READING TIME: 3-5 MINUTES
February 13, 2020
Matthew 12:31-32 – Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. An unforgivable sin?
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 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” (NASB).
First of all, I thank Andy Woods’ for his helpful teaching on these verses. Many of the notes below came from that teaching. See the link below to listen to this teaching.
Unfortunately, both unbelievers and believers have lived under the fear of committing this sin and thinking they have been disqualified from salvation.
Before Paul was a believer, he was a blasphemer but he did this “ignorantly in unbelief” (see 1 Timothy 1:13-15). Paul had not seen Christ’s miracles and he hadn’t even heard His voice until he was stricken on the Damascus Road. Before he “met” Christ, he even thought he was doing the right thing (Acts 26:9, 11). What Paul did was not an “unpardonable” sin.
The audience who heard Jesus’s words were the unbelieving Pharisees and scribes who accused Jesus of allegiance with Satan (Matthew 12:24-30; Mark 3:22-27). This audience is in a completely different category from Paul since they had personally witnessed Christ’s miracles.
The context of these verses is that Jesus had performed a miracle of healing; it’s a miracle that was so obvious it could not be denied by His friends and foes. These foes had claimed the miracle Jesus had done by the power of the Holy Spirit was done by Beelzebul (another name for Satan, the prince of the demons). Their verbal accusation prompted His reply about the sin that cannot be forgiven. So, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was that the unbelievers had attributed to the devil what the Holy Spirit, through Christ, did and they were slandering and telling lies about Him.
The ones who committed this unpardonable sin were the unbelieving Pharisees. These verses aren’t “loss of salvation” verses because these Pharisees weren’t saved, to begin with. This sin revealed their unbelief, denied the source of Jesus’s power and attributed it to another power, and it also revealed their self-righteousness (see Matthew 12:34-35). This type of blasphemy is an extreme example of unbelief such as Proverbs 29:1 describes.
The reason why these unbelievers couldn’t be forgiven personally is they would not believe in the Savior who could save them (John 3:18; 8:24; Acts 10:43) and nationally they rejected the offer of the Millennial kingdom (in Matthew 12:24). The only sin that sends a person to hell now is the sin of unbelief in Jesus for his salvation (see John 3:18; 8:24). Jesus knew the character of the unbelieving Pharisees and He knew that their opinion of Him would never change because if this miracle (of casting out a demon) was not going to change them, then nothing would.
Is it possible to commit this unpardonable sin today? Very often in the NT Epistles, we’re exhorted not to lie to the Spirit, not to quench the Spirit, not to grieve the Spirit, to walk according to the Spirit, and to be filled with the Spirit, but we’re never warned against the blasphemy of the Spirit. This particular sin was unique to 1st-century unbelievers. Therefore, in the sense of loss of salvation, it can’t be committed today, but what sends a person to hell now is a refusal to receive the offer of eternal life and a refusal to trust in Jesus for salvation. Also, this unpardonable sin cannot be committed today because the Holy Spirit is not producing sign-miracles in this age through Jesus Christ physically on the earth. The purpose of these signs was to validate Christ’s identity as the Son of Man and Son of God.
Summary and Conclusion
It is unlikely that this sin can be committed today, for the conditions are different; Jesus is not physically present performing miracles or validating His identity as the Son of Man and Son of God. To commit this particular sin required the personal and visible presence of Christ on earth. If one dies in a state of unbelief, that sin is not so much unpardonable as it is unpardoned.
If you are a believer, then you have responded positively to the Holy Spirit’s testimony about Christ. This should bring assurance that you cannot commit this sin and your salvation is not in jeopardy. If a believer worries about committing this sin, it is a testimony that he is still responding positively to the Holy Spirit’s witness. Also, as believers, we have the assurance that God’s grace covers every sin (Romans 5:20; Colossians 2:13). As for an unbeliever, if he worries about committing this sin, it is also a testimony that he is prone to respond positively to the Holy Spirit’s testimony about Christ. We can say this emphatically: Those who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior are saved and have all their sins forgiven.
Sources Consulted
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