For this reason I say unto you, Every sin and injurious speaking shall be forgiven to men, but speaking injuriously of the Spirit shall not be forgiven to men.
The Pharisees had just watched Jesus free a man from a demon, and they said the power came from Satan. That charge draws out this warning, which holds two things together: pardon wide enough to cover everything, and one solemn exception.
The words are not a riddle dropped from nowhere. They answer a specific accusation. One commentator names the sin, then walks back through the scene that provoked it:
The sin spoken of here is "blasphemy," or "speaking against" the Holy Spirit, and you can gather the exact force of these words from the context. This display of divine power and mercy made a deep impression on the people. They saw in it evidence that He was the Messiah, for they said, "Can this be the Son of David?" But the enemies of Christ — the Pharisees — used it to show their hatred. The miracle was in front of their eyes, and they even admitted it, yet they credited the power they had seen at work to the devil. The power in which Jesus worked and carried out His mission was that of the Holy Spirit. So it was by the power of the Spirit of God that He drove the demon out of the man.
Mark's account adds the reason for the warning in one line. They were saying, "He has an unclean spirit" (Mark 3:30). That fixes the meaning. The sin is not a mood or a stray thought but a definite charge:
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists in attributing the power of the Spirit to evil agency. Many a person with an over-sensitive conscience has worried that he has committed that sin. A simple reference to Mark 3:30 should at once set such a person at rest.
Another writer presses the question that such a charge forces:
So the rulers called the Holy Spirit the devil. What remained for a people who confused God and Satan? Awful thought! What forgiveness could there be for those who acted this way on purpose, and not in ignorance?
Before the exception comes the promise, and the promise is enormous. One writer points to the clearest proof that God forgives even a blasphemer:
The Lord declared: "All sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter" (Mark 3:28). We have a wonderful example of this in the apostle Paul. Before his conversion he was a blasphemer himself. He even threatened others with severe punishment to force them to blaspheme (Acts 26:11). Yet he was forgiven.
Why can this one sin never be forgiven? One writer answers by setting it against plain ignorance:
It is the final rejection of the Spirit's testimony to Christ. That was true when the Lord was here, and it is even more complete now that He is in heaven. It is not ignorance that rejects Christ like this. A man may be without light, and when it comes, grace may enable him to receive Him. But take the man who refuses all divine testimony and uses the open display of the Holy Spirit's power to show his spite against Jesus. He is clearly lost for ever.
Elsewhere the same writer sets the sin beside the one condition of forgiveness:
It means crediting to Satan that power of God which the Holy Spirit was exercising then and afterwards. It shows a deep and settled hatred of God. Souls who give themselves up to such malice against the worker of all good are beyond pardon. Forgiveness is for those who repent and believe the gospel.
The warning fell on a whole nation, and not only on separate people.
The Jewish nation was then falling fast into this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They were not forgiven then, and they never will be. There will be a new stock, so to speak. God will raise up another generation, and they will receive the Christ whom their fathers blasphemed.
The same writer speaks directly to anyone afraid his own sin is this one:
Take comfort, poor, despairing backslider. Your sin is grievous, but it is not this sin. The Saviour waits to be gracious; He will not turn a deaf ear to your penitent cry.
- Occasion. Jesus worked a real miracle in front of witnesses who could not deny it, and they credited it to the devil. That is the setting of the verse.
- Definition. The sin is calling the Holy Spirit's work satanic, on purpose and not in ignorance. Mark gives the reason: "He has an unclean spirit."
- Offer. Before the exception stands the sweep of grace. Paul proves it: he blasphemed, he forced others to blaspheme, and God forgave him.
- Line. What puts a person beyond pardon is not the weight of the sin. It is settled hatred of God. Forgiveness is for those who repent and believe.
- Comfort. If you dread this sin and grieve over your own, your sin is not this sin. The Saviour never turns a deaf ear to a penitent cry.
And whosoever shall have spoken a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the coming [one].
The Pharisees had just watched Jesus free a man who could neither see nor speak, and then said He did it by the power of Satan. So the Lord draws a line. Words against Himself can be forgiven. Words against the Spirit cannot.
The verse does not leave the sin vague. It points to one moment and one accusation:
The people were deeply moved by this display of divine power and mercy, and saw in it evidence that He was the Messiah… But the enemies of Christ — the Pharisees — used it as an occasion to show their hatred. With the miracle in front of their eyes — in fact, admitting it — they credited the power they had seen to the devil… The sin, then, is the deliberate crediting to Satan of what the Holy Spirit had done, and so blaspheming the Holy Spirit by calling His work devilish.
Much needless fear grows out of a loose phrase:
What the Lord condemns is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Keeping that clearly in view would save many souls a great deal of needless trouble. How many have groaned in terror, afraid they were guilty of sin against the Holy Spirit! That phrase invites vague ideas and loose reasoning about what it means. But our Lord spoke definitely… What is this evil that is never forgiven? It is attributing the power that worked in Jesus to the devil.
The answer lies in how He had come. His lowliness could be misread.
A word spoken against the Son of man might be forgiven. The lowly place He had taken might still hide His glory from the eyes of natural men — though that lowly place was fullest grace, taken to meet man's need. But here was something they had to admit and could not hide: open-eyed hatred could not be forgiven; it never could be.
This sin attacks the One who brings a person to repent.
In the Son of Man, God set Himself before their eyes. They might speak against Him, and yet the Spirit's work might bring them to repentance, and so they would be forgiven. But the Holy Spirit alone works repentance and faith in the soul. To blaspheme Him is to put yourself in a hopeless position. It is to push away both repentance and faith, to bolt and bar the only door that leads into salvation.
So which two stretches of time does the verse mean?
Does it not mean the future age when the Messiah would reign, as distinct from the age of the law that had not yet closed? Blasphemy against the Spirit will be forgiven in neither. Whatever may be pardoned in either age, that cannot be. That is, this age and the coming one are two dispensations. The nature of the case rules out the eternal scene, where there is no question of sin or its forgiveness.
It is also no hint that sins get a second hearing after death:
So when it says that whoever blasphemes will not be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come, it does not refer to forgiveness beyond the grave… The sin would not be pardoned to anyone who committed it in either age.
The warning fell first on a nation that rejected both the Son and the Spirit's work.
What could be done for those who not only rejected the Son but resisted the Holy Spirit and credited His blessed work to Beelzebub? They could not be forgiven in the "age" of the law, nor in that of Messiah. In short, in this scripture it is entirely a question of the apostate nation of Israel handed over to hopeless ruin… We simply add that we judge it a temptation of Satan to lead you to imagine you have committed "the unpardonable sin."
The fear itself points the other way:
So we can say with confidence: no one under conviction of sin, no one who longs to be reconciled to God through the blood of Christ, can have committed "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." In fact, these very convictions of sin and desires for peace with God are the effects of His own work in the soul. They are the sure proof that this "blasphemy" has not been committed.
- Named — The sin is not vague. It is calling the Spirit's visible work satanic, with the miracle admitted and in plain sight.
- Hidden — Words against the Son of Man can be pardoned: His lowliness hid His glory from natural eyes. The Spirit's power was plain, so hating it was open-eyed.
- Barred — This sin bolts the only door in. It rejects the Spirit, and He alone works repentance and faith.
- Timed — "This age" and "the age to come" are two periods: law, then Messiah's reign. Neither hints that sins may be forgiven after death.
- Freed — Conviction of sin and longing for peace with God are the Spirit's own work in you. That is proof this blasphemy is not yours.