Matthew 12:31-32 "Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Today's episode explains what this verse truly means. What does "blasphemy against the Spirit" really mean and how can we avoid doing it? This is what is covered in this episode. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Unforgivable Sin!
Matthew 12:31-32 "Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
This verse was addressed on the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a Year podcast this morning. When I heard it, I thought it was a great reminder of what this verse is actually saying. I am pretty sure I have talked about this before, and yet when I looked this verse up, I could see that I hadn’t used it as the main verse of any other episodes. I think it is so important that we understand what this verse means because it can be scary if we don’t.
I say it can be scary if you don’t know because I was very scared when I first heard this verse. When I heard there was something I, or someone I loved, could do that would not be forgiven, I was petrified. What if I did it on accident? What if I did it one time, would I truly never be forgiven? Also, the verse says, Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, or blasphemy against the Spirit. Well, I have three boys who, when they were younger, loved to say inappropriate things just to get a rise out of us. They would say unkind things about God because they knew that would make me and their dad upset. What if they spoke against the Holy Spirit in this way? What if they said something unkind about the Holy Spirit, and then they were never forgiven? I don’t know if you can understand why I was upset or if that just seems silly to you. We are all different, and the way we view life, God, and religion is all different.
I tend to want to be a perfectionist when it comes to religion and my relationship with God. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that I always do the right thing. How great would that be? What it means is that I strive to do things perfectly. I want a step-by-step guide to do all things that have to do with God. I am learning in Encounter Ministries, that is called having a performance mentality. I am trying to earn my way into heaven. I will do x, y, and z, and then I will get into heaven. I know it doesn’t work this way, and yet it takes a while to get out of that mentality. When I hear about something that could keep me from spending eternity without God, I try to pay attention. So, hearing there was something we could do that wouldn’t be forgiven was hard for me to hear.
I don’t think I really understood what this meant until a few years ago. I was listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, and Father Mike explained what this verse was actually saying. He explained it again today in the Catechism of the Catholic Church podcast. CCC #1864 says, “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.” The only sin God can’t forgive is the sin that we don’t allow Him to forgive. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Father Mike says the good news is that God wants to, wills to, and can forgive all of our sins, but He can only do this if we allow Him to do this. God wants us to bring all of our sins to him and repent for them.
Why is it so hard for us to believe that God will forgive our sins? Why do we struggle to believe this for ourselves, and yet we would be the first ones to tell someone else not to worry because God has forgiven them? I think one of the biggest reasons is that we have the enemy, the liar, whispering in our ears how unworthy we are. He fills us with guilt and shame. He tells us that yes, God is merciful, but His mercy only goes so far, and our sins have crossed the line. He says God can forgive a lot, but He can’t forgive us. He tells us we don’t deserve to be forgiven. He tells us it doesn’t matter if we are forgiven because we will just do it again.
Well, guess what, the devil is a liar. He knows that God will forgive all we do, and he hates that. He doesn’t want us to be forgiven because then we get to spend eternity with god, and he would rather we suffer for all eternity. It is important we work to believe that God will forgive our sins. It is important that we confess our sins and repent for them. I know there are some things that we don’t want to confess. We don’t want to walk into a confessional and tell a priest our deepest darkest secret or what we have done because we are embarrassed and ashamed. However, God already knows what we have done, and yet until we release it to Him, He can’t forgive us. He is just waiting for us to come to Him.
If we are struggling to believe that God will forgive us, maybe we need to work on how we see our Father in Heaven. Do we see Him as our Father? What experiences of Fathers do we have in our lives? I know many people see God as this judge sitting up in heaven, shaking His head, and waiting for us to mess up so he can punish us. This is not God. He is a loving father. He is up there watching us mess things up and do the wrong thing time and time again with compassion. He waits with open arms to welcome us back in when we mess up.
It is essential that we begin to see the Father for who He is. It is essential that we figure out how to believe that we are forgiven, that our sins are forgiven. Our sins wound our relationship with God, and the worse the sin, the deeper the wound. We need to repent for hurting the Lord, and we need not to let those sins determine our future. If we want to spend eternity with our heavenly father, we have to learn how to accept his forgiveness. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Is this what we want, or do we want to accept the forgiveness being offered and accept the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we ask you to help us accept your forgiveness. Lord, we give you permission to work in our hearts. Please work on softening whatever is in us that can’t accept your forgiveness. Please don’t let us miss out on eternal salvation. Please put on our hearts whatever it is that we need to change and then give us the strength to change it. We love you, Lord, and we don’t want anything to get in the way of spending eternity with you. You are too amazing. We are so grateful that you are willing to forgive our sins, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!