30 “The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
(Matthew 12:30–32, NASB)
What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? To answer this question, we must compare scripture with scripture. When Jesus—God in the flesh—was on Earth, He testified to the truth that He is indeed God. Yet, not everyone believed Him. In John 10, we have a record of events that illustrate this. The Jews, adhering to their law on blasphemy, picked up stones to execute Jesus by stoning. Jesus responded, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” (John 10:31). They replied, “We are not stoning You for a good work, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God” (John 10:33).
From this, we understand that blasphemy involves making oneself equal to God. But how does one commit the unforgivable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit? To grasp this, we need to examine humanity’s fundamental problem and God’s solution to it. Ecclesiastes 7:29 summarizes the issue: “God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.” Though God’s creation was good, Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey Him introduced sin and spiritual death into the world. This spiritual death meant the Holy Spirit departed from them, and other consequences followed.
Adam and Eve could only produce children in their own likeness. Genesis 5:3 describes Seth as being in the image and likeness of Adam. Consequently, all of us are born in the image of Adam. To experience life and enter God’s kingdom, we must be born again. Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves” (John 6:53). He was speaking to physically alive people, yet addressing their spiritual state. The second birth, salvation, occurs when God’s indwelling presence makes us alive to Him.
We also learn that only God has life in Himself, and He grants it to whomever He wills. Through the new covenant, God resolved humanity’s problem by paying for the sins of the world and resurrecting from the dead. Now, He offers eternal life to those who believe in Him, rely on His grace, and submit to His salvation. Humanity’s salvation is not achieved by works, but by God’s grace. To reject this way of salvation is to assert that one does not need God, effectively making oneself equal to Him while spiritually dead.
The Holy Spirit now works in the world to convict individuals of their sin, specifically the sin of unbelief in Jesus as the Messiah (John 16:8). At some point, everyone will experience this conviction and have the opportunity to either receive or reject Jesus. The decision to reject Him, fully aware of who He is and what He offers, seals one’s fate. While we choose our actions, the consequences have already been determined: receiving Him results in life, and rejecting Him leads to eternal separation from God.
Eternal life is God’s free gift, available to all through Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.