31"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit: three, yet one. Yet blasphemy against God the Son may be forgiven, but blasphemy against God the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. Why? If God can forgive one, why can't he forgive the other? I had always thought of God as being able to forgive anything.
The only conclusion I could come to is that forgiveness comes from God the Holy Spirit. If you cannot accept the Holy Spirit, how can the Holy Spirit give you forgiveness? Without the Holy Spirit, there cannot be forgiveness. I believe this sin is unpardonable not because it is the one sin that God refuses to forgive, for I think He wants to forgive us of every sin, but because by rejecting the Holy Spirit we reject forgiveness, and there is no way to receive forgiveness when we reject its only possible source.
Jesus came to earth to establish a new covenant with us. He died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. This does not mean that He is the One forgiving us, but that He paid the price for us. The actual forgiveness is coming from the Holy Spirit.
In the previous verses when Jesus healed the blind and mute man who was demon possessed, the Pharisees claimed Jesus was doing it by the power of Beelzebub. They blasphemed this great work that was actually being done through Jesus by the Holy Spirit. They blasphemed the Holy Spirit. If they could not accept the work of the Holy Spirit, there would be no way for the Holy Spirit to forgive them of their sins. Their sins would be unpardonable.
Even so, this is still a hard passage to live with. Sure, some may say that these Pharisees were trying to be evil, they were purposely making up these excuses to sway people away from Jesus. They had already been shown so many miracles and had so many questions answered that they should have known Jesus for who He really was. They should have been awed by the work of the Holy Spirit in their presence, not rejecting the Holy Spirit.
But does that really bring comfort to us? How many times do we see miracles and yet refuse to believe them? No, we don't attribute them to work of Satan, but we try to explain them away with science. Is that blasphemy? How many times have we heard things explained for us by our pastors and still have a difficult time doing as they instruct us? How stubborn are we in our beliefs? Don't we also argue with someone rather than immediately accepting their point of view? We are no better than these questioning, doubting, stubborn Pharisees who are comfortable with their own ways of doing things.
Be careful of what you say and do. Don't be too quick to pass everything off as science. I believe the Holy Spirit will forgive you of anything, but you have to let Him. He is at work around you. The Holy Spirit will help you see what is true. The Holy Spirit will forgive you of your sins. But let the Holy Spirit in. Don't pass Him off as non existent. Otherwise there is no way for Him to help you, there is no way for Him to forgive your sins. Don't be like the Pharisees who committed this unpardonable sin.