First of all, it’s pronounced “blas-feh-mee,” not “blas-fem-nee.”
The reason we wanted to address this often confusing subject is because it came up recently in the text as we were going through Luke. Since it’s almost impossible to spend an adequate amount of time on the topic in one sermon and still cover the rest of the text, making a blog post about it seemed to be a good way to deal with it. (This was also made available in print the following Sunday.)
“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” – Luke 12:10
This passage has been a perplexing one for many centuries. There has been much debate and discussion over what Jesus means here. Is he referring to something that could only happen while Jesus was on earth? Is this the sin of every unbeliever who rejects Christ and therefore has no forgiveness? Is this the apostasy of believing Christians who ultimately lose or forfeit their salvation? Is it something else? How can we know what’s the best way to understand this text?
Interpreting Bible passages, especially difficult ones, must always be based on context. Context is key. What is the immediate context of this statement? What is the broader context of this statement in light of Jesus’ teaching? How does this statement fit into the context of the whole Bible? These questions will guide us to the best interpretation of a difficult passage, rather than relying on what we “feel” like it means or what we would like it to mean.
Contextually, Jesus is talking about denying and acknowledging Christ before people and its eternal ramifications (Lk. 12:8-9). He goes on in verses 11-12 to talk about the intimate role the Holy Spirit plays in helping Jesus’ followers to testify to Jesus’ work. He is speaking to his disciples and the context is the public proclamation of the Gospel and the suffering it often elicits.
Luke is not clear about when and where this statement was made, what was going on, etc. We just know that it was one of the times that “so many thousands of people had gathered together” (12:1). But Matthew sheds a little more light on what was happening when Jesus made this statement. In Matthew 12:22-32, Jesus had just casted out a demon and the Pharisees accused Jesus of operating in the power of “Beelzebul, the prince of demons” (Mt. 12:24). In Mark’s parallel, they go so far as to say that Jesus was demon-possessed (Mk. 3:30). Jesus then gives an illustration to describe how that accusation makes no sense whatsoever – that it can only be by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus casts out demons. In light of the Pharisees’ attributing the work of the Spirit to Satan, Jesus warns that “blasphemy against the Spirit” (Mt. 12:31; Lk. 12:10) will not be forgiven. Matthew records a little more of what Jesus said after that statement, namely, the elucidation that “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven,” shedding light on the intended meaning of “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.” Contextually, then, what were the Pharisees being warned about, even accused of? They were rejecting Christ after having seen his miraculous power and attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. That is what’s in view as the unpardonable sin, or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or speaking against the Holy Spirit. As Wayne Grudem explains
“The context indicates that Jesus is speaking about a sin that is not simply unbelief or rejection of Christ, but one that includes (1) a clear knowledge of who Christ is and of the power of the Holy Spirit working through him, (2) a willful rejection of the facts about Christ that his opponents knew to be true, and (3) slanderously attributing the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ to the power of Satan. In such cases the hardness of heart would be so great than any ordinary means of bringing a sinner to repentance would have already been rejected . . . In this case it is not that the sin itself is so horrible that it could not be covered by Christ’s redemptive work, but rather that the sinner’s hardened heart puts him or her beyond the reach of God’s ordinary means of bringing forgiveness through repentance and trusting Christ for salvation.” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 508)
What is clearer in Matthew is not inconsistent with what we read in Luke. In Luke, Jesus is talking about acknowledging versus denying him before God and others. What type of denial is in view? It is the type that denies the Holy Spirit’s work of testifying to Christ as the only Savior and attributing that work to a deception of Satan. It is the deliberate, willful rejection of Christ and his work of redemption. For such hardness of heart, there is no forgiveness.
Jesus does not intend here to answer the question about whether a Christian can lose his salvation or not. Plenty of other passages throughout the Bible do that. The intended effect of Luke 12:10 is to warn against evil, willful, slanderous unbelief that results in eternal condemnation. Since the NT nowhere describes a believer that way, we can conclude that true believers are not in the subset of those who would commit the unpardonable sin. In fact, if someone is concerned about whether he has committed the unpardonable sin, the very fact of that concern is an indication that he has probably not committed the unpardonable sin. Donald Whitney explains, “You cannot possibly have committed the unforgivable sin if you are concerned that you have committed it. Those who sin the unpardonable sin are unrepentant.” (Donald Whitney, How Can I Be Sure I Am a Christian, p. 110.)
We should not ignore the flip-side of the warning that “everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven” (Lk. 12:10). Though the one “unpardonable sin” gets the most attention, what about the vast ocean of mercy that covers our countless pardonable sins? The most attention-grabbing words in this passage should not be “blasphemes against the Holy Spirit” or “will not be forgiven” but the three little words “will be forgiven.” That’s amazing grace!
Finally, Jesus is not talking about someone who realizes he may have had such a willful, slanderous rejection of Christ at some point in his life and is now begging for forgiveness but is denied. In Matthew and Luke, the person who has committed the unpardonable sin is so far removed from the work of the Gospel, he has become so hardened in his heart towards Christ, that he is not asking for forgiveness. Rather, he is rejecting the only means of forgiveness that exists – the finished work of Christ. This person has committed a more severe and dangerous sin than routine unbelief. This sin is a malicious rejection and slander of the Spirit’s work.
This verse serves as a warning passage that God will judge such a person, for he “will not be forgiven” (Lk. 12:10). And it is an encouraging, faith-building passage that you don’t have to worry about “how you should defend yourself” against such people. For God is your judge; He will judge all your enemies; and his spirit will teach you what you ought to say to them (Lk. 12:12).
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