There is one sin that is unpardonable according to Jesus—blaspheming the Holy Spirit. But under which circumstances is it committed according to Scripture? Let us look at the three biblical passages in which the unpardonable sin appears:

Matthew 12:31–32

In Matthew 12:31-32 (and Mark’s Gospel), those who are in danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit are Jesus’s religious opponents. Important for our purposes, these opponents are not identified as Christ’s followers.

Matthew’s Gospel includes two separate incidents where the opponents’ claim that Jesus performs his miracles, ex­orcisms, by demonic powers (Matt 9:32–34; 12:24). The blaspheming thus has to do with their wrong evaluation of what the Spirit was accomplishing through Jesus. The opponents reject the definitive sign of God’s impending kingdom that brings forth prophetic words and deeds.

Moreover, the Spirit is related to divine healing and preach­ing associated with the forgiveness of sins, and the opponents’ problem is one of unforgiveness—both of others and their own need to be forgiven. They could not, as James Williams affirms, comprehend “the true nature of God’s disposition toward and work in the world” (James G. Williams “Note on the ‘Unforgivable Sin’ Logion.” New Testament Studies 12 1965:75–77).*

Mark 3:28–29

Mark’s version at­tributes the unpardonable sin likewise to Jesus’ unbelieving opponents, the religious leaders. The accusation is that Jesus is demonized, perhaps suggesting a repetitive charge (Mark 3:22; 3:30).

It is possible that the imperfect tense elegon (ἔλεγον) in these verses may imply that these opponents “kept on saying” Jesus performed exorcisms through the help of demonic powers (see William Lane, Gospel of Mark, 136. But Mark uses the word and tense quite frequently: cp. e.g., Mark 2:16, 24; 3:21; 4:41; 5:31; 6:14–15; 6:35. Even so, Matthew uses the same tense at least in the parallel, Matt 9:34).

The result of persistent stubbornness exemplified by the escalating resistance towards Jesus’s message portrayed in Mark 2–3 functions as the ground for why divine hardening takes place in 4:10–12. Both Mark and Isaiah echoed in the background here to emphasize Israel’s leaders at the time as the culprits in rejecting divine guidance. This results in their hardening and blinding, a prevalent condition in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 3:1–4:12/ Isa 1–6; Mark 7:1–13/Isa 29:13; Mark 12:1–12/Isa 5:1–7).

Prior resistance of these leaders towards Jesus and his miracles in Mark 2–3 fits well with the following passage in which Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9–10 in relation to those “outside” who do not com­prehend his parables. Mark’s gospel probably assumes that its audience will connect the dots between the outsiders’ spiritual blindness in Mark 4:10–12 and Jesus opponents who harden their heart in Mark 2–3 (e.g., 3:5–6).

Luke 12:10

Luke’s version of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Matthean and Markan parallels. This Gospel’s takes place in the context of persecution (Luke 12:10; cf. 12:4–9). Unlike the other Synoptic writers, Luke does not relate this sin to an accusation made by religious leaders that Jesus casts out devils by the power of Beelzebul (cf. Matt 12:22–32; Mark 3:19–30). That story is included in Luke 11:14–22 but without the warning related to their blasphem­ing the Spirit.

In Luke 12:4–12 Jesus’s addresses his warning to his disciples, who in the impending future will be brought before rulers and authorities. Acts lists numerous occasions in which the Christ-followers stand before such authorities (Acts 4:3–23; 5:17–40; 6:9–7:58; 16:19–36; 17:5–9; 18:12–17; 23:1–11; 24–26). The disciples must not fear persecution from such powers that can kill the body only. They should fear instead God who has power to cast them into Gehenna (Luke 12:5).

No doubt, if the disciples were to deny Christ during such times, they would also be denied by him and suffer eschatological punishment (Luke 12:8–9). Hence, in Luke the notion of blaspheming the Spirit does not appear to be understood as a temporary phenomenon relevant only to the pre-Easter blasphemy of Jesus’s opponents.

Who is in danger of blaspheming the Spirit in Luke? The Opponents?

A case could be made that Jesus in Luke 12:8–9 exhorts the disciples and their follow­ers not to fall away during coming persecutions. But blaspheming the Spirit in 12:10 may be directed against the persecutors instead of the disciples. This interpretation would seem to flow with 12:11–12, in which “they” (the opponents) will confront and persecute the disciples; at the same time the Holy Spirit will give the disciples the right words to say when standing before their accusers.

This perspective complements the account of the authorities resisting the Spirit when Stephen preaches to them and his face shines as an angel (Acts 7:51; cf. Acts 6:15).

But this interpretation is far from certain. If a person cannot be forgiven for blaspheming the Spirit; that individual has com­mitted the unpardonable sin (Luke 12:10). We would need to explain, then, how the Apostle Paul, a persecutor of Christ’s followers at that time, consented to Stephen being the stoned and yet obviously he did not blaspheme the Spirit since he became an apostle for Jesus (Acts 7:58; cf. 9:17).

Moreover, the conjunc­tion “and” (καί) opening Luke 12:10 would seem to connect well with the preceding verses 8–9. This verse may suggest that the disciples are the ones who are in danger of blasphem­ing the Spirit. Such an interpretation of the unpardonable sin was adopted by early Christians (e.g., Didache 11.7; Origen, De Principiis. 1.3).

The Disciples?

We suggest, then, that uniquely in Luke blaspheming the Holy Spirit is some­thing believers in Christ can commit in Luke 12:4–10.

If persecution is being highlighted here, then in some sense it would seem to be associated with the unpardonable sin. The notion of committing apostasy may be related to blaspheming the Spirit, but if so, then not all forms of the former amount to the latter. In particular, those who deny Jesus but afterward repent can be forgiven (Luke 12:9–10a). This shows that restoration is possible for defectors who deny Christ, and a similar case might be said for Peter (Luke 22:54–62).

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit, on the other hand, cannot be forgiven (Luke 12:10b). Perhaps the missing premise is that blaspheming the Spirit involves not only denying Jesus but doing so at a time when the Spirit is being mani­fested in an extraordinary way. This act is something hardened apostates might do. They could experience the power of the Spirit when they were believers, but then they deny Jesus when facing trials and never feel the need to repent afterward.

A more precise nuance in this context may suggest that this is a sin that Christ’s followers commit against the Holy Spirit during the time in which the Spirit is giving them cor­rect words to say before their accusers (Luke 12:11–12). Rather than trust God’s Spirit at such times, they deny Christ. It is evident that the Spirit manifests in extraordinary ways at such moments of persecution (cf. Acts 4:8, 31; 6:10, 15), and rejection of the Spirit in the face of sublime visions or spiritual manifestations may amount to final apostasy (See similarly, Robert Tannehill, Luke, 203; Robert Menzies, Empowered for Witness, 166).

Conclusion

It becomes quite evident that the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is the end result of persistent obduracy. The up­shot of all this, especially in Mark, is that blaspheming the Spirit involves persistent hardness of heart that ultimately leads a person to attribute to the devil the miraculous signs of God’s Spirit through Jesus.

Denying Christ and betraying other Christians for fear of persecution are forgivable sins. On the hand, Luke’s Gospel may express an extreme form of divine intervention that is denied or rejected by those who were considered believers. In any case, the typical sins that people commit these days, including cussing out God, Christ, or the Spirit, are not what is meant by the unpardonable sin.