, exactly? What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Can a Christian commit this sin? Have I committed this sin and therefore am not forgiven!?” Some give the answer that the unforgivable sin is unbelief, murder, or divorce but with a careful approach to these passages, we can come to a simple and clear answer. (I will use Matthew as our base)
The Short Answer
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 And all the crowds were astounded, and were saying, “Can this man really be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
– Matthew 12:22-31 (LSB)
25 And knowing their thoughts He said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Let’s not drag this out with suspense. The unforgivable sin is best explained as a full rejection of the Holy Spirit’s work in Messiah Jesus in the expression of attributing the genuine works of the Spirit to Satan, or Satan’s work to the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what we see in the context of this story. The religious leaders are so hardened in their hatred of Jesus, and yet they cannot deny the miracles He is doing, so they are left with no choice but to credit the source of His power as coming from the Devil himself. This is a newfound hatred of God and His Son.
The name “Beelzebul” is a transliteration from the Greek name Βεελζεβούλ (beh-el-zeb-ool’) and it is a name for Satan the prince of evil spirits; this is whom they claim that Jesus receives His supernatural power from. It is as if they are equating Jesus to the Antichrist, (The Beast), who is given the power of Satan, (The Great Red Dragon), in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 13:2). It’s not that they simply have a wrong view of Jesus, but that they have the complete opposite view of Jesus they are supposed to have.
By this dark blindness and hard-heartedness, they declare the works of Jesus to be empowered by the prince of demons when, in reality, they are by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus helps them exercise their logic by explaining to them how this is inconsistent with their claim: ” If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand” (Matt. 12:26).
No Middle Ground
Between the blasphemy and Jesus telling them that it cannot be forgiven, Jesus says something so interesting that gets overlooked. He says in v.30; “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” In Mark’s gospel, Jesus says something very similar to this in a similar situation. After Jesus’ Transfiguration, they go to Capernaum and Jesus begins to teach them how “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise again three days later” (Mark 9:31). It is then in this context, we see John bring news back to Jesus how they rebuked someone who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name.
John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40 For he who is not against us is for us.
– Mark 9:38-40 (LSB)
In Jesus’ thinking, it is very simple, if someone is so confident in who He is as the Messiah and in the power of the Spirit, whom which anointed Him, they cannot then later “speak evil” (blaspheme) Him. This person, according to Jesus, is not “against us” but is “for us,” even though he is not “following us.” Just because this person is not in the troop of twelve who follow Jesus does not mean that he is a blasphemer and false disciple of Jesus.
The point of Matthew 12:30 and Mark 9:40 is that there is no middle ground on who Jesus is. Either Jesus is The Son of God, the Messiah, or He is a demon-possessed, false prophet. Jesus uses the context of casting out demons to teach such a truth. You are either with Jesus and will gather to Him, or you are against Jesus and will scatter, and this seems to be determined by how one views who He is and how He is empowered.
Too many people want to land in the middle as to who Jesus is. They want to keep Him in the category of a good teacher who proclaims a message of love. But this cannot be, either He is God in the flesh or He was a crazy person. There is no in-between. The fact that in this same chapter, Matthew cites the fulfillment of Isaiah 42:1 in the Lord Jesus is a staggering contrast to where the Pharisees land.
But going out, the Pharisees took counsel together against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. 15 But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, 16 and warned them not to make Him known, 17 in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,
– Matthew 12:14-18 (LSB)
18 “Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
The Holy Spirit
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
– Isaiah 5:20 (LSB)
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness
Many blasphemies have been, can be, and will be forgiven. Paul and Peter were former blasphemers of the Lord Jesus (1 Tim. 1:13-14; Mark 14:71). But as we see here in this text, there is something different going on when one blasphemes The Holy Spirit. Jesus explains how “whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matt. 12:32).
When Jesus says that this sin will not be forgiven “in this age or in the age to come,” He is simply saying that it will never be forgiven. In the Jewish mind they understood the present and the future in these categories, “this age, and the age to come.” Mark says it a different way in his account.
“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
– Mark 3:28-30 (LSB)
It is an eternal sin because it rejects an eternal witness. What these people are doing is rejecting the true testimony from The Holy Spirit as to who Jesus is. The Holy Spirit’s role is to testify to who The Son of God is. Jesus tells His disciples about the coming of the Spirit and tells them that “He will bear witness about Me” (John 15:26). The Apostle John rightly noted that “It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6). Therefore, to blaspheme against the Spirit carries a deeper weight.
“If a man shall simply blaspheme against God, he is not declared to be beyond the hope of pardon; but of those who have offered outrage to the Spirit, it is said that God will never forgive them. Why is this, but because those only are blasphemers against the Spirit, who slander his gifts and power, contrary to the conviction of their own mind? Such also is the import of the reason assigned by Mark for the extreme severity of Christ’s threatening against the Pharisees; because they had said that he had the unclean spirit; for in this manner they purposely and maliciously turned light into darkness…”
– John Calvin [1]
What Jesus is not saying is that The Holy Spirit is greater than The Son of God and that therefore the blaspheme is too great compared to blaspheming God the Son, but as Calvin notes, the rejection of the Spirit’s “gifts” and “light” through God the Son is being attributed to cursing and darkness by the Pharisees and that is the crux of the matter. This is a severe kind of unbelief and therefore warrants a more severe consequence.
[Let us briefly observe the deity of The Holy Spirit from this passage. The Holy Spirit is truly God, just as the Father and the Son. Also, observe that The Spirit’s power is greater than Satan’s [2]. Yes, Satan is referred to as “the strong man” in v. 29, but notice how the Spirit is the one who comes and “binds the strong man” and “then… plunder[s] his house” (Matt. 12:29).]
Conclusion
Because of the context of the event, it would appear to be impossible for someone to commit this heinous act today. The Spirit’s work through the Messiah is what was being rejected and then attributed to be the very handy work of the Devil himself; this is the unpardonable sin. But let us take great caution so as not to profane the Holy Spirit by denying any of His work nor crediting Him with work that is not His. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were in fact some of the most hard-hearted men that have ever walked the face of the earth. To reject such light means the darkness runs deep. As Jesus said to those who rejected Him and therefore rejected the Spirit at work in Him; “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes” (Luke 10:13). To those who have been given much light, much will be required of them. The Holy Spirit was testifying as to who Jesus is, the Messiah, and they called Him “Beelzebul“.
Works Cited
[1] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries Volume XVI, (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1989), 75
[2] Gregg R. Allison & Andreas J. Köstenberger, The Holy Spirit, Theology for the People of God, (B&H Academic, Nashville, Tennessee, 2020), 58-59