By Martin Morrison
“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” Luke 12:10
Many a Christian has read these haunting words and feared that some sinful thought, word or deed has damned them forever. The irony is that if you fear that you have committed the unforgivable sin, your fear is proof that you haven’t!
Probably the most extensive discussion on the subject is found in Mark 3:22 – 30, to which we turn. The scribes were the religious lawyers of Judaism. They were implacably opposed to Jesus and his message. “He is possessed by Beelzebul and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons”. Notice, that they did not deny Jesus’ power to perform miracles, it was incontestable. But they attributed such power to Beelzebul rather than God.
The exact meaning of the name Beelzebul is difficult to recover. It could have reference to the god of Ekron, originally meaning Lord of the Flies, or Lord of the dung heap! In the Old Testament, the god Baal, was characterized as being the arch ruler of a dynasty of demons and evil spirits. And so over time, the name Beelzebul was a name given to Satan.
Jesus firstly shows how illogical such an accusation is. If the work of Jesus is diametrically opposed to Satan, then how can Jesus be empowered by Satan? Then Satan is clearly working at cross purposes with himself, which is illogical. “If a Kingdom is divided against itself, that Kingdom cannot stand”. Well of course not! The first encounter Jesus has with an evil spirit is in Mark 1, where the evil spirit not only recognized Jesus for who he is, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God”, but also recognized the mission of Jesus, “Have you come to destroy us?” It’s a contradiction in terms to say that Jesus casts out demons by the power of Satan! The mission of Jesus has no hint of compromise or coexistence. On the contrary, his mission is to invade and conquer Beelzebul.
Mark enlightens us in vs. 30 as to why this sin is called a sin against the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus, which is the Holy Spirt, are one and the same. That same Spirit will quite obviously reside within the person of Jesus. The accusation of the scribe is that the spirit empowering Jesus is not in fact the Holy Spirit but an evil spirit, an unclean spirit. Hence, Jesus calling it a sin against the Holy Spirt.
What then is the sin against the Holy Spirit. Well, the statement of the scribe gives a perfectly good example of such a sin. He is so bitterly opposed to Jesus, his hatred of Jesus is so virulent, that he is willing to say that the deeds of Jesus are Satan inspired. He slanders or defames Jesus, by stating that Jesus is motivated by evil rather than good. That Jesus is empowered by the devil rather than God.
Isaiah warned his readers of such an event, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness”. Isaiah 5:20. This is not a person who merely ignores or rejects Christ, as serious as that may be. This is not a person who has fallen or sinned in one way or the other. No, this is a settled state of habitual unbelief and rejection of Christ. His hardness of heart is so developed, that he tells others, that they ought to avoid Jesus and his words or his people, for they are a danger to society.
I do wonder, whether the Christophobia growing in the United Kingdom and Europe, is not a clear sign of this particular sin. Where people not only reject Jesus, but see his words and influence as a danger to the good of the society. Where even the expression of Christian morals or beliefs is seen as hate speech or worse. Where the free expression of Christian conscience is seen as a criminal offence. Sadly, this has become more common than many realize in the western world.
As I said above, anyone anxious that they have possibly committed this sin, certainly has not. The person who has committed this sin, has no conscience in the first place. This anxiety would be the last thing on their minds.
And as we all well know, there is not a single record in Scripture, of anyone asking for forgiveness of God and being denied it!
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