Matthew 12:31-32

Matthew 12:31-32 ESV Therefore, I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

For several years I felt a growing urge to write but I was very busy and didn’t have any pressing things to write, so I ignored the urge. Then about two years ago two things happened. First, the tiny church where I taught fired me which freed up a lot of time. A short time later I was praying with an old friend and when we finished he told me, “I felt God telling me to encourage you to write.”  I came to the conclusion that urging I had been feeling was God calling me to write, so this blog is my obedience to that calling.

When I decided to blog I prayed about what to write about and I felt God directing me to write about His word. Specifically, that He wanted me to go through a book reflecting on every passage. Finally I felt led to start with the Gospel of Matthew.

I wrote the above two paragraphs to explain why I have been dreading getting to this passage. I want to skip over it but I don’t feel that I can. The problem is, I really do not know what it means. I’ve heard people teach on it and I have read commentaries about it but I have never heard or read anything that resonated with me as a definitive explanation. We will go through these verses together and see what comes out.

The first word is “therefore” which tells us these verses are a response to what came before. Jesus had cast a demon out of a man and some Pharisees accused Him of using demonic power to do so. Jesus refuted their accusation and finally concludes with this passage.

Jesus gives both a comforting and fear-invoking statement. God will forgive blasphemy but not against the Holy Spirit. God is an awesome and loving God full of mercy and grace. He is willing to forgive anyone and everyone who comes to Him with sincere repentance. Yet somehow, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a different category of sin. That is the part I do not understand.

Most people who teach/preach/comment on these verses conclude that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is refusing to believe and/or refusing to repent. While that would explain the lack of forgiveness, it means Jesus is using the word “blasphemy” totally differently than it is used anywhere else in Scriptures. Nowhere else in the Bible is lack of belief or refusal to repent called blasphemy.

Blasphemy is usually considered to be the act of insulting or defaming a deity, and that is how the Bible uses it. Now, we could say that the Pharisees insulted and defamed Jesus by accusing Him of using demonic power. In that case, Jesus is then telling them that forgiveness is still an option.

What I cannot fathom is why blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is worse than blaspheming Jesus. Also, I cannot tell if Jesus is warning the Pharisees not to go another step forward and be damned or is He telling them that they have already crossed that line and are already damned.

The one absolute take-away from this is that while God is infinite and incredibly merciful, His mercy is not infinite. There is a point when His mercy will not be extended. We should be careful to never test the limits of God’s mercy.

Most merciful God, praise be to You for Your forgiveness, without which we would have no hope. Grant that I will never take Your forgiveness lightly.