The Sin against the Holy Spirit

Reading: Matthew 12.22-24,30-37

You have probably heard someone say, “ ‘Can’t’ is a word that isn’t in our vocabulary!” That expresses a confidence far greater than “We’ll give it a try!”

Years ago there was an ABC Insight programme in which Dr Christiaan Barnard, the pioneer heart-transplant surgeon was interviewed. Among other things he shared his vision that one day there would be an organ bank from which any organ needed for transplant purposes would be available. Then he made this statement, “There is nothing man thinks of that he will not do – one day.”

Now that is a bold visionary statement. Without such goals before it, science might never progress. Goals are necessary. The principle of realistic goal-setting is commendable. Yet somehow it seemed to me that Dr Barnard’s statement expressed a strong measure of human arrogance. Who do we think we are? God or something? Do we somehow seek to create eternal life by a constant replacement of spare parts?

We have an old Volkswagen – about 28 years old. When we lived in Brisbane, we periodically had to visit a car wrecker called “VW the Bugman”. He didn’t see his business going on forever. The time would come when there were only two VWs left and one would have to be plagiarised to keep the other one going! Doesn’t sound like eternal life to me!

God can do anything…

By definition, of course, God can do anything. To speak of a being with limitations is to be talking about someone other than God. Theology uses some big words about God. He is omnipotent – all-powerful. He is omniscient – all-knowing. He is omnipresent – present at all places at all times.

And yet, there are things God cannot do. Did you know that? There are things God cannot do because they are inconsistent with his character. Because God is holy and good, he can only do those things that are holy and good. And because he is just and the moral Ruler of this universe, he cannot and does not ignore the consequences to humanity for human sin.

Very easily and glibly we say, “To err is human, to forgive divine”, when the Scripture says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” God is loving - he desires to forgive. But he is just – and has to act with justice. We think of a Hitler or an Idi Amin and wonder why God didn’t just remove them. We think of Rwanda or Bosnia and think God should intervene. We believe in love. We also believe in justice really. But we want God to be nice. After all, he is God. He can do it.

God can forgive, yet we are told there is a sin that cannot be forgiven. On the one hand, something in us can’s believe that. On the other, there are people who live in terror that perhaps they have committed the unpardonable sin!

The Unpardonable Sin

So just what was it that Jesus said? “And so I tell you that people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven – now or ever.”

What was the situation when Jesus said that? Jesus had just healed a man with a blind and dumb demon. We have earlier discussed the reality of demonic activity and Jesus’ actions in overcoming it. There were people then (and now) who seemed to attribute all sickness to demons. Jesus did not do so. Nor did he simply go along with what people imagined for the sake of healing them. Certainly there was no question in the minds of the crowd – sympathetic or hostile – that the miracle occurred. The question is Why? The Pharisees said, “He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him the power to do so.”

In reply, Jesus says, “You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out?… No, it is not Beelzebul, but God’s Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.”

They were attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the Devil. This is what led Jesus on to speak about the sin against the Holy Spirit.

This is no light matter that Jesus is warning about. But we need to understand that he isn’t referring to the use of “Holy Ghost” or “Holy Smokes” or “Holy…” something else – though that is not a proper way to speak about the Holy Spirit and is serious enough.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to sensitise our conscience, to bring about conviction of sin, to lead a person to repentance and faith… I see the sin against the Holy Spirit as the point at which a person has so rejected the work of the Holy Spirit that they begin to see right as wrong and wrong as right. Without the work of the Holy Spirit people cannot be forgiven because they cannot come to repentance.

It is never our task to categorise other people. Only God himself knows if a person has reached a point where repentance is no longer possible. Sometimes, however, there are people whose thoughts and intentions seem to wholly devoted to evil that we may begin to wonder! But beware! God finally got through to Saul of Tarsus. We give up much more readily that he does!

On the other hand, when a person has an obsessive fear that maybe they have committed the unforgivable sin, I believe that we can say with assurance that they haven’t. Why? Because they still have a conscience. If there is some particular act they have said or done that is troubling them, they should confess that sin receive God’s forgiveness and peace. It is not necessary to live on in torment.

Nevertheless there is a warning. Jesus himself talked about judgment as well as forgiveness. We should respond promptly to the Spirit of God. It is possible to resist and resist and resist to a point where we are on our own – where we no longer get the inner prompting.