What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

Question

Mark 3:20-30 contains a familiar passage with a long debated phrase:

3:20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons.” 23 So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. 28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin” 30 (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”). [NET Bible]

What has been the understanding of this "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" and why is it unforgivable? Since other blasphemies will be forgiven (those against the Father and the Son), why will blasphemies against the Spirit not be forgiven?

Answer 1

Jesus' statement about the unforgivable sin comes in the context of an attack from the Pharisees:

22 The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons.”

They recognize that Jesus is doing the work of casting out demons, a good work, but instead of accepting this evidence as testimony about Jesus, they ascribe it to some sort of satanic 'bluff'. This is not totally illogical, it is similar to the line of reasoning Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 11:

¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. _ESV

but it is a distortion of the reality of God's revelation, as hinted in the end of verse 15 quoted above: according to the testimony of scripture evil cannot be hidden indefinitely and it takes an evil unbelieving heart to turn the consistent righteousness and good deeds of Jesus into a mask for evil intent. The Pharisees are ignoring scripture and the normal evidences and signs of a prophet of God: their intent is to condemn Jesus whatever the evidence. This is the unforgivable sin, and it is impossible to convince them of their error because nothing can possibly convince them any more: they are seeing good as evil and evil as good. If, as Jesus asserts, accepting him and his words is the only path to forgiveness, then it is logical that to permanently reject him is "unforgivable".

Answer 2

There is a helpful passage provided for us in Luke 12:10 that addresses this same issue.

"And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven."

The parallel seems to define "blaspheme" as "speaking against."

This is supported linguistically:

According to Strong's blasphemeo (987) means "to blaspheme, insult, slander, curse." that cross references with phemi which means "to say, declare, affirm." We are left then to discern the meaning of blas, which Strong's does not provide us information on.

However, Noah Webster, in his 1828 dictionary offers the following insight:

BLASPHE'ME, v.t. [Gr. The first syllable is the same as in blame, blasme, denoting injury; L. loedo, loesus; The last syllable is the Gr.,to speak.]

1. To speak of the Supreme Being in terms of impious irreverence; to revile or speak reproachfully of God, or the Holy Spirit. 1 Kings 21. Mark 3.
2. To speak evil of; to utter abuse or calumny against; to speak reproachfully of. BLASPHE'ME, v.i. To utter blasphemy.

He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven. Mark 3. 1. To arrogate the prerogatives of God. This man blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God? Math.9. Mark 2.

In regard to blaspheming the Father due consideration must be given to the law concerning those who blasphemed the name of YHWH--Lev. 24:16:

"And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall be put to death."

Is this not the name of which Jesus said in His prayer, "Our Father . . hallowed be Your name."

The eternal danger and the reason that this sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven, I suspect is spoken of in Ephesians 4

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Answer 3

It’s unpardonable to tell the Holy Spirit to take a ‘hike’ seeing He is the only one who grants you the ability to fully discover the truth and knowledge of Christ – God’s redemptive plan.

Adam and Eve Hide:

In Genesis 3:8 - “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (NIV)

This is blaspheme, which is: utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.

Why did Adam and Eve hide?

John 3:19-21 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men (Adam and Eve) loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (NIV)

The Holy Spirit leads you into truth:

John 16:13 – “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (NIV)

God’s wisdom revealed by the Spirit:

1 Corinthians 2:14 "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." (NIV)

Answer 4

Every sin is blasphemy against the Holy spirit.

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (Bible, New testament, James 2:10)

So blasphemy against the holy spirit is forgiven along with all sins because Jesus died for you you will go to Heaven.

My words of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit are credited to Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ's words are credited to me.

Jesus Christ is the only one who has to wory about the punishment for blasphemy against the holy spirit.

It is good news for me and bad news for Jesus Christ.

Answer 5

It may have reference to Jesus' use of the days of Noah, the "marrying and giving in marriage" with idolaters. The three level world was corrupted by Adam's sin in the sanctuary, theft from the Father; Cain's sin against the son, murder of the brother; and, I guess, the blasphemy against the Spirit, the holy matchmaker, which brought about the end of the first world. Sin against Father and Son were forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit is the end of the culture. The sin has been "filled up," and is full grown.

This may tie in with Paul's threefold "God gave them up" in Romans 1. The current distortion of marriage in western culture could be strike 3 for us. As far as the godless are concerned, the Bible is to be condemned as the source of all our problems. The conviction of the Spirit is something from which we must break free - to reach our full potential: ripeness for judgment.