What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

[nHutain]

What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?


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Nathan
Baptist
Little Rock

 

[Skyler]

From another thread:

Here is Calvin's view of Paul's words when commenting on the unpardonable sin (Book 3, Chapter 3, Section 22):

Here, however, it is proper to consider what the dreadful iniquity is which is not to be pardoned. The definition which Augustine somewhere gives, - viz., that it is obstinate perverseness, with distrust of pardon, continued till death, - scarcely agrees with the words of Christ, that it shall not be forgiven in this world. For either this is said in vain, or it may be committed in this world. But if Augustine's definition is correct, the sin is not committed unless persisted in till death. Others say, that the sin against the Holy Spirit consists in envying the grace conferred upon a brother; but I know not on what it is founded. Here, however, let us give the true definition, which, when once it is established by sound evidence, will easily of itself overturn all the others. I say therefore that he sins against the Holy Spirit who, while so constrained by the power of divine truth that he cannot plead ignorance, yet deliberately resists, and that merely for the sake of resisting. For Christ, in explanation of what he had said, immediately adds, "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," (Matth. 12: 31.) And Matthew uses the term spirit of blasphemy for blasphemy against the Spirit. How can any one insult the Son, without at the same time attacking the Spirit? In this way. Those who in ignorance assail the unknown truth of God, and yet are so disposed that they would be unwilling to extinguish the truth of God when manifested to them, or utter one word against him whom they knew to be the Lord's Anointed, sin against the Father and the Son. Thus there are many in the present day who have the greatest abhorrence to the doctrine of the Gospel, and yet, if they knew it to be the doctrine of the Gospel, would be prepared to venerate it with their whole heart. But those who are convinced in conscience that what they repudiate and impugn is the word of God, and yet cease not to impugn it, are said to blaspheme against the Spirit, inasmuch as they struggle against the illumination which is the work of the Spirit. Such were some of the Jews, who, when they could not resist the Spirit speaking by Stephen, yet were bent on resisting, (Acts 6: 10.) There can be no doubt that many of them were carried away by zeal for the law; but it appears that there were others who maliciously and impiously raged against God himself, that is, against the doctrine which they knew to be of God. Such, too, were the Pharisees, on whom our Lord denounced woe. To depreciate the power of the Holy Spirit, they defamed him by the name of Beelzebub, (Matth. 9: 3, 4; 12: 24.) The spirit of blasphemy, therefore, is, when a man audaciously, and of set purpose, rushes forth to insult his divine name. This Paul intimates when he says, "but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief;" otherwise he had deservedly been held unworthy of the grace of God. If ignorance joined with unbelief made him obtain pardon, it follows, that there is no room for pardon when knowledge is added to unbelief.

 

[torstar]

What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?


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Nathan
Baptist
Little Rock

In an unlettered nutshell, please forgive me if I'm way off...

It is seeing the undeniable works of God in front of you and attributing them to satan (or worse, if possible.)

As these were individuals who were religious and knew the Scriptures and prayed daily for Messiah to come, it showed a hardness of heart to an unparalleled level in the history of man.

Usually one asks what it is if they have concerns they may have committed it. If one is worried they have committed it, they wouldn't be worrying if they did. Or so I've heard many times...

 

[nnatew24]

The Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion. When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God, this blasphemy leaves us no other hope of forgiveness.

 

[WaywardNowHome]

The Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion. When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God, this blasphemy leaves us no other hope of forgiveness.

How does this tie in with irresistible grace? (question purely out of curiosity and a desire to know how to respond to such a question)

 

[Skyler]

The Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion. When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God, this blasphemy leaves us no other hope of forgiveness.

How does this tie in with irresistible grace? (question purely out of curiosity and a desire to know how to respond to such a question)

I think that "resist" is the wrong word to use in this context. "Reject" might be a better term.

 

[nnatew24]

How does this tie in with irresistible grace? (question purely out of curiosity and a desire to know how to respond to such a question)

Well, Jesus said "Many are called but few are chosen." So if we're talking about irresistible grace, then we're talking about a special work by the Spirit in the elect only. The general call and conviction of the Spirit through the proclamation of the Word --and at that time, the power of miracles-- goes out to all and can be rejected/blasphemed by all.

 

[dudley]

The Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion. When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God, this blasphemy leaves us no other hope of forgiveness.

I am not too sure I undersatnd what you mean when you say "When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God". Could you or someone else explain what you might mean here? Perhaps give us an example.

 

[WaywardNowHome]

Here's why I have intellectual trouble with this interpretation of the unpardonable sin:

Salvific grace is bestowed to the elect only. Salvific grace cannot be resisted. An elect person cannot ever commit the unpardonable sin, otherwise they would ultimately have the unpardonable sin pardoned, which is a contradiction. Hence, only non-elect persons can commit this sin.

But if the unpardonable sin is a resistance of the Holy Spirit to a certain degree, almost like a point of no return, what do we gain from knowing that this sin is unpardonable? I mean, since they are non-elect, they never would've had any of their sins pardoned anyway. What do we gain from knowing that this unpardonable sin exists?

Summary: Only the non-elect can commit the unpardonable sin, but the non-elect would never have their sins pardoned in the first place, so what's the point?

I am anxiously waiting for responses because this is now bugging me.

 

[nnatew24]

The Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion. When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God, this blasphemy leaves us no other hope of forgiveness.

I am not too sure I undersatnd what you mean when you say "When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God". Could you or someone else explain what you might mean here? Perhaps give us an example.

What I am saying is that I do not believe blasphemy of the Spirit is a one-time sin which immediately damns a person. I believe Jesus is making the point that the Father and the Son are not the active agents of conversion. But the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So to blaspheme the Spirit ensures that one will never be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

So I cannot give an example, for I do not believe Jesus is talking about a specific act of sin/blasphemy. Rather, I believe He is making the point that when you resist the Spirit, you do so to the peril of your own soul.

 

[WaywardNowHome]

The Holy Spirit is the agent of conversion. When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God, this blasphemy leaves us no other hope of forgiveness.

I am not too sure I undersatnd what you mean when you say "When we resist Him to the point of attributing as evil His work of enlightening/convicting/demonstrating the truthfulness and power of God". Could you or someone else explain what you might mean here? Perhaps give us an example.

What I am saying is that I do not believe blasphemy of the Spirit is a one-time sin which immediately damns a person. I believe Jesus is making the point that the Father and the Son are not the active agents of conversion. But the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. So to blaspheme the Spirit ensures that one will never be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

So I cannot give an example, for I do not believe Jesus is talking about a specific act of sin/blasphemy. Rather, I believe He is making the point that when you resist the Spirit, you do so to the peril of your own soul.

Is that similar to saying that the "unpardonable sin" is a lifelong rejection of Christ and the Holy Spirit? And so every one of the non-elect has/will commit the "unpardonable sin"?

 

[nnatew24]

Is that similar to saying that the "unpardonable sin" is a lifelong rejection of Christ and the Holy Spirit? And so every one of the non-elect has/will commit the "unpardonable sin"?

No- absolutely not. Not every one of the non-elect will hear the gospel. The majority of them probably will not. And I didn't meant to say a simple rejection of the gospel; Jesus makes it clear that the sin is to blaspheme the gospel by attributing evil to the Spirit's work of enlightening/demonstrating the truthfulness of the gospel with power. This is a specific, calculated, heinous rejection of the obvious work of the Spirit.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Don't forget that there are times in Scripture when the presentation of acts or facts are given from the standpoint of earth, not heaven; man, not God. Jesus is addressing men, who have human minds and wills (however enslaved they may be). When presented with the truth, men make real choices; they do not simply execute preprogrammed auto-responses that bypass the mind. God is sovereign, and man is responsible.

And when men encounter the truth, and harden themselves against it, they may be finishing the process (humanly speaking) of their own reprobation. Those Pharisees literally saw with physical eyes the power of God, exercised in the man Christ Jesus, wholly infilled and purely and perfectly directed by the Holy Spirit. By Christ's infallible testimony, these persons had understood sufficiently what manner of gracious power was at work right in front of them to command their devotion--and instead they preferred to attribute those wonderful words and works to Satan. Such willful blindness is almost inconceivable.

But if you put out your own eyes, God isn't obliged to rectify that condition, allowing you to see again that you might be saved. In fact, it is most likely that such was his foreordained means by which you would merit your hopeless destiny.

"Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes... And you Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you" (Mt.11:21-24).