What is the Unpardonable Sin?

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Matthew 12:31-32

Exegetical Part

In this passage, Jesus is confronted by a demon possessed man, but he was also confronted by unbelief. This was not just any unbelief. It was a hardness of heart, where unbelief had run its course in God’s eternal decree. The Jews had a similar category in their law, as one commentator points out, that sin against God “with the high hand”1 (Num. 15:30-31; Deut. 29:18-20).

One of the contextual keys in reading the Gospels is to develop an eye for distinguishing between norm and sign. This is especially obvious when the subject is the miracles of Jesus or the casting out of demons. I say “especially obvious.” Perhaps that’s more obvious for those of us who take a Cessationist position, because part of the logic of that position is to recognize that the word “miracle” in Hebrew and Greek as a synonym for the word “sign.” It isn’t simply a random, supernatural phenomena by which Jesus flexes his divine muscles, but it is a sign of the kingdom in one way or another. That pattern of the extraordinary in the Gospels helps explain what is unique about what Jesus is doing versus what universal truth is in it.

While that might be obvious with the miraculous and the showdown with demons, it may not occur to us that the momentous, the extraordinary, the heightened expression of something that is universal may just help us when it comes to this sin as well. Of course, since this sin is of such grave concern to us as real individuals, we will cut right to the heart of the two most important upshots from this text. We will see,

• What this sin is.

• What this sin is not.

Doctrine. The unpardonable sin is the full and final rejection of Christ, in the face of the clearest work of the Spirit of grace.

Doctrinal Part

I. What this Sin Is

1. First, we need to ask what exactly this sin is. Most of the anxiety people have comes from a faulty understanding of it. And, at first glance, there are two basic possibilities for the unpardonable sin, or “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”: (1) either the Pharisees’ particular opposition unique to that moment as recorded in Matthew 12:31-32 (cf. Mk. 3:28-29; Lk. 12:10), or else, as many believe, (2) the full, final rejection of Christ throughout one's life: since that is what the Spirit's main ministry is, testifying to Christ. This second proposal has always brought in the support of 1 John 5:16-17 for a possible parallel text. First, let me explain why each are proposed and then why we don’t have to choose because these are really two aspects of the same thing. 

2.  Option 1: This sin is to do precisely what the Pharisees acted out. There is debate about whether the offense is as evil as it is because it mocks the Spirit as if he were evil (like Satan), or if it is because the devil is unwittingly being given worship (like God).2 Those are two sides of the same coin, and I certainly wouldn’t want to say that it doesn’t matter which is true, since it’s so serious. It is worth noting that this is the only occasion in Scripture where this teaching is clearly taught. And it is clearly taught (so don’t hear that the wrong way!). It features in all three Synoptic Gospels, but what I mean is that it is about a single occasion or event. And note that Jesus even says in that verse that the word can be spoken of him and it can be forgiven (v. 32). So even though the Spirit is the one who worked those works in his human nature, this is a clue that this sin was of an EXTRAORDINARY SITUATION. 

3. Note well that this does not mean that it doesn’t happen all the time, nor that it is unrepeatable. It is a real warning to us and so it’s in the Bible for a reason. But by “extraordinary” I mean that what the Pharisees were acting out (and what the Bible is adjusting the microscope into their hearts and Jesus’ words for us to see) is of an extreme end state of a hardened heart, an intense opposition to Christ that characterizes the very nerve center of the devil’s kingdom. So understand the first option well. This explanation of what the sin is is not saying: “Oh, that is just something that only the Pharisees did on that day.” That would run contrary to the 2 Timothy 3:16-17 rule, where all Scripture is given to us for all of life. 

4. Option 2: This sin is to reject the same Spirit the Pharisees did, until the end. Calvin rejects this view because it seemed to him a redundancy,3 and if conceived in a certain way, it would be. This view is strongly informed by gospel considerations and well as issues of logical coherence. In other words, it is not consistent with the gospel — and that would mean that the Bible would be in conflict with itself — if either (a) Christians could lose their salvation over anything, let alone a one-time event that could not be repented of, or else (b) there was any sin for which Christ’s work on the cross was not, in principle, efficacious. This is one of those times to observe the rule of biblical interpretation called “the analogy of faith,” namely, that we interpret Scripture in light of Scripture; and not only that, but we interpret the less clear passages in light of the more clear passages. And if there is anything clear, it is this: That those who possess true saving faith can never lose it. This is clearly taught in passages like Jn. 6:37-40, 11:25-26, Rom. 8:30-39, Phi. 1:6, and Jude 24, or as Jesus said,

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand (Jn. 10:28-29).

5. Richard Phillips comments, “People blaspheme against the Holy Spirit when persuaded by the Holy Spirit’s power of the truth of the Gospel and Christ’s claim to be God’s Son and our Savior they nonetheless reject it.”4 D. A. Carson adds to this, that such people are “thoughtfully, willfully, and self-consciously rejecting the work of the Spirit.”5 

6. The view I take to be the most helpful is a means to see how the two options actually come together as one. There is something that is unique to the Pharisees here, but this would not rule out that being the final rejection of the Spirit that testifies to Christ. There was a special amount of information the Jewish leaders had about Jesus. Several times in the Gospels there are references to the more severe judgment the Jewish leaders or that generation would be under because they had a front row seat to Christ. So while there is an aspect that is utterly unique to these Pharisees—e.g. accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the prince of demons—yet  the hardness of the heart, though as uniquely cultivated as it was for Pharaoh, is still a hardened heart after all. To Calvin’s pushback that this is redundant — i.e. Why make a special case for what is essentially a synonym for the outworking of reprobation? — I reply that not all outworking of reprobation is equal in every respect.

7. Here is one more way to say it. Hardness of heart (to the point of it being too late) is a characteristic of all the reprobate. But for most, that “point” means death, as far as we’re concerned. For others (like Pharaoh, Saul, the Pharisees, and others) the particular way that they resisted God’s grace is ordained by God in Scripture to more dramatically depict for us a warning of the type of people we do not want to be. Hence that normal sin that leads to death in 1 John 5:16-17 can be conceived as having intense examples, the episode with the Pharisees being, perhaps, the most dire warning of all. This sin has added to it some knowledge of the Spirit’s work, that the garden variety pagan (who may blaspheme God in many ways) does not have. Calvin makes this exact connection between this special class of hardened rejection and special knowledge of the Holy Spirit’s work:

“Shall any unbeliever curse God? It is as if a blind man were dashing against a wall. But no man curses the Spirit who is not enlightened by him, and conscious of ungodly rebellion against him; for it is not a superfluous distinction, that all other blasphemies shall be forgiven, except that one blasphemy which is directed against the Spirit.”

So even he acknowledges that there is a universal rule and an extreme example.

II. What this Sin is Not

1. It is for those reasons covered that we can be sure that this sin is not some “slip” or isolated “event” or set of random words or a formula that someone may accidentally utter. In any case, one who is still alive and cares to pursue repentance can be encouraged that they have not committed it. 

2. This sin is not merely blasphemy per se. While blasphemy in general is a terrible sin, we have to separate it from the “unpardonable sin.” Or else we would expect that Paul, who was a blasphemer (1 Tim. 1:13), or Peter, who called down divine curses on himself, certainly blaspheming God (Mat. 26:74)—we would expect them to be un-pardoned. But they were shown mercy. 

3. In spite of saying all this, people will still ask, over and over: “But I’m just worried that I have said this thing, or perhaps sold my soul to the devil, or had this attitude in my heart (a passing thought).” But the whole point of this sin being a full and final rejection of Christ is that it is not some “slip” or isolated “event” or form of exact “words” that God would let his own commit. God isn’t playing “Gotcha!” with those who have trusted in his promise. Here we wed the analogy of faith to the gospel. What all do we know of the character of God in the gospel? What of the Father’s adopting love, the compassion of Jesus, the work of the Spirit without which none of this would have ever been intelligible or desirable to sinners like us? Would this same God set this invisible pit in the middle of his word only to catch us like unsuspecting rats? Such a view cannot square with what is clearest in the Bible.

4. But there is yet another clue in the text itself. Notice that Jesus was not actually responding to spoken words by the Pharisees. In Matthew’s Gospel it says, “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.’ Knowing their thoughts, he said to them” (12:24-25). True, it says “they said,” but this was a manner of speaking, for it then adds, “Knowing their thoughts.” How does this help us? This calls attention to a settled stance of the heart. Yes, there are “words” involved, but even those words are a manifestation of a more intentional rebellion against Christ.

5. At this point, we are ready to factor in that text from 1 John.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death (1 Jn. 5:16-17).

Now this “sin that leads to death” is not speaking of the Roman doctrine of mortal sin, as all sin earns death (Rom. 6:23), and so that leaves something like this same sense of a point where God removes any semblance of special grace and confirms the chosen path of the wicked.

Polemical Part

Objection 1. “Jesus used the word WORD, and you are saying that this sin is not some isolated word that is spoken. Why then does Jesus focus on speaking a word against the Spirit?”

Reply Obj. 1. Precisely—it is not that this sin doesn’t involve words, but rather I specifically said an “isolated” word. And here there is a profound difference. In the New Testament especially the concept of speaking a “word” is treated in a judicial way. That is a “word of testimony.” Now the Spirit’s main ministry is to glorify the Son (Jn. 16:14), or to witness him to the hearts of mankind. Consequently, to “speak a word” against the Spirit is to bear witness against Christ, to contradict the Spirit’s word of testimony, to call it a lie, and to die in that state. So, to re-emphasize, the idea that is being excluded was specifically “random” or “formulaic” words, as if this was some superstitious guard against an accidental moment, something to obsess over or something over which we have no control.

Objection 2. “But isn’t there a line one can cross in this lifetime? A point of no return, beyond grace? Isn’t that the point of the warning passages of Hebrews 6 and 10? 

Reply Obj. 2. Yes, indeed that is the warning. However, if what is meant by “line” is time-oriented: that is, is it ever too late? Then the answer is Yes because at death it is too late to find forgiveness: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). However, if what is meant by “line” is kind-oriented, that is “kind” of sin, or even “degree” of sin, then No. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Jn. 6:37). This promise is without qualification. 

So the question of the identity of the hardened person in Hebrews 6, while not a theologically meaningless question, can be easily turned into a practically meaningless question. Here is why that is: God has not given to us to peer into either his secret decree of election or the secrets of hearts. Those two things are for God alone, and so can never be our fixation without causing us needless distraction and distress. A heart that is hardened beyond what God’s patience will endure, a heart without any gracious influence of the Spirit is not a heart that would care about this question. The only one for whom it is too late would not ask; so that the one who asks can know it is not too late.

Practical Part

We will utilize the words of the Canons of Dort, under its first head of doctrine (Article 16) which is on reprobation. Here it distinguishes between three classes of people, the first two for their reassurance, but the last for a warning. For lack of better terminology, let us call these (1) the fearful saint, (2) the timid seeker, and (3) the presumptuous professor.

Use 1. For the FEARFUL SAINT.

“Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves a living faith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zeal for childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ, but who nevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things in us — such people ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to count themselves among the reprobate; rather they ought to continue diligently in the use of the means, to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace, and to wait for it in reverence and humility.”

There are two basic things that the Bible points us to when we are struggling with assurance of salvation: (1) certain spiritual fruit that only real believers possess; (2) a deeper look at the gospel itself. One of the most helpful things to consider in this, about that fruit, including external works, is that these are always imperfect in all believers; these are not present at all in the unregenerate. There are a number of fruit that the Scriptures point to as signs of true conversion, but we need to start here with this insight, or we are liable to get caught in the paralysis of analysis. 

Invariably, all of this falls on deaf ears when we are caught in a season of that struggle. And what we don’t realize is that we are actually asking the question all wrong. For those who have been in the Reformed or the wider Evangelical tradition, that will take the form of two things: 1. “How do I know that I’m elect?” and 2. “So what about the state of my heart?” And they’re asking me--a mere mortal! And when I inform them that I’m not God and therefore I cannot answer for God’s job description anymore than they can, what they hear again is NO HOPE. But really the point is just, “You’re asking the wrong question.” God has given us a way of assurance, but it is a way that fits our job description, not God’s job description.

The Canons here stress the point: USE THE MEANS. Don’t be alarmed and don’t rush, but DO USE THE MEANS. So, let’s put this all together for the fearful saint in all of us. Election and reprobation are true and they are eternal. However, wherever the Bible speaks of this, the emphasis is always, “Repent. Believe. Come to Christ” (see John 6:37 or Matthew 11:28-29). The emphasis is never to analyze either (1) God’s eternal decree, which we cannot see; or (2) one’s own internal state, which is up and down, and deceptive at any rate. In other words, we ought never to delay repentance on the ground that we don’t know if we can. Likewise for simple trust. Election and reprobation (and therefore hardening beyond the point of no return) is always God’s job. What’s our job? USE THE MEANS and keep looking even deeper into the gospel.

Use 2. For the TIMID SEEKER.

“On the other hand, those who seriously desire to turn to God, to be pleasing to him alone, and to be delivered from the body of death, but are not yet able to make such progress along the way of godliness and faith as they would like — such people ought much less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation, since our merciful God has promised that he will not snuff out a smoldering wick and that he will not break a bruised reed.”

Consider that repentance is a gift from God: “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18); and “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25). So a genuine desire for repentance is not something that the reprobate would experience. It must be given from above (cf. Mat. 16:17). I would also strongly encourage investing in the relatively cheap price to pick up a copy of John Bunyan's book A Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ. It is one of those Puritan Paperbacks from Banner of Truth Publishing, and it is truly one of the great antidotes to our own heart’s objections against our own assurance.

Sadly, those whose hearts are tender and torn up over the prospects of this sin are those that may be assured, precisely because of that concern, that they have not committed this sin; and it is those who, like those Pharisees, are toying with religion and actively opposing the advance of his kingdom without a care—these are the ones who really ought to be afraid of having committed this! But here’s the thing: They never will be. Let me say that again: Those who commit this sin will not truly care that it is being committed.

Use 3. For the PRESUMPTUOUS PROFESSOR.

“However, those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh — such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriously turn to God.”

These have FORGOTTEN God and they have ABANDONED themselves to the world. Forgotten. Abandoned. Actions of the reprobate. Yes, God has sovereignly passed them over, and what follows is real, free, perfectly defiant fists, shaking in the face of God and at the face of his children. Not at all regretted during the course of this life. Reprobation is the aspect of God’s eternal decree which passes over; but the reprobate are not passive. They are most malevolent, always “lov[ing] evil more than good” (Ps. 52:3), or as Paul says in Romans 1, 

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them (vv. 28-32).

The question is often asked, “So you are saying that even if someone wants to go to heaven, God will not let them because they are not elect?” But this misses the point. The reprobate never want God, and thus never really want heaven. God never turns anyone away who comes to him: “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:17), and “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Jn. 6:37).

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1. Keener, Matthew, 232.

2. Calvin emphasizes that the sin is so characteristic that it cannot be unwitting at all. He highlights the connective “Therefore” that begins verse 31, calling attention to the proceeding proof of Jesus as if his antagonists understood full well that the object of their mockery was God himself for all they cared: “Having proved that the scribes could not blame him for casting out devils, without opposing the kingdom of God … knowingly and willingly to pour contempt on the Spirit of God” — Commentaries, XVI.2.73-74

3. Calvin says, “Those who define it to be impenitence may be refuted without any difficulty; for it would have been in vain and to no purpose for Christ to say, that it is not forgiven in the present life. Besides, the word blasphemy cannot be extended indiscriminately to every sort of crimes” — Commentaries, XVI.2.74

4. Richard Phillips, “What is Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?”

5. D.A. Carson, Matthew, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 12 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 10:292.

6. Calvin, Commentaries, XVI.2.75