A visitor to our website asks this question about the “unforgivable sin”:

“I’ve been told by different people different things about the “unforgivable sin”. Some say that it’s the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ when the Holy Spirit reveals Him to be the Savior. Others say that it’s the sin of attributing the miracles of Jesus Christ to Satan. While the latter is really bad, is it unforgivable? What would make it unforgivable? I can see how rejecting Christ becomes unforgivable; but what about the other?”

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Dear friend,

The question of the unforgivable sin comes up in Matthew 12:31-32 (also Mark 3:28-30; and Luke 12:10).

The setting is very important to notice. It was at a time when Jesus was experiencing the growing pressure of opposition against Him from the Pharisees. He had healed a man on the Sabbath day in the Synagogue; and this greatly intensified the opposition of the Pharisees to Him. He had healed many people, of course; but as far as the Pharisees were concerned, this was the last straw. Clearly, He was proving Himself to be the Son of God; but they would not believe in Him or receive Him; and so, they began to plot together how to destroy Him (Matthew 12:14).

In this particular passage from Matthew (12:22-24), Jesus healed a demon-possessed man. People were beginning to believe on Him; but the Pharisees quickly jumped in to accuse Him of being able to cast out demons “by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons” (v. 24). In other words, they saw Him perform a miracle of healing by the power of the Holy Spirit; and they also saw that people were begining to ask, “Could this be the Son of David?”; and lest anyone should believe on Him any further, they attributed that act to the power of the devil.

It’s important to remember that this was an accusation they were making repeatedly; see Matthew 9:32-33). On this particular occasion, Jesus answered their accusation in many ways–proving that it was a ridiculous and untenable thing to say (vv. 25-30). But it was then that He lays it on the line and says; “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, New King James Version).

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How should we understand this? I tend to see it within the whole context of Matthew’s Gospel. He wrote this Gospel for Jewish people; and he intended in it to show them that Jesus was their long-awaited King (1 Samuel 7:12-16). But, as it says of Jesus in John 1:11, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” The religious leaders saw Him; but did not receive Him. They rejected Him as their Messiah, and would eventually crucify Him.

Given that this was the response of the Jewish leaders to Him as their Messiah, Jesus was then offered instead to the Gentiles (see Acts 26:15-18). In this case, the opposition of the religious leaders had finally brought them to a point of no return. Their opportunity to receive their King was, in that respect, now lost. But even then, we should see the grace of God at work in that their rejection resulted in salvation being offered to all people–Jews and Gentiles; whoever would receive Him (Romans 11:11-32).

My point, then, is that whatever this sin was, it must be understood in that particular context–that is, in the context of the religious leaders of the Jewish people seeing the work of the Holy Spirit being exhibited through the bodily presence of Jesus; but then, after being an eyewitness to that work, attributing that power to the devil. If we understand the “unforgivable sin” in any other way than that, we’re understanding it out of its context.

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So, what about us today? In my opinion, the sin being described in this passage was a unique sin, committed at a unique time, by a unique people–which was why it received such a unique condemnation The leaders of that day rejected their King; which, of course, was terrible. But these particular Pharisees did even worse than that alone. They rejected Him AND blasphemed the Holy Spirit who was revealing Him.

We should remember that it’s the Holy Spirit’s ministry to shine the spotlight on Jesus (John 16:14); and if these Pharisees were to have simply spoken against Jesus in His humanity alone, that could have been a forgivable matter of spiritual blindness and ignorance (see Acts 2:36-39). But these Pharisees not only rejected the One on whom the spotlight shined, but also cursed and blasphemed the spotlight for having revealed Him to them. In doing so, they were displaying a hardness of heart that knowingly and deliberately shut the grace of God out of their lives. They refused to even receive the witness of Christ from the Holy Spirit; and they even sought to prevent others of their own people from receiving the witness of the Spirit through the miracles that Jesus performed before them. (In fact, I believe Jesus spoke later of them when He said, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” [Matthew 23:13].) That’s far beyond just the usual ‘hardness of heart’! What hope was there for those who would so uniquely resist the grace of God?

Personally, then, I don’t believe this passage is describing a sin that can be committed today–certainly not, at least, in the same way. Many people have become very distraught and fearful over this matter–worrying about whether or not they have said some certain set of words at some time in their life that constituted “blasphemy against the Spirit”, and thus committed the unforgivable sin. But the issue is not the saying of a set of words. The issue is that of a persistent, unrepentant attitude of heart toward the divine revelation of Christ. It was, strictly speaking, a sin that was committed when Jewish religious leaders continually witnessed the actual work of Jesus Christ in performing miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit in an undeniable way over and over again–and yet, out of hatred for Him, persistently attributed those miracles to the power and working of the devil. (See also Mark 3:30–where it says that Jesus spoke these words to the Pharisees “because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit’”. The verb there translated “they said” is in the imperfect tense; which suggests an ongoing practice. It can be translated as it is in the New American Standard version: “. . . because they were saying, ‘He has an unclean spirit’.”)

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When you really think about it, people who are fearful that they may have committed this sin, and worry that they will now never be forgiven, actually prove that they haven’t committed it at all! A man or woman who has such a fear about that sin–or any other sin, for that matter–is experiencing the gracious work of God the Holy Spirit; because apart from the grace of the Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t even feel the conviction of sin at all (John 16:8). This, it seems to me, proves that their heart is not hardened against God, and that they are open to the Spirit’s revelation of Christ.

As you suggest, some people have said that the “unforgivable sin” is that of rejecting Jesus; and that so long as someone continues to reject Jesus, they cannot be forgiven. There’s certainly a sense in which this is true. I can be forgiven of any sin; but NOT so long as I persist in rejecting the only Savior from sin! If I reject Him; what hope of forgiveness can I possibly have? But I don’t believe that that’s what this passage is talking about. Jesus was quite clear–He was talking about a sin that can never be forgiven, “either in this age or in the age to come”. I myself lived for many years as a young man who rejected Jesus. But I repented and believed; and I was forgiven for that sin. I am forgiven today!

Truly, any sin can be forgiven if we will turn to Jesus and believe on Him.

Blessings in Christ’s amazing and gracious love,
Pastor Greg
Bethany Bible Church

(All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version.)