How to prove what blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is!

March 13, 2023

Introduction

This was originally posted on 10/3/2015, but is now being updated.

Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is also known as the unforgiveable sin.

There are 5 verses in the gospels [listed below] that deal with blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and they are some of the most misunderstood verses in the bible.

Matthew 12
31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Mark 3
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.

Luke 12:10
and whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.

How do we prove what the unforgiveable sin is, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost?

Everybody’s in a hurry in these hectic days of survival and treachery, so we’re going to cut to the chase and just focus on the verses in Matthew 12.

What specific strategies do you have and what critical thinking skills are you going to use to solve this spiritual equation?

If we don’t even know where to look for the answer, we’ll never find it.

There are only 2 fundamental ways the bible interprets itself: in the verse or in the context.

So let’s get brutally honest here – do these 2 verses in Matthew 12 really explain what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is?

No.

Therefore, the answer has to be in the context.

Boom! Half our problem has been solved already.

There are only 2 types of contexts: immediate and remote.

The immediate context is the handful of verses before and after the verse (s) in question.

The remote context can be the whole chapter, the book of the bible the verse is in or even the entire OT or NT.

I dare you to read Matthew 12:1-30 and decisively and conclusively prove what the unforgiveable sin is.

You can’t.

Neither can anybody else because the answer is not there.

Therefore, the answer must be in the immediate context AFTER the verses in question.

Our problem has been cut in half again.

Everybody’s been looking in the wrong place and guessing FOR CENTURIES!

Could Satan have anything to do with that?

In verse 31, who is the “you” referring to?

Matthew 12:24
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

Jesus was talking to a certain group of Pharisees, one of several types of religious leaders in that time and place.

33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Verse 34 is the answer.

[Greek lexicon of Matthew 12:34] Here’s how to do your own biblical research so you can verify the truth of God’s word yourself.

Now go to the blue header in the chart, Strong’s column, first line, link #1081.

Definition of generation
Strong’s Concordance #1081
gennéma: offspring
Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter
Phonetic Spelling: (ghen’-nay-mah)
Definition: offspring, child, fruit.

Spiritually speaking, these Pharisees were the children, the offspring of vipers!

Referencing the same blue chart, go to the Strong’s column, link # 2191 – definition of viper.

Strong’s Concordance #2191
echidna: a viper
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Phonetic Spelling: (ekh’-id-nah)
Definition: a serpent, snake, viper.

HELPS Word-studies
2191 éxidna – properly, a poisonous snake; (figuratively) incisive words that deliver deadly venom, with the use of blasphemy. This switches the bitter for the sweet, light for darkness, etc. 2191/exidna (“viper”) then suggests the venomous desire to reverse what is true for what is false.

James 3
5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell [gehenna:

HELPS Word-studies
1067 géenna (a transliteration of the Hebrew term, Gêhinnōm, “the valley of Hinnom”) – Gehenna, i.e. hell (also referred to as the “lake of fire” in Revelation)].

7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
8 But the tongue can no man tame [the natural man of body and soul]; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison>>why? because of devil spirit energized words that contradict God’s words.

Not only were the Pharisees children of vipers, but they were the offspring of poisonous vipers

Obviously they were not literal, physical children of poisonous snakes because verse 34 is a figure of speech emphasizing what they have in common: venom; associating the liquid venom of a viper to the spiritual venom of the Pharisees = the doctrines of devils.

I Timothy 4
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Since they are the children of poisonous vipers, who is their father?

[Cue in the star wars scene where Darth Vader famously said, “I am your father!”]

Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

The word “subtil” comes from the Hebrew word arum [Strong’s #6175] and means crafty, shrewd and sensible.

If you look up the word crafty in a dictionary, it means to be skillful in underhanded or evil schemes; to be cunning, deceitful or sly;

The serpent is one of the many different names of the devil, emphasizing a particular set of characteristics such as cunning, craftiness and treachery.

Definition of serpent
noun
1. a snake.
2. a wily, treacherous, or malicious person.
3. the Devil; Satan. Gen. 3:1–5.

Definition # 1 is a figurative description of the evil Pharisees [as Jesus Christ called them]. while definition #2 is a more literal one.

The word “serpent” in Genesis 3:1 comes from the Hebrew word nachash [Strong’s # 5175] and it refers to a viper, the exact term Jesus described them with.

So the spiritual father of the evil Pharisees in Matthew 12 was THE serpent, the devil.

So the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost [God] that the Pharisees committed was they became a son of the devil, making him their father, which resulted in them having an evil heart, which resulted in them speaking evil things against God = blasphemy.

Luke 4
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

THIS is the true sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost: worshiping the devil, but in a sly, indirect way – through the kingdoms of this world, with all their worldly money, power, control and glory.

Definition of blasphemy
Strong’s Concordance #988
blasphémia: slander
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Phonetic Spelling: (blas-fay-me’-ah)
Definition: abusive or scurrilous language, blasphemy.

HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 988 blasphēmía (from blax, “sluggish/slow,” and 5345 /phḗmē, “reputation, fame”) – blasphemy – literally, slow (sluggish) to call something good (that really is good) – and slow to identify what is truly bad (that really is evil).

Blasphemy (988 /blasphēmía) “switches” right for wrong (wrong for right), i.e. calls what God disapproves, “right” which “exchanges the truth of God for a lie” (Ro 1:25). See 987 (blasphēmeō).

In other words, it consists of lies, which can only originate from the devil.

Isaiah 5:20
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

HAVE YOU COMMITTED THE UNFORGIVEABLE SIN WHICH IS BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST?

So now that we know what blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is, how do we know if we have committed it or not?

Good question.

Its very simple.

Just compare the characteristics of those who have committed the unforgiveable sin with yours and see if they match up.

Ready?

Deuteronomy 13:13
Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;

The word belial comes from the Hebrew word beliyyaal [Strong’s #1100] and means worthlessness; without profit; good-for-nothing, which is a perfect description of the devil and his children.

In God’s eyes, they have a negative zero value, if you get the emphasis.

2 Peter 2:12
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

So, are you:

a leader of a large group of people
that deceives and seduces them
into committing idolatry [worshipping people, places or things instead of the one true God]

At least 99% of the people reading this get filtered out right here, on the very first verse!

What a relief, right?

No worries mate. The good Lord has your back.

Now the next batch of their characteristics:

Proverbs 6
16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Do you have ALL 7 of these characteristics?

A proud look – are you so full of pathological pride and arrogance that it can never be fixed?
A lying tongue – are you a habitual and expert liar with no remorse whatsoever?
Hands that shed innocent blood – are you guilty of ordering or carrying out multiple first degree murders against innocent people?
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations – do you invent all kinds of evil and wicked things to do AND actually carry them out?
Feet that be swift in running to mischief – do you habitually and remorselessly commit a lot of illegal, immoral, unethical, evil & destructive things?
A false witness that speaketh lies – do you falsely accuse people of evil, in and outside of the courtroom, even under oath [perjury], regardless if it means the death of the accused or not, and of course, without any remorse and go so far as to justify your evil or lie about it – again?
He that soweth discord among brethren – do you cause racism, wars, riots, or other kinds of divisions amongst groups of people, especially christians, without remorse?

Nobody should have all 10 at this point.

Now for characteristic #11.

I Timothy 6
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

There’s nothing wrong with being rich. The problem is when you are so full of greed that being rich is the only thing in your life and you are willing to do anything [such as the 7 evil things listed in Proverbs 6] to get more money, power and control.

Money is simply a medium of exchange.

Its nothing but ink on paper, or a combination of metals made into a coin, or nowadays, digital funds created on a computer, so money is not the root of all evil, its the love of money that is the root of all evil.

Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [wealth or riches].

There is a figure of speech in this verse and the way it works is this:
you hold onto the one you love and you despise the one you hate.

If money and power are your master, and greed is who you are, then you probably have the love of money, which is the root of all evil.

If properly managed, money can be a good servant, but with the wrong attitude of heart, its a horrifically bad master.

So if you have all 3 characteristics from Deuteronomy 13 AND all 7 characteristics listed in Proverbs 6 PLUS the love of money in I Timothy 6, then there’s a very good chance you are born of the seed of the serpent [there’s lots of other characteristics as well, such as being: (a hater of the Lord – Psalms 81:15; or cursed children – II Peter 2:14)].

So let’s get a clearer picture of who these Pharisees really are from the remote context of Matthew 12: [this isn’t all the information on them, just a little bit].

First, in Matthew 9, they falsely accused Jesus of casting out a smaller devil spirit with a bigger one because they were operating devil spirits themselves, so they were hypocrites.
Second, in the second verse of Matthew 12, they falsely accused Jesus again
Third, Jesus healed a man on the sabbath day that had a withered hand in their own synagogue. The Pharisees response was to plot a way to murder him, to totally destroy him!

That explains all the false accusations against Jesus.

That explains the plot to murder Jesus just because he healed a man of a withered hand on the sabbath day.

There’s 2 characteristics right out of Proverbs 6: a false witness and were plotting on how to murder Jesus, [just for healing a man on the sabbath day = shedding innocent blood; true murder is caused when somebody is possessed with a devil spirit of murder, and not when a person genuinely kills somebody else in self defense]. They were also leaders that deceived people into idolatry [Deuteronomy 13], now they have 3 characteristics of people born of the seed of the serpent.

But all this is nothing new. There have been spiritual sons of the devil for thousands of years.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee [the devil] and the woman, and between thy seed [the devil’s seed = offspring, people who have sold their souls to the devil] and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

So people born of the seed of serpent have been around ever since Cain, the first person born on earth way back in Genesis 4. Cain murdered his brother, and the Pharisees plotted a way to murder Jesus Christ. Cain’s first recorded words in the bible was a lie, just like the devil.

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Here in John, Jesus is confronting another group of scribes and Pharisees, this time in the temple in Jerusalem. They were born of the seed of the serpent also, but not all of the religious leaders were sons of the devil, only some of them, just like in our world today.

In the book of Acts, many years later, the great apostle Paul confronted and defeated a sorcerer who was born of the seed of the serpent.

Acts 13
8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.
10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

The 2 categories of sin: forgivable and unforgivable

I John 5:16
If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

“There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” – this is the sin of making the devil your Lord. It is useless to pray for these people because they are the way they are because the devil’s spiritual seed inside them cannot be changed, healed or removed, any more than a pear tree has the power to change what kind of tree it is.

This is the one and only unforgivable sin because all seed is permanent. Its not that God does not or cannot forgive him, but forgiveness is totally irrelevant for a person who is born of the seed of the serpent.

The reason being is that even if they did receive forgiveness from God, so what? The devil’s seed would still remain within them. They would still do all those bad things in Deuteronomy, Proverbs and I Timothy [the love of money].

So now all this makes sense: if you sell out your soul to the devil to the point of becoming his son, then you will be in eternal damnation and not if you just do a few bad things here and there.