
Our English word
Some blasphemy is totally unintentional, like when we claim stuff about God that’s not so. When we claim, “God will send you to hell for that,” and no he won’t. When we claim
But then Jesus said this:
Mark 3.28-30 KJV - 28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: 30 Because they said, [Jesus] hath an unclean spirit.
Said the same thing in two other gospels. In context, it’s part of the story where Jerusalem scribes visiting the Galilee gave their expert opinion,
Yikes.
Hence some Christians are terrified of committing it. Afraid they might accidentally, unintentionally commit it. So afraid, they’re afraid of critiquing any miracle or prophet—even though
On the other extreme, some Christians claim blasphemy of the Spirit never, ever happens. Not anymore.
And on another axis you have those Christians who are quick to point to other scriptures which state God forgives every sin.
Lastly we have the Christians who try their darnedest to redefine blaspheming the Spirit so it’s not what Jesus warned the scribes against doing. It’s some other thing. It’s apostasy. Or it’s numbing your conscience so much, you can’t tell the difference between good and evil anymore; confounding the Spirit with Satan is just a symptom of the real problem.
I think instead of convenient little answers which make us calm down and stop worrying about committing this sin, we oughta figure out for real what it is, whether we do it, and whether we can still get into
What it is, and whether we can do it.
Blaspheming the Spirit is pretty clearly defined in
When cessationists claim today’s miracles and prophecy are the product of Satan, they’re likewise too blinded by their animosity towards prophets and faith healers and other miracle workers. They don’t recognize God when he appears in their midst. They insist it’s not God: They know how God works, and he doesn’t work like that! Not today. So it must be some other powerful, supernatural being… and the only one they know of is the devil.
Same problem. Same blasphemy.
Cessationists claim it’s not the same problem, ’cause it’s a different
If your defense for committing the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is “We can safely ignore Jesus”… I’ll try to say this as kindly as I can: I’m pretty sure you’re not Christian. I don’t care if that’s how you identify yourself;
I’ve actually heard non-cessationists borrow cessationist arguments, and claim, “The scribes’ sin was they personally witnessed Jesus’s miracles, yet said he did it by Satan. We can’t commit the same sin, ’cause we can’t personally witness his miracles, ’cause he’s in heaven now.” Well we’ve no idea whether the scribes personally witnessed anything, or judged entirely on hearsay. But regardless, I remind you Jesus intentionally didn’t say the unforgivable part was about blaspheming him.
Matthew 12.32 KJV - And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
If anybody else is throwing out demons, particularly
The reason cessationists strive to redefine this sin, or insist it can no longer be committed, is pretty simple: They don’t wanna be accused of committing it. Because every time they claim a miracle isn’t of God but of Satan, they’re committing it.
Some of them—like John F. MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, editor of the MacArthur Study Bible, and host of the “Grace to You” radio program—have made blaspheming the Holy Spirit a central speciality of their ministry. MacArthur’s a cessationist, and believes he’s wholly justified in saying every present-day miracle-worker and prophet is working by the power of Satan. He figures he’s not blaspheming the Holy Spirit; they are. They’re claiming to work by the Spirit’s power, and they’re not.
MacArthur particularly likes to go after the charismatics of the New Apostolic Reformation movement. And y’know, I share many of MacArthur’s concerns about that group. Most of it has to do with
But while MacArthur begins with his concerns about the New Apostolic movement, he regularly goes on to criticize any and every present-day prophet. Because his cessationism can’t fathom anything but phonies exist. They’re all cut from the same cloth; they’re all devilish.
We Christians are instructed not to despise prophecy.
So: Can people still blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Yes. And they do.
Is it really unforgivable?
Three sins are described in Christendom as unpardonable:
Apostasy. - Blaspheming the Spirit.
Refusing to forgive others.
In fact a number of Christians claim apostasy and blaspheming the Spirit, are one and the same sin: You don’t really blaspheme the Spirit unless your denial of the Spirit’s work includes Jesus’s atonement and your own salvation… and as a consequence you quit Christianity, quit Jesus, and reject the kingdom of heaven. So “blasphemy of the Spirit” is really apostasy, and apostasy is blaspheming the Spirit. (What’re the chances the Christians who came up with this explanation, are cessationists who are trying to claim they don’t really blaspheme the Spirit? Hundred percent.)
Now the idea of unpardonable sins seems to contradict
Here’s how I reconcile the ideas. You may disagree; feel free to.
The way most Christians describe God’s grace, is not as radical as it actually is. Grace forgives and saves people on one condition, and one alone: We trust him. When we have this faith in him,
Everything. This’d mean sins
With three exceptions. You already know which three exceptions. They’re things God can’t bring himself to overlook, because they interfere with his grace too much. Apostasy
If we commit these things, and continue to commit them, and even justify and elevate them and turn them into our twisted ministries, we’ve broken our relationship with God. We have no relationship with God. We’re not part of his kingdom. That’s why Jesus said we “hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.”
But is it undoable? Sure: You gotta repent. You can often get away with not repenting your other sins, but these you definitely gotta repent.
Yeah, I know other Christians are gonna insist we repent all our sins. As we should! I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I’m only saying God’ll still forgive us if we overlook those other sins. But not these three. These are make-or-break sins. Ones we should never commit in the first place—but if we do, we do still have Jesus.
Other Christians are gonna gracelessly say no; once you commit these sins you’re totally boned. And other Christians are gonna go overboard and say they’re no different, no less forgivable, than any other sins. But I’m pretty sure if they were no different than other sins, they wouldn’t get the extra-special highlight in scripture… and if committing them absolutely doomed us, we wouldn’t get all the verses in scripture which tell us God can forgive all. So there’s how I sort ’em out. Take or leave it.
Am I saying cessationists are doomed? Only when they claim present-day miracles, without exception, without obeying the apostles’ instructions to test stuff but just offering a prejudiced judgment against ’em, are devilish across the board. If they insist on saying the works of the Spirit are the works of Satan, yes I am. If you think that’s harsh of me… you do realize they’re calling the Holy Spirit “Satan.” What else are we supposed to conclude?
But if they repent, God is gracious.

