Sins Against The Holy Spirit III

The third sin we can commit against the Holy Spirit is that of blasphemy.  Luke 12:10 tells us, “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”   As a result this is frequently called the unforgiveable sin, and some people fear they may have committed it. 

To blaspheme means to slander or vilify.  Mark 3:22-30 describes the situation when Jesus said blasphemy would never be forgiven.   “And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?  And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.  No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.   Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.” 

Jesus was empowered by the Spirit of God.  The scribes were saying it was a Satanic spirit who was enabling to cast out demons.  As Jesus pointed out, such a claim made no sense, because Satan would be destroying himself if he did.  They were slandering the Holy Spirit, accusing him of being one of Satan’s spirits, and Jesus warned that would never be forgiven.   They were crediting what the Holy Spirit did to Satan.  

There is a second form of this sin.  The Holy Spirit is God, and James 1:13 tells us, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”   When we begin to accuse the Holy Spirit of leading us to do evil things such as ripping people off or killing innocent people we are also blaspheming the Holy Spirit.   Those televangelists who use their “ministry” to rip off thousands of people or who have hundreds of people killed in the name of Christianity, like Jim Jones, Charles Manson, or various other cult leaders through the ages fall into this category.  

In Numbers 16 we find the story of Koran and his followers being destroyed for rebelling against God’s leadership.  Caused them to be swallowed up by and earthquake.  Numbers 16:41-46 describes what happened next.  “But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.  And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.”  The people were effectively blaspheming the Holy Spirit by  accusing Moses and Aaron of murdering God’s people, and God sent a plague that killed fourteen thousand seven hundred people for doing so. 

Real Christians have the Holy Spirit to guide them and are unlikely to commit this sin, but false teachers and religions which place their traditions and teachings ahead of God’s word may well fall into it.