And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Luke 12:8-10)
This week’s verses flow directly from the context Jesus spoke in the verses we looked at last week. He had admonished us to not fear men, but to fear God because man cannot affect our eternity, but God can. This week we are told the consequences of choosing to either acknowledging Jesus or denying Him, and what one thing won’t be forgiven.
Acknowledge or Deny
Jesus makes it very plain and clear that He will respond in kind to our choice. Now this doesn’t mean that Jesus is playing an eye for an eye here, what it means is that those who acknowledge Him are His and those who deny Him aren’t. How do we know? Well, because Peter denied Jesus three times and yet was forgiven, and God used him to establish His church among the Jews. Peter spoke a word against Jesus, the Son of Man, and was forgiven, because Peter did ultimately acknowledge Jesus before men as a follower of Jesus.
This last verse also gives us the indicator of this as well. There very well may be unfortunate times in a believer’s life in which they don’t stand up proudly as a follower of Jesus, but cave in fear of men. But the conviction of the Holy Spirit should produce a godly grief that leads to repentance. However, someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is not a follower of Jesus at all, and therefore has not received forgiveness.
Will Not Be Forgiven
Now this verse is where we usually hear people talk about “the unforgiveable sin”, but blaspheming against the Holy Spirit isn’t a one-time sin or words said in which a person is now unforgiveable.
Jesus had already made it clear earlier in Luke 11, that whoever is not with Him is against Him. This is the same principle. We know that God sent Jesus into the world, not to condemn the world but to save it. But that section of verses in John 3 goes on to say that Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
The thing is, the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus and upon receiving the salvation Jesus offers, becomes the seal of guarantee as He dwells within us. So, if someone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, they do not have salvation and because they do not believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit, loving darkness rather than light, they are condemned already. It’s not that God is withholding forgiveness, it’s that one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit has not chosen to accept forgiveness as God offers it.
Two Applications
For followers of Jesus, this section serves as an admonishment and should stir even more compassion for the lost.
Yes, we know that we can be forgiven in moments of weakness in which our fear of men momentarily outweighs our fear of God, but we should be truly seeking to abide in Jesus and build our faith muscles so that when those moments come we can stand strong in the Lord, in the strength of His might, and not falter in our acknowledgement of our Savior who never faltered in His love and mission to save us.
And knowing that those who ultimately die having blasphemed against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven but will die in their condemnation, spending the rest of eternity in hell – that should stir our hearts to compassion for those who don’t yet believe in Jesus. We can’t ever know someone’s heart, but we know God’s heart and that His desire is that no one should perish but that all would come to repentance, so we should share His heart and actions for the lost. He sent Jesus into the world to die for them, and He’s sent us into the world as lights to reach them and bring that good news of the gospel to them.
Especially in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, when we tend to interact with more people out and about, be sure not to be so busy that you don’t hear when the Holy Spirit shows you opportunities to acknowledge Jesus and share the gospel to a lost world.