This evening, I’d like to discuss several passages which all connect on a similar theme. After reading these passages, it’s common for Christians to develop a deep-set anxiety regarding their salvation.

“Am I really saved?”

This question plagues many Christians. There are genuine reasons to fear the answer to this inquiry, and we’ll discuss them tonight. However, many Christians worry needlessly about their relationship with God.

The Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29)

This is probably the most famous of the “unforgivable sin” passages. Before we get into it, I want to remind you of a few key principles.

Context is key.

Whenever we read a passage of Scripture, we must allow the context to explain the meaning. There isn’t a single verse written in a vacuum. Every line of Scripture has some background to what it says. Now, sometimes that will mean a verse’s apparent meaning is different from its contextual meaning.

A classic example is Matthew 4:8:

“I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.” (Matt 4:9)

That could sound like a promise from God, but in that passage Satan is speaking to Jesus.

Another example is James 1:19—

“Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (Jas 1:19–20)

In this verse, James sounds like he’s giving advice on how to get along better with fellow Christians. However, the previous verse talks about how Christians are born again by the word of God, and the following verses talk about receiving the word of God and obeying it. James is making a point about how we treat God’s word, not other people.

Scripture is full of figures of speech.

There are numerous types of figures used in everyday language. We make our words and sentences more colorful to keep life interesting and make our points more effectively.

One of the most common figures of speech in the Bible is called hyperbole. In English, we use hyperbole as well, but not to the extent that was (and still is) common in Semitic culture. Hyperbole is when someone exaggerates a description or a result of something in order to draw out the point. It often sounds very dramatic.

“And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire.” (Matt 18:8)

This is not the best example, because Jesus definitely means that you need to make whatever extreme changes necessary to stay faithful, but you can still see the element of exaggeration or extreme language on purpose. Jesus uses this kind of language a lot. Here’s another example.

“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

Sometimes, you’ll hear preachers say that the word “hate” actually just means to love less. That’s not exactly true. The word hate means to hate. It has been translated correctly. However, what Jesus means by the statement as a whole is “If anyone does not love Me infinitely more than his father and mother…” He is using hyperbole.

So how can you tell when it’s hyperbole? Great question. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Usually, it’s best to assume there are no figures of speech unless the text doesn’t make sense otherwise. So in the second example, we know that Jesus doesn’t actually want us to hate our parents because He elsewhere makes huge points about loving your enemies and taking care of your parents. This helps us narrow things down.

What is the “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” then?

Now that we’ve established those two points, lets look back at Mark 3. Now we remember that we must read the context and look for any hyperbole that Jesus might be using.

Right before the famous passage where Jesus actually states that “blaspheming the Holy Spirit” is unforgivable, Jesus has an interesting interaction with some scribes. Let’s read from Mark’s account. (For reference, this is also in Matthew 12:22–32.)

“And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat a meal. And when His own people heard this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, ‘He has lost His senses.’

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.’

And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— because they were saying, ‘He has an unclean spirit.'” (Mark 3:20–30)

Wow, that story reads very differently when you include the context with it! Jesus isn’t just making a random blanket statement about a sin that can never be forgiven. He’s responding to a claim the scribes made to Him.

Matthew’s account makes it a little clearer that Jesus cast out a demon and the scribes immediately responded by saying this was proof that He was possessed by Beelzebub (a nickname for Satan, basically).

Peter made it very clear in his sermons that the miracles of Jesus were conducted through the power of the Holy Spirit. First at Pentecost:

“Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.” (Acts 2:22)

then to Cornelius:

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38 CSB)

Jesus cast demons out, not by His own power, nor by the power of Satan, but through the Holy Spirit. By saying that this power was Satanic or demonic, the scribes were blaspheming, or speaking evil of, the Holy Spirit.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, is (more generally than this verse) ascribing the work of God through the Spirit to Satan. It is rejecting His works as insignificant and worthless.

Why is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit unforgivable?

So in this passage, context helps us narrow down what Jesus is talking about specifically. But we still need to figure out the second half: the unforgivable bit.

Why would this be unforgivable? Are there sins that God sees as that much worse than others? No, at least not the way the passage reads at first. If this were such a paramount sacrilege that it permanently bans you from fellowship with God, we should expect to see entire books of the New Testament (and even the Old Testament!) warning us about it. Yet we do not. The idea that speaking evil of the Holy Spirit automatically removes you from the forgiveness of Christ’s blood doesn’t add up or make sense when compared to the rest of Scripture.

The purpose of Jesus’s miracles was to induce faith in those who witnessed them. But if the scribes wanted to ascribe the power to Satan, then apparently it was only creating faith in Satan! How could they ever access the forgiveness Jesus preached if they rejected His words and the evidence that backed them up?

Jesus uses this extreme language as a form of hyperbole. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not unforgivable if you truly repent… but it will keep you from repenting.

If you reject the Holy Spirit’s work—in Jesus’s life, in the writing of Scripture, in the church today—you will be unable to access any part of the forgiveness He makes possible.

If you’ve repented, you don’t need to fret if you have said something foolish about the Holy Spirit at some point. Jesus will forgive you of idle words just as much as any other sin. You do need to worry if you refuse to accept the power of God and to submit to His commandments.

Falling Away as a Christian

“For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” (Heb 6:4–6)

This passage does not benefit as much from reading the verses immediately before and after. We don’t get a context from them as clearly as we did in the Gospel of Mark. However, it is important to know the context of the whole Book of Hebrews.

We’ll get into this a bit more next Sunday morning in Bible class, but the Book of Hebrews is written to warn Jewish Christians against returning to Judaism and Jewish culture. Jewish Christians are systematically being persuaded that Judaism is their heritage. They’re told that they should come back to Judea and enjoy the blessings God promised His chosen people.

Instead, the Hebrews author counters, they must recognize that Christianity is far better than Judaism ever was. Why would you leave Christianity and go back to the old system that was nailed to the cross?

That’s the context of Hebrews 6. If we abandon Christianity and try to return to Judaism, we will only find an empty shell. There is nothing left to broker forgiveness. What else do you expect God to offer you after you reject the blood of His Son?

This passage does not mean that falling away is permanent. If it did, then the apostles would never have been able to return to Christ:

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of Me this night.'” (Matt 26:31)

Like Mark 3, this passage should can concern and worry only if you’re looking for forgiveness outside of Christ. You won’t find it. Peter said this about Jesus:

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Willfully Sinning

“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” (Heb 10:26–27)

This passage shares the same context as Hebrews 6. Outside of Christ, forgiveness does not exist. Hebrews 10 especially focuses on Christ as the perfect sacrifice. His sacrifice on the cross has the power to take away sins—which even the sacrifices under Moses’s law could not fully accomplish.

Look at verse 18:

“Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” (Heb 10:18)

Jesus sacrificed Himself once for all mankind on the cross. Since then, there have not been any more sin offerings. You can look all you want, but there’s nothing else left.

The way we often read the phrase in verse 26 (“sinning willfully”) makes it sound like this verse is discussing sins that we know are sins. However, this verse is not talking about conscious sins. Most sins we commit as Christians are conscious. We know what is wrong and what is right. Rather, the author is again referring to full apostasy. Listen to the way the CSB translates verse 26:

“For if we deliberately go on sinning…” (Heb 10:26 CSB)

The NIV puts it in a very similar way. This gets across the concept more effectively.

In the end, all these passages are dealing with the same basic concept: if you reject what God has done for you and try to live in sin or return to Judaism, you won’t find forgiveness.