(This article also includes a podcast discussion. Click the play button below, or subscribe and listen on your Apple or Google podcast app.)
Can we reach an end to God’s forgiveness? Despite the Father’s longsuffering and Christ’s punishment on the cross for each sin, is there an unforgivable sin that, even if we’re saved by the blood of Christ, can condemn us to Hell?
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 (Mark 3:28-29)
Christ’s words have given sleepless nights to many believers. What is this “blasphemy against the Spirit” that is so unforgivable, and how do we know if we’re guilty of it? You’d think for something that puts our eternal destiny in jeopardy, Christ or the apostles would have given a bit more clarity on it.
As we’ll see, that vagueness may be because we don’t need to live in constant fear of finding that one straw that breaks the camel’s back. Once we eliminate our wrong ideas about this passage, we can easily get a clear understanding of it. I’d like to start off by looking at what this can’t mean, share what it likely means, and end with what I think it means. All of this will conclude with a word of hope for those who are so frustrated by their sins that they fear God will soon give up on them.
What blasphemy against the Spirit can’t mean
For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15)
Giving in to our sinful desires leaves us wracked with guilt and regret. We know the right thing to do, yet sin is so alluring that we give up the perfection of God and chase after the hollow promises of sin. Alcohol, drugs, pornography, yelling at our family, lying, gossipping, stealing, using God’s name as profanity… we give in to all of these because we’re convinced, in some way, they will make us feel better. Yet when we allow such darkness into the life of a believer, the Holy Spirit is there to remind us of what is good and true.
Over time, this guilt worsens. We know what’s right, yet we keep giving in. After months or years, we may feel so controlled by a particular sin that we realize we follow that sin with more faithfulness than we follow Jesus Christ. And when we get confronted with Mark 3:28-29 or Matthew 12:31-32, Christ’s dire warning of an unforgivable sin sheds light on all the darkness in our lives.
Whenever I’ve heard a pastor talk about these verses, they always start the same way: “I’ve had many church members call me up in tears, wondering if they’d committed the unpardonable sin.” I suspect many, many more Christians wonder the same thing, but are too afraid to mention it.
Of course, there’s a major problem when we think that a personal sin in our lives will be that one thing God can’t possibly forgive. To believe that is to say that our sin can outdo God’s mercy. It requires us to believe that Christ’s death was almost enough to completely pay the price of our sins and redeem us.
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14)
Of course we would never say this, and it’s clear throughout the New Testament (and even the Old) that Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice is the only thing that could possibly atone for our sins. His death was even sufficient to take someone like Paul, who was responsible for the persecution and death of many Christians, and make him one of the most significant writers of the New Testament.
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, (Romans 5:20)
If Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient to remove everything Paul had done, do we really need to fear that God cannot possibly overcome our own wretchedness? We have to realize how impossible that is. Not because we’re so much better than Paul, but because we recognize just how broken and depraved we truly are. Yet no matter how great our sin, God’s grace is greater.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (Romans 8:35)
As Christians, this causes us to worship God even more. Nothing we’ve done, either before or after calling out to Christ for salvation, is enough to remove us from the salvation given through Jesus Christ.
Years ago, there was a fad called the “Blasphemy Challenge” where people would record themselves saying the words “I deny the Holy Spirit.” The intention, of course, was to show you reject God and aren’t afraid of some kind of religious superstition. Yet even those people, who deny God with their lips, are no more outside God’s ability to forgive than those of us whose very lives were once a denial and rejection of Him.
If you’d like to dig further into why our salvation can never possibly depend on our ability to obey the Law just enough to avoid Hell, check out some of my other articles on the topic:
- You Can’t Make God Love You Less
- “God Could Never Forgive Me for This” (don’t let the name fool you – the article is for those who have ever thought those words)
The one sin that can’t be forgiven
If we’re being technical, there’s one sin we can commit that Christ’s blood doesn’t cover. I don’t believe this is what Christ means when He talks about this unforgivable sin, but it’s a popular interpretation that’s at least worth considering.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)
Everyone in Hell will have one thing in common – they died in unbelief as unrepentant sinners. God has made His law evident throughout all of human history – even those who don’t specifically know about God are still guilty of betraying a conscience that has been influenced by the Holy Spirit’s global presence. Christ’s death was enough to atone for any crime we commit against God, but this life is the only opportunity we have to repent and turn to Christ for salvation.
When we consider what kind of unforgivable sin Christ could be talking about, this is the only thing we see throughout the entire Bible that cannot be forgiven. And because Christ was talking to Pharisees who refused to acknowledge Him as God, it’s possible that Christ was broadly saying that these specific men were guilty of the only sin that will condemn so many when they stand before the throne of God – no matter what else they’ve done in their life, their highest crime was not honoring God as God.
All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. (John 6:37)
With that being said, this can bring us great comfort. Whatever we do, once we are in Christ, we are there for good. A follower of Christ is therefore incapable of blaspheming the Holy Spirit because they are no longer in outright rebellion to Christ’s authority as God. They may stumble, possibly greatly, but they can’t possibly die in true unbelief.
I’ve written on what happens to those who never hear the gospel, so I do agree with this sentiment in general. However, I think this unpardonable sin isn’t just something impossible for Christians, but anyone without a time machine.
The uniqueness of blaspheming the Holy Spirit
When people read this passage with terror in their hearts, they are often jumping into the middle of a story and trying to conclude what’s going on. Yet when we look at what’s actually happening, we can get a better idea of what Christ is dealing with.
If we were to look at this passage without verse numbers, we couldn’t possibly stop at Christ’s warning about the severity of this blasphemy… because Mark doesn’t put a period at the end of it. In fact, Mark clearly explains why Christ said this in the exact same sentence.
“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:28-30)
So Christ is condemning them for their words, and the hearts behind it. But what was so bad about saying Christ has an unclean spirit, and how is such an accusation worse than any other kind of blasphemy? The bigger context of this conversation clears it up.
The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:22-30)
Christ was performing miracles, and in this case He was showing His authority over darkness by casting out demons. At a certain point, even those who would never repent had to admit that the things He was doing were impossible without some kind of divine authority.
The Pharisees realized this too. Yet they couldn’t possibly acknowledge that this carpenter’s son was God, so they had to explain Him in a way that still let them comfortably hold to their traditions (and power). So what do you say when someone stands before you and demonstrates, without a doubt, that they have supernatural power?
Their only option was to accuse Jesus of playing for the other team. They couldn’t possibly call in to question what He was doing because the evidence was right in front of them. Instead, they had to come up with an outright contradiction to explain away how He accomplished it.
This, I believe, was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. These religious teachers saw, with their own eyes, the power of God that existed in Christ. They knew that the things He did could only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. “No,” they thought, “we refuse to believe it. We’ll explain it in any other possible way, even if it doesn’t make sense, but we refuse to believe the truth.”
If that’s the case, then we can’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit because we will never have the opportunity to do so. Outside of using a time machine, we are incapable of physically seeing Jesus Christ actively perform miracles, then choosing to attribute His works to Satan because we refuse to acknowledge Him as God. This sin was so unforgivable because it came from a group of men whose hearts were so hardened that they chose to ignore evidence right in front of them and purposely chose to believe a lie.
A final word of comfort
Of course, Romans 1 is still clear that those who refuse to acknowledge God for who He is are still under His wrath. In that way, our previous explanation doesn’t miss the mark too much. However, the bigger context within Matthew and Mark lead me to interpret this blasphemy as something very specific, and therefore not something any of us are capable of committing.
Yet as Christians, we don’t hate sin because it negatively affects us. We hate it because we love the Lord. We worship an almighty God who is everything that sin is not, and we want to share in His hatred of it.
In a way, a Christian who is so overwhelmed and disgusted by their sin that they fear it has cut them off from God is a good thing. It’s a sign of the Holy Spirit working in their life, convicting them of sin and drawing them toward righteousness. Yet let us never forget that the goodness and holiness of God doesn’t just extend to His hatred of sin, but also the limitless grace and mercy that He freely gives us. As those who have been eternally purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ, our sin nature cannot possibly out-perform God’s goodness.
