If anyone has slandered Christ or rejected Him for a season, Jesus says, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men” (12:31a). It matters not what a man once said about Jesus (Matthew 12:32). If he repents, God will forgive. On the other hand, “Blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31b).

The unpardonable sin cannot be an ordinary sin, nor can it merely be a repeated sin. When Jesus says, “Blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven,” we realize there must be something extraordinary about that sin. The Pharisees had not committed it when they blasphemed Jesus, but they came close enough that Jesus’ warning was in order. When the Pharisees said Jesus cast out demons by the power of Satan, it was blasphemy—a serious sin (Matthew 12:31–32). Yet Jesus distinguished it from blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven.

The distinction between blasphemy against Jesus (forgivable) and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (unforgivable) rests upon the work of the Holy Spirit. He convicts of sin and testifies that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior. Jesus says someone can reject Jesus, and God will forgive if he repents and believes. The Pharisees did not (as Jesus said on the cross) know what they were doing (Luke 23:34). Sins of ignorance, however severe, are pardonable. Paul blasphemed and persecuted the church, but God had mercy on him because he sinned in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:12–17). Likewise, many Jews who participated in the crucifixion did not understand what they were doing and eventually repented (Luke 23:34; Acts 2; Acts 7:60).

Blasphemy against the Spirit is the sober, clear-minded, deliberate rejection of Jesus, despite full knowledge of His work and in the face of the Spirit’s full testimony of Him. This blasphemer has heard the gospel proclaimed with clarity and power. He has watched Christians live good lives. Yet, he hates Jesus and Christianity and views it as wickedness and deceit. He hears, understands, and despises.

It is not easy to commit this sin. Christians, kept by God’s power, cannot commit it. Unbelievers who fear this sin have not committed it. If they had, they would be smug and satisfied, not fearful. The Pharisees had not yet committed this sin because they did not know enough. They had not seen the end of Jesus’ story—His death and resurrection. Perhaps some of the Pharisees committed this sin later on. But at the time of Matthew 12, Jesus warns them of the danger and bids them repent.

The concept of the unpardonable sin is fearful, yet it contains a seed of hope. It teaches us that every other sin, however terrible, can be forgiven. Anyone worried about this sin is far short of it. Indeed, concern about the unpardonable sin may be a token of the Spirit’s working in the heart. Those who are guilty of the sin are so settled in their rejection of the faith that it will not alarm them. Whoever we are, whatever we have done, we can still find mercy if we repent and believe, based on the person and work of Jesus.

Confessing Christ

As reassuring as it is to know that God will remember us in this lifetime, it is infinitely more vital for Him to acknowledge us in the life to come (Luke 12:8–9). Jesus puts our relationship with Him into an eternal perspective. He summons us to the tribunal of heaven, where the greatest of all judges holds court with all His angels. To acknowledge Jesus before men is to be open and honest about our total life-commitment to Him as our Savior and our Lord. It is to show that we are Christians by the things that we do and say. It is to work for Christ, play for Christ, and witness for Christ in our daily lives. It is to make a verbal confession of our faith, both inside and outside the Church. To confess Christ is to do all these things regardless of what persecution or opposition we may suffer.

If we do not confess Christ, we deny Him. And if we deny Him, He will deny us. This is only fair, but it is also frightening because Jesus will deny us when it matters most of all: at the final judgment (Luke 12:9). On the Day when all secrets are revealed before the throne of God, Jesus will not testify that we belong to Him or claim the merits of His death on our behalf. Instead, He will send us to Hell, all because we were too afraid to make our stand for Christ.

This ought to lead to some serious self-examination and serious questions, such as, “Am I confessing Jesus Christ, or denying him?” If you have denied him, you need to offer full repentance for your sin and make a true confession of faith. If you do this, God will forgive you (Luke 12:10). However, Jesus also went on to give this sober warning: “but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10).

To speak against the Son of Man is to speak against Jesus Christ without fully understanding who He is or what He has done. This, however, is not the equivalent the full and final denial that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 12:9. Nevertheless, it is still sin—a sin of weakness that God can and will forgive if one repents of it. An excellent example of such forgiveness is demonstrated in the forgiveness Jesus offered the men who taunted Him while He hung on the cross, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit must be a different and more serious sin. From similar passages in Matthew and Mark, it appears to be the sin of someone who knows that Jesus is the Christ, but attributes His power to Satan instead (Matthew 12:31–32; Mark 3:28–30). It is of the very nature of the case that such a person—hardened by sin—will not be forgiven. This is not because of any deficiency in God’s grace, but because such a person denies the only gospel that can ever save anyone. The blood of Christ is sufficient for any sinner who truly repents—even a sinner who has at some point denied the name of Christ.

The Help of the Spirit

Jesus calls Christians to believe the witness of the Spirit and to rely on His assistance whenever we speak for Christ. When Jesus told His disciples to be unafraid and unashamed, He did not expect them to do this in their own strength, but instead promised that the Spirit would be with them to help them (Luke 12:11–12).

Jesus was preparing His disciples for persecution. In the coming days, they would be dragged before various religious and political authorities—both Jewish and Gentile—and they would be forced to defend their faith. This began to happen only days after Jesus ascended into heaven, when Peter and John were arrested by the temple police and hauled before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:1). Under the threat of such opposition, it would be tempting for them to be afraid—if not of the persecution itself, then of failing to be a good witness for Christ. Jesus told them not to worry, however, because the Holy Spirit would teach them what to say in the hour they were called to give witness about Him.

God fulfilled this promise. Every time the Apostles or disciples appeared in court, they had another opportunity to proclaim the gospel. We see this again and again in the Book of Acts. The Apostles fearlessly preached in the power of the Spirit, and many people were saved through their ministry.

We, too, can trust the Holy Spirit to help us whenever we witness for Christ. As the Scripture says (written by one who had personally experienced those situations) we always need to be ready to give a reason for the hope in us (1 Peter 3:15). But there are some situations for which it is impossible to prepare. When that happens, we can trust the Spirit to help us. We do not need to know all the Bible verses, have all the answers, or even persuade people to repent and believe the gospel. All we need to do is testify of Christ and pray that the Holy Spirit will use what we say—however inadequate—to do His saving work in people’s lives.

This is where true spiritual courage comes from. It comes from freely confessing our sins, fearing God more than we fear other people, trusting the watchful care of the Father, knowing that Jesus will defend us at the final judgment, and depending on the help of the Holy Spirit.