Previously, as we continue answering the question: Who Is The Holy Spirit?, we covered the topic of the Trinity. Now we've moved on to the "easy" topic of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We can approach this from two angles … easy and hard.
If we take the easy angle, we can merely look at the scripture in Mark 3:20-30. We see the religious leaders of Jesus' time were saying that He (Jesus) was casting out demons by the power of the devil. Jesus responds in verse 29 that anybody who says such things "blasphemes the Holy Spirit" (NLT), "slanders against … Holy Spirit" (MSG), "speaks abusively against or maliciously misrepresents the Holy Spirit" (AMP). This is a serious charge as they were attributing the works of God via the Holy Spirit as being the work of the devil. There is thinking out there that committing this "unforgiveable sin" was only possible during the life of Jesus here on earth. However, I align with the alternate thinking that, as ambassadors of God (2 Corinthians 5:20) and the residence of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), Christians can do the works of God just as Jesus did during his earthly ministry. As we do the works of God via the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a potential for others to blaspheme Him and His works.
If we, however, take the more difficult angle, there are other scriptures that might support a larger concept of rejection of the Holy Spirit himself or His work. The religious leaders may have taken this path as their accusation stemmed from a hardened, deliberate and conscious rejection of the Spirit's work. Their values were so warped and twisted they attributed to the devil the work of God and to God the work of the devil. They refused to believe that God would demonstrate His power through the man Jesus … some would call this a "hard heart". My only basis for this comes out of a few other scriptures, and I trust I'm not wrestling them to fit. First, I realize these few scriptures would be more applicable to the Christian, but I believe there might be a principle of rejection here that would apply to both the Christian and non-Christian alike. Hebrews 10:26-31 talks about a continuation of sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens us to understand the Truth of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. If we reject that, in the form of continuing in sin, then we insult the work of the Holy Spirit, and we trample under foot the precious blood of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Hebrews 6:4-6 refers to one having experienced the good things of heaven, having tasted them and sharing in the Holy Spirit, and then turning away resulting in no possibility of repentance (caused only by the conviction of the Holy Spirit). When we look at 1 John 5:16 it talks about "a sin that leads to death". I submit to your thinking that rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit could be this very sin. By a continuing path of pushing away (rejecting) the Truth about the Son of God as it's revealed by the Holy Spirit, eventually, we will push beyond a "point of no return". This point of no return for the Christian would take us back beyond the time where we accepted Jesus. For the non-Christian it would be at the end of life on earth. At what point a person rejects that work and crosses over that point of no return is probably something only God Himself can determine absolutely due to its inner core issue and His ability to know the mind and thoughts of man (Psalm 94:11). Unfortunately, with this track of thinking, we can't press the Staples button and have it echo, "That Was Easy!"
The whole grievous point of the unforgiveable sin is that one has essentially cut off the only lifeline connection that will continue to bring conviction causing us to consider God's goodness compared to our evil and move us to turn back to the Lord in repentance. In simple terms, as it's stated in the Message version, verse 29: "sawing off the branch on which you're sitting, severing … all connection with the One who forgives". Pretty clear picture of the important work of the Holy Spirit!!
Bottom line of all the discussion above, if you are concerned about "blaspheming the Holy Spirit" thereby having committed the unforgiveable sin … your concern alone is evidence enough that you still have an unseared conscience (1 Timothy 4:2) and that the Holy Spirit Himself is still able to work conviction within you which leads you to repentance and restored Life.
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