A Sin Leading to Death<\/a>” for greater details.<\/p>\n\tQuestion:<\/h2>\n
You said that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit \u00a0was “willfuly rejecting.” If you then apply that to the text, then how can one blaspheme (willfuly reject) the Son of Man and be forgiven? Because Jesus said that one could blaspheme Him and get forgiveness. Sorry that I don’t understand this. Thank you for all your help and please be praying for me.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
I think what you are missing is that the work of the Holy Spirit is the bringing of the word of God to man and the confirmation of that word. In other words, the Bible is the product of the Holy Spirit. If a person rejects Christ, the Bible still remains as testimony to persuade that person to reconsider and accept Him. But if a person rejects the Spirit (thus reject the Bible), there is nothing left to turn him around. After all, God chose only one method to save mankind: “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe<\/i>” (I Corinthians 1:21).<\/p>\n
You have not defiantly, willfully rejected the teachings of God, especially not to the point that you are actively trying to ruin the reputation of the Spirit of God in front of other people. You still consider the Bible the work of God, thus you haven’t been guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in Matthew 12, was warning the Pharisees that they were on the verge of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus was teaching the words of God and with the Spirit confirming those words by a miracle that all present had witnessed. Yet despite the obvious evidence right in front of them, they purposely chose to say that this work of God was the work of Satan. That was blasphemy and with such an attitude toward the Holy Spirit, they would never turn from their sins to be saved.<\/p>\n
J. W. McGarvey, in his commentary\u00a0The Four-Fold Gospel<\/em>, explained it this way: “Blasphemy against the Son may be a temporary sin, for the one who commits it may be subsequently convinced of his error by the testimony of the Holy Spirit and become a believer (I Timothy 1:13). But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is in its nature an eternal sin, for if one rejects the evidence given by the Holy Spirit and ascribes it to Satan, he rejects the only evidence upon which faith can be based; and without faith, there is no forgiveness. The difference in the two sins is therefore in no way due to any difference in the Son and Spirit as to their degrees of sanctity or holiness. The punishment is naturally eternal because the sin is perpetual.”<\/p>\nThus we return to the original point. A person who blasphemes the Holy Spirit has no interest or desire in turning from his sins. He completely rejects the Bible as truth and will not be persuaded by its words. Therefore, such a person cannot be forgiven; not because God is unwilling to forgive, but because the nature of that man’s sin is such that he will never seek the forgiveness of God.<\/p>\n\t
Question:<\/h2>\n
Here is something that I was thinking. What do you think?<\/p>\n
If there was a sin that God would not forgive, even if the sinner repented and confessed, then that would mean that Christ died for all but one sin. That would go against the entire Gospel. Also, that would go against I John 1:9.<\/p>\n
Your last email was great, I guess I was taking Jesus word literal.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
I wouldn’t say you took Jesus’ words literally. His words could be accurately taken in one of two ways. You\u00a0assumed<\/i>\u00a0that the “cannot be forgiven” was because God refuses to forgive, but when you add in the rest of the Bible, we must realize that the “cannot be forgiven” is because the sinner refuses to return. The problem is that you jumped to a conclusion based on only one passage and, thus, didn’t realize that there was another way to understand what Jesus said.<\/p>\n
Mark’s account is a bit clearer in this matter, especially when you realize the problem lies in the sinner and not in God. “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation<\/i>” (Mark 3:28-29).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I am so tormented with the fear of the sin against the Holy Spirit. When I read the Scripture, it says “blaspheme” which is to “speak.” How can one change that to “reject?” How can I be assured that God will forgive me of any and every sin? I am a Christian in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[49,1571],"class_list":["post-8832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith","tag-forgiveness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-know-that-god-has-forgiven-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":0},"title":"How can I know that God has forgiven me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I know that God has truly forgiven me?\u00a0And how can I be sure I'm now free to move forward without needing to return? Answer: Paul tells us that God cannot lie -- not will not lie, or sometimes doesn't lie, God is not capable of lying (Titus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2935,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-cleanse-my-soul-and-forgive-myself\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":1},"title":"How do I cleanse my soul and forgive myself?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'd like to ask you for some verses on how I can cleanse my soul and learn how to forgive myself for a mistake that I did. Answer: \"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-get-to-heaven-if-ive-told-a-lie\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":2},"title":"How can I get to heaven if I’ve told a lie?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was pondering this question. Jesus states that those who are liars, murderers, etc. will not inherit the kingdom of God. In Revelation, it states \"And nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45993,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-christian-sin-if-we-are-to-be-holy-like-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":3},"title":"How can a Christian sin if we are to be holy like God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible tells us that God commands us to be holy as He is holy. If we were allowed to sin and still make it into heaven, there would be no point in having heaven or hell. 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And will God forgive any sin this person was doing?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8993,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-left-the-lord-but-now-that-i-returned-will-god-accept-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":8832,"position":5},"title":"I left the Lord, but now that I returned, will God accept me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was baptized as a teen. I really didn't change the way I acted or lived (drinking, partying, etc.). I went to college and lived a very immoral life (drinking, fornication, etc.). 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