QUALITIES OF A BLASPHEMER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
(A SINNER THAT WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN)
Some of my fellow members of the NAMI Peer Support Group asked me questions about the unforgivable sin several weeks ago out of curiosity, and a few of my Facebook friends recently inboxed me questions about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I posted information on this subject last week on 7/18/2013, but I will discuss it in greater detail today.
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My 7/18/2013 post on this subject was:
"Why is blasphemy or sin against Jesus Christ forgivable while blasphemy or sin against the Holy Spirit is not forgivable? The reason why blasphemy or sin against the Holy Spirit of God is unforgivable is because the sinner would be rejecting the Holy Spirit as the saving power of God and chief witness of Jesus Christ the Savior. The way of grace and forgiveness is for the sinner to see the full truth about Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the saving grace of God is implemented upon a repentant sinner through the miraculous regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, plus they are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a child of God and spiritual sibling of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, blasphemy or sin against the Holy Spirit means utterly rejecting the implementer of God's saving grace, along with all the divine knowledge and blessings He provides, thus making divine forgiveness and regeneration of the soul impossible."
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This unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, was first mentioned by Jesus Christ to the scribes, Pharisees, and other religious leaders who sought to discredit Him. Jesus condemn many of those same religious leaders to Hell because of that unforgivable sin (Matthew 23:33). With this in mind, the religious leaders of Jesus' day will be used as an EXAMPLE. The Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus' day possessed the following seven (7) qualities that resulted in their committing the unforgivable sin, and ANYONE alive today who commits the unforgivable sin would possess ALL seven (7) of these qualities:
1.) They know that Jesus is the Christ, sent by God the Father (John 3:1, 2; John 11:47, 48; John 12:42, 43).
2.) They have, or had in the past, full access to the Word of God and the Law of God, and they were influenced by the Holy Spirit to some extent, receiving full revelation of God's Truths in the process (Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:26-31).
3.) They have WILLFUL UNBELIEF and reject God's truth despite overwhelming evidence and visible signs (John 9:13-41); they willfully scorn the Holy Spirit's call to repentance as their heart grows harder and more resistant until they pass the point of "no return," then the Holy Spirit stops calling them to repentance (Acts 7:51; Proverbs 1:20-33).
4.) They have INTENSE PRIDE and HARDENED HEARTS, along with a DESENSITIZED CONSCIENCE, that gradually worsen over time until they pass the point of "no return." They may eventually develop a depraved and reprobate mind (Romans 1:28-32).
5.) They are APOSTATES and/or HYPOCRITES that KNOWINGLY and WILLFULLY exchange the truth of God's Word for lies, idolatry, and man-made teachings and traditions. (Matthew 15:1-9; Romans 1:21-25; 2 Peter 2:20-22).
6.) They fight against God and His holy people, and they attempt to silence the Gospel (Matthew 23:29-35; Acts 5:33-42; Acts 7:52-60).
7.) They believe that the true Jesus of the Bible is satanic, and that His power is of Satan the Devil instead of God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 9:32-34; 12:22-32; Mark 3:20-30).
REMINDER: The unforgivable sin is NOT a sin a truly born-again Christian can commit. It is a sin committed ONLY by the most willfully stubborn unbelievers, hypocrites, and apostates who refuse to wholeheartedly accept Christ and the true Gospel via the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the unforgivable sin; that is, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (the sin unto death --- 1 John 5:16-17), is NOT an easy sin to commit; it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to commit this type of sin. This is because the Lord God Almighty is so patient, so merciful, so slow to anger, and He is not eager to punish sinners according to what they deserve (Psalm 103:8-10). The Almighty God is good, READY TO FORGIVE, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon Him" (Psalm 86:5). God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:30-32; Ezekiel 33:11), and He desires everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). ALL seven (7) of the criteria listed above MUST be present in an unrepentant sinner's life, for a prolonged period of time, in order for them to become guilty of committing the unforgivable sin.
With all of this in mind, if you, or someone you know, fears or worries about having committed this type of sin, chances are you have NOT committed that type of sin, because someone who has committed it would have such a hard heart that such thoughts would not even enter their mind. Your worrying about it actually means that the Holy Spirit is still calling you to repentance; you still have both the ability and the opportunity to repent and become saved.
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You CANNOT pass the point of no return, sin against the Holy Spirit and be guilty of the "unforgivable sin" in this present life without FIRST having received FULL REVELATION about Almighty God and Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation, plus having developed a heart that is too hardened to respond with saving faith and repentance. The person must have received both general revelation and special revelation from God. After having received full revelation, a sinner can develop the hardest of hearts and commit the unforgivable sin either of two ways: (1) - through profound, unrelenting opposition to the Christian faith (Example: Jewish religious leaders who rejected and persecuted Jesus and His apostles), or (2) - through apostasy (falling away) from the Christian faith they once held to (Example: New Testament believers who turned aside after Judaizers and Gnostics). Some people try to label murderers, rapists, tyrants and mentally ill people as "unforgivable" before the good and merciful God; however, they fail to realize that those people MUST have full knowledge of God and the gospel of Christ (both general revelation and special revelation) before developing a heart that is hard and resistant enough to be "unforgivable." The more spiritual knowledge you have as an unbelieving and unrepentant individual, the harder your heart will be. After all, why would God leave an "unforgivable" person largely in ignorance of God's saving truth during this present life and wait until Judgment Day itself to finally reveal the full message of saving truth to them before punishing them in Hell? The ONLY way a moderately hardened sinner with mere partial revelation from God becomes "unforgivable" is when they die without having ever believed and repented; otherwise they remain well within the range of God's forgiveness and salvation up until their death (Isaiah 55:6, 7; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 9:27).
Let's examine the two ways a sinner can totally harden their heart after receiving full revelation of God's saving truth. As mentioned earlier, the two ways are profound, unrelenting opposition to Christ and apostasy away from Christ. Opposers and apostates should beware.
The Pharisees, Sadducees and other Jewish religious leaders had constant access to the Hebrew Scriptures (OT), more than everyone else in Jewish society during their era. Jesus Christ literally did everything the Hebrew Scriptures (OT) foretold the Messiah would do, yet, due to blindness and hardness of heart, the Jewish religious leaders willfully rejected Jesus anyway by calling Him Beelzebub (Satan) and having both Him and His apostles killed. Nicodemus indicated at John 3:2 that the Jewish religious leaders, as a collective, knew that Jesus was sent by God (See also John 12:42, 43). Those religious leaders were hardened by spiritual pride, by an obsession with prominence in society, by pleasure in religious traditions and rituals and by an outright love of money. They knew they would have to relinquish all of these things in order to accept Jesus Christ and His gospel but they insisted on holding on to these things and thus put forth great effort to discredit and kill Jesus. Because of already having full revelation, their actions would certainly qualify as a profound, unrelenting opposition to the Christian faith that results in unforgivable sin (Matthew 23:30-36; Mark 3:28-30).
So what about those professed Christians who fell away from the true faith through apostasy? The writer of Hebrews wrote his epistle to a congregation of Christian Jews who were on the verge of apostatizing the pure Christian faith and the New Covenant to embrace a Judaized Christianity or revert back to Old Covenant Judaism. The apostles Paul, Peter and John wrote their epistles to warn fellow Christians to avoid the false doctrines of Gnosticism and others heresies which would result in them apostatizing the only true faith. Those who apostatize from the orthodox, historic Christian faith to follow the Hebrew Roots Movement, Black Hebrew Israelites, Word of Faith, New Age Movement, atheism, agnosticism or any other heretical cult or non-Christian religion are placing themselves in the greatest danger of committing the unforgivable sin should they become totally hardened in the heart through their apostasy. These apostates once had a vivid testimony that Jesus Christ is the only way, and that orthodox Christianity is the only true faith, but then they forsook the Christian faith and began denying its truths, plus they put forth great effort to turn other people against the Christian faith by preaching false doctrine and setting a bad example while living an unbiblical lifestyle. (Titus 3:10, 11; Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 1 John 5:16).
Reformed minister Jerry Bridges stated that the unforgivable sin is the most difficult sin to commit, mainly because of God's willingness to show so much mercy and patience toward fallen humanity. As one reads the Bible from cover to cover, they will see that there are more scriptures praising the mercy of God than there are scriptures praising the wrath of God. He even said that He will not hold on to His anger forever but that He instead delights in mercy. (Psalm 103:9; Isaiah 57:16; Micah 7:18). The reason why the wrath of God will be suffered by anyone is because God Himself and His great mercy were utterly rejected and unappreciated. In light of all of this, a sinner would have to resist a great deal of God's patience and mercy with the hardest of hearts (Romans 2:4), despite having full revelation of God's saving truth in Jesus Christ, before God finally gives up on them and condemns them as an unforgivable sinner.
So why are so many Christians so quick to label various kinds of sinners as blasphemers of the Holy Spirit or as "unforgivable" before God? I think it is because such Christians want to put God in a box as regards His ability and willingness to show patience, mercy, grace and forgiveness. In their finiteness, they tend to portray the infinite God as following their very own version of justice against certain sins, as if God's will and abilities are exactly like their own on the human level. Lots of them will portray God as being quick to anger instead of slow to anger (Nehemiah 9:17; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2), as slow to forgive instead of ready to forgive (Psalm 86:5), as enjoying the death of the wicked instead of lacking pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:31, 32). Yes indeed, the Bible makes it perfectly clear that God does and will judge all sin and that every unsaved person will be punished eternally in Hell (Romans 2:5-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Revelation 20:15); however, we must not attempt to underestimate God's ability and willingness to be merciful to the worst of sinners. Also, we must not be so quick to classify certain sins as being "unforgivable" as a way of dehumanizing our enemies and making them feel hopeless. Hell is the very last place God wants to send a person (one of His own creatures); God sends unrepentant sinners to Hell only because His divine justice demands it (Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9). Likewise as Christians we should not want anyone to go to Hell, instead, we should love and pray for our enemies as Christ commanded (Luke 6:27-36), hoping they will become saved. As far as the unforgivable sin is concerned, we must stand still and allow God to be the final judge as to whether or not someone is beyond forgiveness (how thoroughly they know God's truth and how hardened their heart is); we must not be so quick to come to conclusions about an individual's final destiny.
CHECK THE FOLLOWING LINKS ON THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN:
Matthew 12:31-32 – The Unforgivable Sin (by Dr. Jeremy Myers) http://www.tillhecomes.org/sermons/matthew/matt_12_31-32/
The Unforgivable Sin (Mark 3:20-35) John MacArthur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcxL6dNQ5kk
The Unpardonable Sin - Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (Tim Conway) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrp7cMDCZgs
