But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
The warning was given after a blind and mute possessed man was healed, when the Pharisees charged that the deliverance was done through the prince of devils. The sin is wilfully attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, stubbornly rejecting clear evidence of God's power in works of healing and calling that holy power satanic. It is not committed in ignorance, but knowingly by one who has seen the fruits and clear evidence of God's work and yet answers truth and Spirit-sent reproof with falsehood and denial. It is most commonly seen in persistently slighting heaven's invitation to repent, for every step in rejecting Christ is a step toward rejecting salvation and toward this sin. It is never forgiven because the Spirit is the power by which God works on the heart and conquers evil, so to wilfully reject Him cuts off the channel by which God can communicate, leaving the soul where repentance and faith cannot reach it.
Setting and Meaning
The warning was given just after the healing, for the second time, of a possessed man who was blind and dumb, when the Pharisees charged that the casting out of devils was done through the prince of the devils. That setting defines the offense, for the sin is wilfully attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. The Pharisees committed it by stubbornly rejecting clear evidence of God's power in works of healing and claiming that this holy power came from Satan, so that their determined refusal to acknowledge the evidence made their words an offense against the Holy Spirit. It is willful attribution to Satan after receiving convincing evidence that the work is God's, and the religious leaders recognized the supernatural reality of the works but, determined not to be changed by the truth, knowingly attributed them to the devil.
This deliberate rejection and misrepresentation of the Spirit's work is the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. By rejecting the Spirit in this way a person shuts out the means through which God reaches the heart and denies the light God has given, leaving the person in spiritual darkness. Those who do this may appear for a time to be God's children, but their character will reveal that they stand on the enemy's side.
The sin is not something mysterious and indefinable. It most commonly appears as persistently slighting heaven's invitation to repent. Every step in the rejection of Christ is a step toward the rejection of salvation and toward the sin against the Holy Spirit. It is not committed in ignorance, but knowingly by one who has had opportunity to see the fruits of God's work and clear evidence, and yet answers truth and Spirit-inspired reproof with falsehoods and denial, which brings grave guilt and leaves the person without excuse.
Why Never Forgiven
To speak against Jesus Himself without discerning His divine character can still be forgiven, because through the Holy Spirit a person can be brought to see the error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ.
Rejecting the Holy Spirit is the sin that surpasses all others, because the Holy Spirit is the power by which the forces of evil are conquered. It is by the Spirit that God works upon the heart, so when men wilfully reject the Spirit and declare Him to be from Satan they cut off the channel by which God can communicate with them. To reject Him in this way cuts a person off from the fountain of blessing and from the source of power, from Christ and from communion with Him.
He who finally rejects the work of the Holy Spirit places himself where repentance and faith cannot come to him, so there is no more that God can do for the soul. Therefore there is never forgiveness in this world or in the world to come, but danger of eternal damnation and judgment. This deliberate rejection and misrepresentation has no forgiveness because it is a knowing resistance to truth by those who had evidence that the works were genuine yet were determined not to be converted.
Resistance can reach the point where hope ends and ruin becomes eternal. Until then every living soul is guarded by heavenly intelligences, with angels of light as companions even when earth-born children do not know it, and a silent witness guarding each soul and seeking to draw that soul to Christ. By rejecting the Spirit a person shuts out the means through which God reaches the heart and denies the light God has given, leaving the person in spiritual darkness. Such a one may for a time appear to be a child of God, but the character will reveal standing on the enemy's side.
Warnings and Applications
To call the work of God the product of undue excitement and to brand it as fanaticism is to stand on dangerous ground. Light must be cherished intelligently and faith constantly exercised rather than controlled by feeling. Unless such a course is corrected by turning back, conscience becomes less and less sensitive, appreciation of the Spirit lessens, and the message of God becomes harder and harder to understand. The reason is that sinning against the Spirit leaves a person unable to recognize the Spirit and set against every instrumentality that would save him from ruin. Because the Holy Spirit works to transform human hearts, great care is needed in judging others, lest that transforming work be wrongly called evil and ascribed to evil agencies.
The same sin appears when a person claims credit for the Spirit's work, as Dr. Kellogg did when, after messages had shown unmistakable evidence of the Spirit's inspiration, he claimed that he himself had given her that inspiration. Those who have felt the Spirit's power attending the first and second angels' messages and then call that power the devil's work and refuse the third message shut themselves out. For them there remains less hope than for sinners who have not hardened their hearts but can still receive the truth, for to reject the Spirit's work as satanic brings danger of eternal loss. A person may also cherish sin until there is no forgiveness, through persistent pride and stubbornness that refuses to confess wrongs and hardens the heart against the Spirit of God.
The danger is illustrated by those who are familiar with the work and its evidence yet persist in doubt and unbelief because its messages reprove their actions or oppose their ideas. Knowingly to resist and deny the Holy Spirit after receiving clear evidence brings grave guilt and leaves a person without excuse, and to continue in that course leads to the same result as resisting the Spirit of God and doing despite to the Spirit of grace. Yet the verse does not authorize anyone to declare another person guilty of the unpardonable sin or beyond salvation. Warnings are sent to correct errors and to guide those who heed them, not to destroy, and no mortal is empowered to pronounce another lost.
The warning was given after a blind and mute possessed man was healed, when the Pharisees charged that the deliverance was done through the prince of devils. The sin is wilfully attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, stubbornly rejecting clear evidence of God's power in works of healing and calling that holy power satanic. It is not committed in ignorance, but knowingly by one who has seen the fruits and clear evidence of God's work and yet answers truth and Spirit-sent reproof with falsehood and denial. It is most commonly seen in persistently slighting heaven's invitation to repent, for every step in rejecting Christ is a step toward rejecting salvation and toward this sin. It is never forgiven because the Spirit is the power by which God works on the heart and conquers evil, so to wilfully reject Him cuts off the channel by which God can communicate, leaving the soul where repentance and faith cannot reach it.
Setting and Meaning
The warning was given just after the healing, for the second time, of a possessed man who was blind and dumb, when the Pharisees charged that the casting out of devils was done through the prince of the devils. That setting defines the offense, for the sin is wilfully attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. The Pharisees committed it by stubbornly rejecting clear evidence of God's power in works of healing and claiming that this holy power came from Satan, so that their determined refusal to acknowledge the evidence made their words an offense against the Holy Spirit. It is willful attribution to Satan after receiving convincing evidence that the work is God's, and the religious leaders recognized the supernatural reality of the works but, determined not to be changed by the truth, knowingly attributed them to the devil.
This deliberate rejection and misrepresentation of the Spirit's work is the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. By rejecting the Spirit in this way a person shuts out the means through which God reaches the heart and denies the light God has given, leaving the person in spiritual darkness. Those who do this may appear for a time to be God's children, but their character will reveal that they stand on the enemy's side.
The sin is not something mysterious and indefinable. It most commonly appears as persistently slighting heaven's invitation to repent. Every step in the rejection of Christ is a step toward the rejection of salvation and toward the sin against the Holy Spirit. It is not committed in ignorance, but knowingly by one who has had opportunity to see the fruits of God's work and clear evidence, and yet answers truth and Spirit-inspired reproof with falsehoods and denial, which brings grave guilt and leaves the person without excuse.
Why Never Forgiven
To speak against Jesus Himself without discerning His divine character can still be forgiven, because through the Holy Spirit a person can be brought to see the error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ.
Rejecting the Holy Spirit is the sin that surpasses all others, because the Holy Spirit is the power by which the forces of evil are conquered. It is by the Spirit that God works upon the heart, so when men wilfully reject the Spirit and declare Him to be from Satan they cut off the channel by which God can communicate with them. To reject Him in this way cuts a person off from the fountain of blessing and from the source of power, from Christ and from communion with Him.
He who finally rejects the work of the Holy Spirit places himself where repentance and faith cannot come to him, so there is no more that God can do for the soul. Therefore there is never forgiveness in this world or in the world to come, but danger of eternal damnation and judgment. This deliberate rejection and misrepresentation has no forgiveness because it is a knowing resistance to truth by those who had evidence that the works were genuine yet were determined not to be converted.
Resistance can reach the point where hope ends and ruin becomes eternal. Until then every living soul is guarded by heavenly intelligences, with angels of light as companions even when earth-born children do not know it, and a silent witness guarding each soul and seeking to draw that soul to Christ. By rejecting the Spirit a person shuts out the means through which God reaches the heart and denies the light God has given, leaving the person in spiritual darkness. Such a one may for a time appear to be a child of God, but the character will reveal standing on the enemy's side.
Warnings and Applications
To call the work of God the product of undue excitement and to brand it as fanaticism is to stand on dangerous ground. Light must be cherished intelligently and faith constantly exercised rather than controlled by feeling. Unless such a course is corrected by turning back, conscience becomes less and less sensitive, appreciation of the Spirit lessens, and the message of God becomes harder and harder to understand. The reason is that sinning against the Spirit leaves a person unable to recognize the Spirit and set against every instrumentality that would save him from ruin. Because the Holy Spirit works to transform human hearts, great care is needed in judging others, lest that transforming work be wrongly called evil and ascribed to evil agencies.
The same sin appears when a person claims credit for the Spirit's work, as Dr. Kellogg did when, after messages had shown unmistakable evidence of the Spirit's inspiration, he claimed that he himself had given her that inspiration. Those who have felt the Spirit's power attending the first and second angels' messages and then call that power the devil's work and refuse the third message shut themselves out. For them there remains less hope than for sinners who have not hardened their hearts but can still receive the truth, for to reject the Spirit's work as satanic brings danger of eternal loss. A person may also cherish sin until there is no forgiveness, through persistent pride and stubbornness that refuses to confess wrongs and hardens the heart against the Spirit of God.
The danger is illustrated by those who are familiar with the work and its evidence yet persist in doubt and unbelief because its messages reprove their actions or oppose their ideas. Knowingly to resist and deny the Holy Spirit after receiving clear evidence brings grave guilt and leaves a person without excuse, and to continue in that course leads to the same result as resisting the Spirit of God and doing despite to the Spirit of grace. Yet the verse does not authorize anyone to declare another person guilty of the unpardonable sin or beyond salvation. Warnings are sent to correct errors and to guide those who heed them, not to destroy, and no mortal is empowered to pronounce another lost.