I had a recent conversation with a friend about the Holy Spirit and the role that it plays in our lives. Today, I came across the passage that is often quoted when talking about the holy spirit: that of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy means many things to many people, and most don’t even cling to their belief, as it is viewed as so hard to grasp fully.
In Mark 3:23-30, we see that Jesus defines blaspheming the Holy Spirit as calling the Holy Spirit satanic. That is, attributing to God something which is antithetical to God and his very essence. In my personal view, the warning here is to should exercise caution in defining who God is and what his character is like. This can be anything from blatantly calling Satan God to something more “mundane” like saying “God told me…” when he did no such thing. Personally, I think that the Holy Spirit is the essence of God’s character, mind, and passions. The Trinity, then consists of the father and son being of one mind, united in cause, and the spirit is responsible for the empowerment of grace upon mere mortals - including Jesus prior to the cross. More on that elsewhere.
With this in mind, if we were to call something “unholy,” when God has made it holy via the Spirit, we would in fact be calling everything that God represents, believes, and holds dear “unholy” - which is nothing but untrue. While everything else can be forgiven, this sin, Jesus says, has no forgiveness. That is because this sin requires that you flatly misunderstand who God is, what he desires for you, and how you might have a relationship with him. By definition, denying the free gift of a relationship with Christ prevents salvation, and there is no other way to God. When put this way, perhaps, it becomes more clear why “blaspheming the spirit” is unforgivable. There is no covering because there is no intercessor. The Spirit, and Jesus by extension of the purpose that the spirit empowers, is that intercessor (Rom 8:26-27).
If we read a few verses of context both before and after, we see that Jesus’s earthly blood relatives were attempting to dismiss his sayings as crazy. Jesus responds much how we’d expect given what we have discussed: his family is those aligned with the spirit; those who hear and do the will of God. It should be our goal to allow the holy spirit full control over our lives. If we do, the result is that our mindset shifts, our passions change, and our character improves. That is, our essence begins to align with God’s essence, just as Jesus exemplified in his life on earth. To avoid this, is to avoid relationship with God and, therefore, to reject salvation. That is the core concept of sanctification and a crucial part of our walk with Christ.
Links:
Intercession Holy Spirit Trinity Satan Sanctification
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