Author : Keith Sharp
People often ask me, “Is there a sin God will not forgive? Is there a chance I have committed it?” Also, many inquire, “What is the sin against the Holy Ghost?” Actually, since the Spirit is a Person in the Godhead, all sin is against him (Psalm 51:4). But several sins are especially noted as offenses against the Holy Spirit. They are in a peculiar sense directed against Him rather than against the other Persons in the Godhead. What are the sins against the Holy Spirit?
Blasphemy
This transgression raises the problem, “Is there a sin God will not forgive?” The Scriptures plainly affirm the comforting fact that God is abundantly willing to forgive even the vilest of sinners (Isaiah 1:18; Ezekiel 18:21-23; Matthew 9:13; 1 Timothy 1:15; 2 Peter 3:9), Yet, the Lord strictly warned:
Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come (Matthew 12:31-32).
How does one reconcile the Master’s ominous reproof with the Father’s gracious promise?
The context of Jesus’ statement helps resolve the difficulty. The Lord had cast a demon out of one who had been blind and mute (Matthew 12:22), whereupon the people confessed him to be Christ (verse 23). The Pharisees replied by charging that, rather than being “the Son of David,” Jesus actually cast out demons “by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons”(verse 24). The Master then devastatingly demonstrated the absurdity of this charge (verses 25-30). In reality, Jesus “cast out demons by the Spirit of God” (verse 28; cf. Luke 4:14). Thus, by attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, the Pharisees “blasphemed” the Spirit of God. They employed “impious and reproachful speech injurious of the divine majesty…” (Thayer. 102). Thus, Christ warned them sternly of blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31), “Because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit'” (Mark 3:30).
Why is such a sin unpardonable? The Spirit empowered Jesus to work miracles for the express purpose of producing saving faith in Christ (John 20:30-31). One whose heart was so hardened with prejudice that he would attribute the miracles produced by the might of the Spirit of Light to the prince of darkness could never believe (cf. John 12:37-40). It was and is not a. case of the unwillingness or inability of God to forgive a sin. It was and is a matter of the unwillingness and inability of those with hardened hearts to believe that they might be forgiven of sin.
There are yet infidels and agnostics who are so “uncircumcised in heart and ears” that they ridicule the evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that the Bible is the Word of God. Unless their attitudes change, they can never be saved (Hebrews 2:1-4). This is not because the Father is unwilling or unable to forgive. It is because they cannot believe that he might pardon them.
Tempt
When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the apostle Peter concerning the price of their land, they lied “to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:1-3). This was because Peter was a Spirit-filled apostle, able, this passage necessarily implies, to discern their spirits, i.e., to read their minds (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:10). Thus, Simon Peter rebuked Ananias, “You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4). The apostle later chided Sapphira, “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?” (Verse 9; King James Version) The Holy Spirit, being God, cannot be tempted to sin (James 1:13). Rather, the word “tempt” here denotes “to test” (Thayer. 498) or try. In trying the ability of the Spirit to know the secrets of their hearts and actions and in testing his determination to punish sin, they were bound to lose.
When we sin we tempt or try God by testing his knowledge of our hearts and activities and his will to punish the guilty (Hebrews 3:7-9). We are bound to lose.
Resist
When Stephen was hailed before the Sanhedrin on trumped up charges, he reviewed the history of the Jewish nation, demonstrating how they had in each successive generation rebelled against a merciful God. He closed his defense abruptly and devastatingly by accusing his accusers:
You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it (Acts 7:51-53).
The term translated “resist” literally means “to fall upon, run against,” a definition dramatically illustrated by the council’s violent reaction to Stephen’s speech, and is here used to mean “to be adverse, oppose, strive against” (Thayer. 51). The Jewish nation did not merely refuse to hear the prophets; they persecuted them. The council did not simply reject Christ; they murdered Him. This very council unwittingly further confirmed Stephen’s scathing accusation by stopping their ears and violently rushing him to an unlawful, mob action death (Acts 7:54-60).
To “resist the Holy Spirit” is to refuse to hear the preaching of the truth which proceeds from the Spirit of Truth and to actively oppose the one who proclaims it. Shortly after my wife and I moved to Northern New York State, I approached a preacher here about studying together to resolve our doctrinal differences on the basis of the Scriptures. He not only publicly, adamantly refused to study with me, he has continuously vilified and slandered me and the Tri-County Church of Christ throughout the area in the decade since. When one closes his mind to open discussion of the Scriptures and actively opposes the teacher of the Word of God, he is fighting, not just man, but God (Luke 10:16).
Grieve
The beloved apostle Paul exhorted the Ephesians, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”(Ephesians 4:30). This word means “to make sorrowful; to affect with sadness” (Thayer. 383). Godly parents are grieved terribly when their children abandon their teaching to lead sinful lives. The Holy Spirit is saddened when we forsake his teaching to sin, and the Father is sorrowful when we through transgression depart him (Hebrews 3:10-13).
Quench
Paul admonished the Thessalonians, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). This denotes “to suppress; stifle” Him (Thayer. 572). First century Christians could quench the Spirit by discouraging the use of or failing to use spiritual gifts (1 Thessalonians 5:20; 2 Timothy 1:16). We are guilty of a parallel sin if we fail to use our abilities and opportunities in the service of Christ or if we discourage others from doing so (Matthew 25:14-30).
Insult
The writer of Hebrews warned:
Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:28-29)
To “insult” is to “act with insolence” (Vine. 1.300) or “to treat shamefully” (Thayer. 633), The context demonstrates that one can do this by turning back from Christ (Hebrews 10:26-30). Those who turn back from following the Spirit of truth, having once believed and obeyed his Word, insult him. Their threatened punishment is dreadful beyond imagination. May we never be “of those who draw back to perdition” (Hebrews 10:39).
Conclusion
The danger of sin against the Holy Spirit is grave, and we must be on guard. Unbeliever, do not harden your heart to blaspheme the Holy Spirit by ridiculing his testimony. Disobedient, do not resist the Spirit of truth by closing your ears to the Gospel and opposing those who proclaim it. Christians, do not tempt and grieve the Spirit by sin, quench him by apathy or insult Him by falling away from Christ. If you are not a Christian, please heed the Spirit’s invitation.
“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).
Works Cited
Thayer, J.H., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
Vine, W.E., An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
