MATTHEW 12
[22] Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw.
[23] And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?”
[24] But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
[25] Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.
[26] And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
[27] And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
[28] But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
[29] Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.
[30] Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
[31] Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
[32] And 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 age to come.
[33] “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.
[34] You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
[35] The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.
[36] I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
[37] for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
1. The sin refers to blasphemy, not a person’s knowledge, attitude, or intention.
“Therefore I tell you…blasphemy against the Spirit…whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (v. 31)
The sin refers to blasphemy, and blasphemy refers to an act of speaking or using words.
The usual teaching is that this sin refers to a knowing, persistent, and final rejection of Jesus Christ. This is categorically wrong. The ridiculous explanation ignores the explicit statements of Jesus and goes to talk about another topic altogether.
Blasphemy is a specific act, a specific sin. Not every sin is blasphemy. Unbelief is sin, but not blasphemy. You will probably blaspheme if you say something based on your unbelief, but the unbelief itself is a different sin. Murder is a sin, but not blasphemy. Adultery is a sin, but not blasphemy. Stealing is a sin, but not blasphemy. All these sins can lead to blasphemy if they become the basis of irreverent statements, but they themselves are not the same as blasphemy.
And rejecting Jesus Christ, regardless how deliberate and persistent, is not blasphemy.
2. The sin is committed against the Holy Spirit, not Jesus Christ.
“And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (v. 32)
The sin, in fact, does not directly relate to Jesus Christ at all, but to the Holy Spirit. You can speak against the Holy Spirit while you speak against Jesus, as the Pharisees did. This makes the sin even more easy to commit and even more frequently committed than it first appears. But the sin itself refers to speaking against the Holy Spirit, not Jesus.
You can easily speak against the Holy Spirit without mentioning Jesus. Suppose you are talking about music, or fashion, or politics, or any random thing, and as an attempt to offer a humorous illustration you mention speaking in tongues as something false, absurd, or fanatical. You have just spoken against the work of the Holy Spirit. You have not mentioned Jesus. You have not even mentioned the Holy Spirit. Neither did the Pharisees.
3. The definition of blasphemy depends only on the words, not on a person’s knowledge, attitude, or intention.
“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (v. 37)
Paul wrote that he was a blasphemer, and he did it out of ignorance and unbelief. What he said against Jesus still counted as blasphemy. His knowledge and intention were irrelevant to whether his words counted as blasphemy.
The definition of blasphemy depends only on the words, not on knowledge, intention, background, history, or context. If the words assert or imply something that contradicts, undermines, or devalues a divine person, then that is blasphemy.
When it comes to blasphemy, you are judged as innocent or guilty solely based on your words. Your knowledge or intention might matter in another context, but when it comes to whether something counts as blasphemy, if the words are blasphemous, then you have committed blasphemy.
If the blasphemy is against the Holy Spirit, then you have committed a sin that will never be forgiven. This means you will burn in hell when you die, and you will burn forever.
4. The indirect and unintended implications of the words count as much as an explicit statement.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons…” He said to them, “…the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (v. 24-25, 31)
The Jews accused Jesus of committing blasphemy. He never explicitly asserted anything against God, but he said things that placed himself on the same level or in the same category with God. That was enough for the Jews to accuse him of blasphemy. Of course, Jesus did not commit blasphemy because what he said was true, but it shows that blasphemy is not limited to direct insults and assertions.
The Pharisees made their attack against Jesus, and never mentioned the Holy Spirit. But when Jesus answered them, he said that speaking words against the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin. Their slander against Jesus implied, contrary to their intention, that the Holy Spirit was a demon. It was enough for Jesus to apply this doctrine.
Think about all the things that people say, especially those who call themselves Christians, that carry derogatory implications against the Holy Spirit. Some teachers and leaders have built entire ministries on blaspheming the Holy Spirit, yet they imagine that they are doing God a service and being a light to his people.
5. The sin does not have to be premeditated or intentional, but it can be committed even by a “careless word.”
“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (v. 36-37)
Jesus said that people will give account for “every careless word” on the day of judgment. This judgment is not some generic evaluation, but it can lead to condemnation.
The Bible contradicts every single detail of the common definition of this sin. It is not a knowing and persistent rejection of Jesus Christ. It can be an ignorant and unintentional, a careless word, against the Holy Spirit.
That is, it can be careless instead of knowing, it can be ignorant instead of informed, and it refers to speech instead of rejection, directed against the Holy Spirit instead of Jesus Christ.
The standard teaching gets every…single…point wrong.
6. The sin is highly relevant when it comes to the ministry of healing.
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw… “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (v. 22, 28)
Although the man was blind and mute because of a demon, the Bible says that Jesus “healed him,” and the man spoke and saw. So it is correct to include the case under the ministry of healing.
Of course, since the sin is committed against the Holy Spirit, it applies to all kinds of speech against the Holy Spirit. But since it is introduced in the context of the ministry of healing, we should affirm this as a prime example of how the sin can be committed.
How many people have declared that God no longer performs miracles of healing, or that he no longer grants gifts of healing, so that they have directly or indirectly asserted that all claims of such healing miracles are fraudulent, delusional, or even demonic? Cessationism is an official doctrine in many creeds and institutions.
How many books and sermons are dedicated to opposing what they call fanaticism, emotionalism, and dangerous deceptions? How many church members, pastors, theologians, seminaries, and entire denominations would be wiped from the face of the earth if God were to hold them accountable today for what they have said about the ministry of healing?
And how many can remain when we also consider what people have said about speaking in tongues, visions and dreams, prophecies, various supernatural experiences, and other works and ministries of the Holy Spirit?
7. You are either explicitly for or against the work of the Holy Spirit. There is no passive or neutral place.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (v. 30)
The context is explicitly about the ministry of healing, and more broadly, the ministry of miracles by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that if Satan casts out Satan, then his kingdom would not stand, but since he worked miracles by the Holy Spirit, it showed that the kingdom of God had arrived.
Then he added, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” It is good not to say anything against the Holy Spirit or against the ministry of healing and miracles. But it is not enough just to stay silent.
Whoever does not gather, scatters. There are only two sides. If you are not on the gathering side, you are on the scattering side against Jesus. There is no third side where one does not blaspheme the Spirit, yet does not explicitly endorse healing the sick, casting out demons, and speaking in tongues.
You are not in his kingdom or on his side just because you avoid speaking against things like healing and prophecy. You are on his side only if you actively speak in support of these things, and better yet both speak about these things and do them.
8. “If you are worried about this sin…”
A common attempt to assure someone is to tell him, “If you are worried that you have committed this sin, then it is a sure sign that you have not done it.” However, this is based on the assumption that the sin refers to an informed and persistent rejection of Jesus Christ. If someone is worried, then it seems he has not made a final rejection. The sin has nothing to do with this. The sin has to do only with a person’s words: “by your words you will be condemned.”
In fact, if a person is worried that he might have committed this sin, this could be a sign that he has done it. This is because prior to hearing a false explanation about the sin, a person may have only encountered the term “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” or read the Bible passage about it. In either case, he would have more straightforward understanding of the sin than the absurd standard explanation someone would later offer him. Perhaps he has said things that he acknowledges as blasphemy, and now he is rightly concerned.
But if he has only heard the less definite term “the unpardonable sin,” then he might indeed be confused if he thinks he has done something terrible. Yet his worry still does not excuse him.
In any case, a person’s feelings and worries offer no indication as to whether he has committed the sin. His words provide the only indication or evidence. Has he said anything to directly or indirectly insult the Holy Spirit, including this work of healing and miracles?
9. “Christians can never commit this sin.”
It is true that Christians are secure in Christ and will never commit the unpardonable sin. However, this is not a basis of assurance. Scripture is a greater authority than what a person claims about himself, and it defines the sin in a clear and precise manner. Therefore, when a person speaks against the Holy Spirit, regardless of whether he claims to be a Christian, we can know that he is not a Christian and that he has never been a Christian. And now that he has committed this sin, we also know that he can never become a Christian.
This line of reasoning is integrated into the doctrine of the preservation of the saints. It declares that a Christian will never commit or remain in final apostasy. But this does not lead us to think that even if a person has committed final apostasy, he has in fact not committed apostasy because he is a Christian. Rather, we would say that if a person commits or remains in final apostasy, then we know that he has never been a Christian.
The reasoning is the same when it comes to the unpardonable sin, only that final apostasy is replaced with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Whether you are innocent or guilty of the unpardonable sin is judged “by your words” about the Holy Spirit and his works. Whether you claim to be a Christian is totally irrelevant.
10. “You are driving people to despair and hopelessness!”
Ptoo! That’s me spitting in your face. How is this my problem? I am not the one speaking against the Holy Spirit. Why are you making me the villain, when those people you are talking about have probably blasphemed the Holy Spirit? They are the ones who might have committed an unpardonable evil, and you are yelling at me?
If I am wrong about this sin, then you can use the Bible and prove it to the people, and offer them true assurance. Their despair will vanish, and they will be filled with hope. In fact, if they thought that the unpardonable sin was something else that they might have done, but then they read my explanation from Scripture, their despair would also vanish, and they would also be filled with hope. Why? Because they will know for certain that they have not done it.
But you are telling me that they are driven to despair and hopelessness after studying my explanation from Scripture, an explanation that you have failed to refute and dispel from their minds. Do you know what this looks like? It looks like they are in despair because they have done it! If they have done it, then they are precisely the people that ought to despair and lose hope.
If they have not committed this sin, and if they think they have done it only because there is some misunderstanding, then the best cure would be for them to revisit the Scripture about this rather than to avoid the topic or to accept false assurance about it. There is no scenario where I ought to retract what I have said on the subject or refrain from teaching about it. The truth is that the doctrine deserves much more attention and emphasis.