What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the only unforgivable sin. Anyone who commits blasphemy of the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven and understandably, so it’s important to know what exactly it is and how to avoid it. To commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would mean that you must have heard or read the truth of the scriptures, rejected it by labeling it as false/wrong and twisted it and manipulated it in your favor.
Hebrews 6:4-6 – It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
There are many kinds of sins, all of which are forgivable, except manipulating the scriptures to suit yourself.
Mark 3:28 – Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
Matthew 12:31 – And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
Matthew 12:32 – Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
Luke 12:10 – Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
John also speaks of this:
1 John 5:16-17 – If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
A sin that does not lead to death is an identifiable sin. This is where the sinner admits their sin and receives forgiveness. This is only possible if the individual does not manipulate the word to accommodate their sin.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 – For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold, 4and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].
2 Peter 3:16 – He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Jude 1:18 – They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires.
To speak against the Holy Spirit is the sin that leads to death, it means to twist/compromise and manipulate Jesus’ teachings which he received from God through the Holy Spirit.
John 7:16-17 – Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.
You see, the words that Jesus spoke are from God and twisting these words is considered blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
John 6:68 – Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
John 6:63 – The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 12:49 – For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.
John 14:24 – Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
2 John 1:9 – Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
John 14:10 – Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
In order to guard ourselves from committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, we must be alert. We must be careful that we pay attention to what we believe and how we interpret the truth which is the word of God and teachings of Jesus. We must not allow teachings from others such as scholars or our parents, to get in the way of us hearing the truth. We must not combine other teachings, no matter how convincing they may seem, with the truth spoken of in the bible.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2 & 4-5 – And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. a 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified…4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
Ephesians 4:14 – Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
2 Corinthians 11:3 – But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
And so, we must pay close attention to how we read the Bible and more importantly, how we hear/interpret it. This is what Jesus warns us of in the following scriptures:
Luke 8:18 – “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”
Mark 4:24 – “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.
In these scriptures, Jesus is explaining that we need to be careful how we discern and interpret the word of God and more specifically, the teachings of Jesus.
Matthew 7:1-2 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
This is one of the most misunderstood scriptures in the Bible. Many people think this verse means not to judge others, but it does not. Paul states:
1 Corinthians 5:12 – It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.
My point is that Jesus is not stating that we must not judge others. Rather, he is stating that we must not judge the word of God or the teachings of Jesus. What Jesus is warning us to do is to be careful when hearing the word of God. Be careful to pardon it and not judge it. Since whatever part of God’s word you judge, you will be judged by that same measure. So by the measure that you have judged and manipulated the word of God, you will also be judged by that same measure.
Matthew 7:3-5 – “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Then Jesus goes on to explain that people who have judged the word, cannot go on to help others with their misunderstandings of the Bible. Jesus refers to a mere misunderstanding as a ‘speck’ in one’s eye, but the one who has manipulated/compromised /judged the Word, Jesus refers to as having a ‘plank’ in their eye! So basically, Jesus is stating that if you stop manipulating and judging the word, then you can actually assist others who have a mere misunderstanding.
Matthew 7:6 – “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
In these scriptures, we can see Jesus refer to people who judge and manipulate the word of God as ‘swine’, and that we should not cast our ‘pearls’ or ‘wisdom’ amongst such people. Paul also states this in:
1 Corinthians 5:11 – I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.
People who indulge in sin, justify their sin by manipulating God’s word to suit their sin. They make their actions and beliefs acceptable and not wrong in their own mind and heart, resulting in immorality. They blur the lines of right and wrong.
Isaiah 5:20 – Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 – For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 – In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
As we can see, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is all about twisting teachings. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is very much so a sin that we can still commit in today’s world.
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