In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus says that “blasphemy against the spirit” will not be pardoned. The question of what exactly constitutes blasphemy against the spirit is one that has perplexed many students of scripture. After all, in the same verses where Christ says that blasphemy against the spirit will not be pardoned, He reveals that blasphemy against the Son of Man and all other blasphemies will be pardoned. Further, the idea of there being an “unpardonable sin” (note: this is not a term that occurs in Scripture) – a sin of which a person could repent and still not receive the Lord’s mercy – is very difficult to reconcile with the Good News (John 6:37, John 5:24, Romans 9:33, Romans 10:13, Acts 10:43, Acts 13:39). The most common solution I have encountered is that blasphemy against the Spirit is impenitence at death. But I think this explanation is sorely lacking; it certainly fits with Arminian theology, but I do not believe it fits with the context of Christ’s words.
All NT quotes are from CLNT. All OT quotes are from the NRSV.
Matthew 12
24 Now the Pharisees, hearing it, said, “This man is not casting out the demons except by Beezeboul, the chief of the demons.”
25 Now, having perceived their sentiments, He said to them, "Every kingdom parted against itself is being desolated, and every city or house parted against itself shall not stand.
26 And if the Satan is casting out the Satan, he is parted against himself. How, then, shall his kingdom stand?
27 "And if I, by Beezeboul, am casting out demons, by whom are your sons casting them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
28 "Now if, by the spirit of God, I am casting out demons, consequently the kingdom of God outstrips in time to you.
29 Or how can anyone be entering into the house of the strong one, and plunder his gear, if ever he should not first be binding the strong one? And then he will be plundering his house.
30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who is not gathering with Me is scattering.
31 "Therefore I am saying to you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be pardoned men, yet the blasphemy of the spirit shall not be pardoned.
32 And whosoever may be saying a word against the Son of Mankind, it will be pardoned him, yet whoever may be saying aught against the holy spirit, it shall not be pardoned him, neither in this eon nor in that which is impending.
By starting verse 31 with “Therefore”, Jesus connects the statement He makes in verse 30 with the statement He makes in verse 31. Thus, I think it would be logical to conclude, verse 30 gives us information about what blasphemy against the Spirit is: not joining Jesus.
Now let us turn to Matthew 21. In these verses, Jesus is again challenging the Pharisees
42 Jesus is saying to them, "Did you never read in the scriptures, ‘The stone which is rejected by the builders, This came to be for the head of the corner. From the Lord came this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 Therefore am I saying to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and shall be given to a nation producing its fruits.
44 And he who is falling on this stone shall be shattered, yet on whomever it should be falling, it will be scattering him like chaff.
The language is similar to the language used in Matthew 12 when Jesus responds to the Pharisees after they claimed He cast out demons by the spirit of Satan.
45 And the chief priests and the Pharisees, hearing His parables, know that He is saying this concerning them.
The Jews ended up scattering, just as Christ said they would. My friend Jonathan, commentating on Matthew 12:30-32 and Mark 3:28-29, writes:
Does scripture give us any precedent to interpret “not being pardoned” as something that would be manifested in an earthly, corporate punishment? Yes, I believe it does. Let us turn to the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Scriptures, twice we are told that God would not pardon.
Deuteronomy 29
18 It may be that there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart is already turning away from the Lord our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth.
19 All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, “We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways” (thus bringing disaster on moist and dry alike)
20 the Lord will be unwilling to pardon them, for the Lord’s anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven.
21 The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.
22 The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the Lord has afflicted it
23 all its soil burned out by sulfur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger
24 they and indeed all the nations will wonder, “Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused this great display of anger?”
25 They will conclude, “It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
2 Kings 24
In his days King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up; Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 The Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, bands of the Arameans, bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites; he sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets.
3 Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed,
4 and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon.
We see that in both cases not being pardoned would be manifested on earth and corporate in nature. Jonathan comments:
I don’t think the popular interpretation that blasphemy of the spirit is impenitence at death is strongly supported by the context of Jesus’ solemn warning. Some students of scripture have argued that blasphemy of the spirit is not something that could only be done by contemporaries of Christ on grounds that anyone, regardless of time and place, can attribute Jesus’ miracles to Satan. But I think this terrible blasphemy involved more than just the words; it involved witnessing Jesus’ miracles; it involved having the Truth right before their eyes and still choosing to slander Him.
John 15
24 If I do not the works among them which no other one does, they had no sin. Yet now they have seen also, and they have hated Me as well as My Father,
Jesus made a similar statement to the Pharisees after healing a blind man. John 9
40 And those of the Pharisees who are with Him hear these things, and they said to Him, “Not we also are blind?”
41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have had no sin. Yet now you are saying that ‘We are observing.’ Your sin, then, is remaining.
Given the context of Christ’s words and how not being pardoned is described in the Old Testament, I think an understanding of “blasphemy against the Spirit” as referring to the Jewish leadership’s rejection of the kingdom is one plausible explanation.