Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

(Luke 12:10)“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

Parallel Texts in the Gospels

• Matthew 12:32: “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the age to come.”

• Mark 3:29: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”

Old Testament Parallels

• Isaiah 63:10: “Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned and became their enemy and He Himself fought against them.”

• Numbers 15:30-31: “But anyone who sins defiantly… blasphemes the Lord. That person must be cut off from the people.”

• Psalm 95:8-11: “Do not harden your hearts… So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Patristic Explanations (with references)

• St. Augustine (De Sermone Domini, II, 83): Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is persistence in rejecting repentance until the hour of death, for it is the Spirit who calls to repentance.

• St. John Chrysostom (Homiliae in Matthaeum 41): Those who attributed the works of Christ to Beelzebul, after it was clear they were from the Holy Spirit, are the ones who fell into this sin.

• St. Cyril of Alexandria (Commentarii in Lucam, 12): The one who blasphemes out of ignorance may be forgiven, but the one who knows the truth and resists the Spirit condemns himself.

• St. Basil the Great (De Spiritu Sancto, 10): Blasphemy is extinguishing the Holy Spirit within, resisting His continuous work.

• St. Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses, V, 6): Explains that the Holy Spirit is the pledge of life, and whoever rejects Him rejects eternal life.

• Origen (Homiliae in Lucam): Clarifies that forgiveness is open for every sin as long as repentance is present, but whoever resists the Spirit shuts the door upon himself.

• St. Gregory of Nyssa (Contra Eunomium): Considers blasphemy as denying divine truths after they are clearly revealed to man.

Interpretation by the Churches

• Catholic Church: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is refusal of repentance and hardness of heart until the end. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§1864) states that the unforgivable sin is the deliberate refusal to accept God’s mercy.

• Orthodox Church: Emphasizes that this is not a verbal sin but a spiritual stance of obstinacy and resistance to the grace of the Spirit.

• Evangelical (Protestant) Churches: Teach that the unforgivable sin is rejecting salvation through Christ, that is, rejecting the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit.

• Maronite Church: In Maronite spiritual and liturgical tradition (such as the invocations to the Holy Spirit in prayers like “O Holy Spirit of God”), blasphemy against the Spirit is considered a “persistent refusal of the grace of the Holy Spirit,” who grants repentance and forgiveness. Thus man condemns himself, because he quenches the grace that gives life.

Spiritual Conclusion

This verse is not meant to frighten us as much as to call us to openness to the Holy Spirit. Every sin can be forgiven, provided man responds to the Spirit and enters the path of repentance. The unforgivable sin is the stubbornness of heart and its closure before grace—that is, the constant refusal of divine love.

The message is clear: the door of forgiveness is open, but do not close it yourself!