Bible Questions and Answers
Published 12/05/2017
Very often people who read the Bible ask: what does blasphemy against the Holy Spirit mean and why is it not forgiven? What kind of unforgivable sin is this? Let's try to figure out what we are talking about and what it means.
...Let this not happen!
Can responsibility for blasphemy against the Spirit be higher than for blasphemy against the Son?
The Church claims that God is one in essence, but three in persons - Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Each Person (hypostasis) of the Most Holy Trinity is God, but They are not three Gods, but a single Divine being. Therefore, insulting each of the Persons equally means that God the Trinity is blasphemed. Of course, any analogy here will be incomplete, but you can try to use at least a comparison that is very limited in meaning. Suppose some hooligan took a can of spray paint and stained some public building in the city center, for example, the Philharmonic concert hall, with obscene inscriptions. Will he be tried under different articles of the Criminal Code, depending on which wall of the Philharmonic he damaged with his “creativity”? The answer is obvious: this dirty trickster will be convicted for the damage caused to the entire structure, and not to its facade or side wall.
The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are equally revered by Christians. And responsibility for blasphemy against each hypostasis of the Trinity also cannot have different degrees, because in any case it would be blasphemy. But why then does Christ say: ...if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him either in this age or in the next?
Saint Athanasius the Great answers this exhaustively: “...The Lord said this, not making a comparison between blasphemy against the Son and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and not in the sense that the Spirit is greater, and therefore blasphemy against the Spirit has greater guilt. Let this not happen! ...Both blasphemy concerns the Lord Himself, and He said about Himself - both: Son of Man, and: Spirit, in order to indicate human nature with the first name, and with the word “Spirit” to designate His spiritual, intelligent and true Divinity. For in the meaning of His bodily nature, he attributed the blasphemy, in which forgiveness can be obtained, to the Son of Man, but about the unforgivable blasphemy he declared that it extended to the Spirit, so that by this difference from the bodily nature he could point to His Divinity.”
It turns out that Christ here called blasphemy against the Spirit an insult to His Divinity, and blasphemy against the Son of Man an insult to His humanity.
Orthodox Life
Listen: https://radonezh.ru/radio/2017/06/05/21-00.html
Archimendrite Ambrose (Yurasov)
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-Father, today on the days of the Trinity celebrations I would like to talk about the Holy Trinity, about God - our Creator, about the Beginning of all Being, about the Source of all good, about the Giver of life to any person, believer and non-believer, saint and sinner. People cannot live without God. In the Trinity, Consubstantial and Indivisible, lies the beginning of everything.
How can you tell about the Holy Trinity in an accessible way? What analogies can you give?
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-St. Augustine was a philosopher and theologian. One day he walked along the seashore and wanted to penetrate the secret of the Holy Trinity. And suddenly the blessed one saw a young man using a ladle to draw water from the sea and pour it into a hole. He looked and looked and then asked: “What are you doing?” The young man replied: “I want to fit this sea into this hole.” - "But this is impossible!" Then the young man said: “I am an Angel sent by the Lord. Just as it is impossible to fit the sea into this hole, so it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity.” This is the mystery of God.
We have One God, but in three Persons - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When we turn to God and say: “Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us! Lord, cleanse our sins!”, we cry to God the Father, then to the Son and the Holy Spirit. But God is One. It is impossible to know this secret. I think even the Angels find it difficult to accommodate this. An analogy can be drawn. Let's take the sun for example. The sun is a circle; if we designate God the Father with this circle, then we will see that in the circle there is neither beginning nor end. Light and warmth are constantly born from the circle. The main dogma of the Holy Trinity looks like this: God the Father eternally gives birth, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son. Here is another example: our body consists of body, soul and spirit - also three components. Our mind also reminds us of the Holy Trinity: the mind is like God the Father, the word is the Son, and the breath is the Holy Spirit. Thus we see that the mind constantly gives birth to word and breath. Just as any factory, when producing a machine, leaves its mark, so God, when creating the universe, left the mark of the Trinity on everything. We know that water can be in three states: liquid, solid and gas. The earth also consists of three main elements: sand, black soil and clay. Once six professors came to my monastery, and I began to talk to them about the Trinity, and they helped me with this. Scientists said that they have an atlas of the human structure, where everything is also threefold: skin, heart, and blood... What does this mean? That the Creator can be seen in His creations.
What can you say about the Trinity?
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-Father, the dogma of the Trinity is the foundation of the Orthodox faith, the basis of Christian teaching.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-When we say that the sun constantly gives birth to light, then in this we see the image of the Son of God, and by warmth we understand the grace of our Lord. In the so-called other “churches” they say that the Spirit comes from both God and the Son, although the Lord said before the Ascension: “when I go” to the Father, I will “beseech” Him and “will give you another Comforter” [John 14:3 , 16]. Jesus says that he is going to the Father and God the Father will send us the Holy Spirit. So, when rays are born from the sun, heat does not come from the rays, heat comes from the sun itself. There are people who say that when you read the Creed, it seems that the Holy Spirit also comes from the Son...
Hierodeacon Elaezar (Titov):
-This is a heretical deviation that we see among Catholics, it is called “filioque” - the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also from the Son. This is a gross violation of Orthodox teaching, simply put, heresy. It’s wrong to think like that, much less teach it. Distortion of the “Symbol of Faith” is prohibited by the rule of the third Council of Ephesus under pain of anathema. The “Symbol of Faith” is a diamond that was sharpened by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Fathers and it is so perfect that nothing can be added or taken away from it, it cannot be changed. Everything is perfectly calibrated. This is an accurate statement of the Orthodox faith.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
— The Holy Fathers said: “It pleased the Holy Spirit and us” [Acts 15:28]. With these words, the Council of the Apostles, assembled in Jerusalem around the year 50 A.D., indicates the inspiration of the decisions they made and their agreement with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-Trinity is a special holiday. On this day, temples are decorated with branches, the floors are covered with fresh grass, and priests serve in green robes. For the first time since Easter, kneeling prayers are performed in churches. For me personally, summer begins with Trinity, and spring begins with Easter. This is a very warm, solemn holiday, because we celebrate the birthday of the Church. After all, the day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, since on this day the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and the Mother of God, who were in Jerusalem. Numerous gifts were imparted by the Holy Spirit. One of them was the ability to speak other languages, when fishermen who did not know any languages could speak any language in the world.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-This was only in the early days. Now it seems to Pentecostals that they also speak different languages, but this is not speech, but separate incoherent cries. We must not forget that the most important point is that when Christ appeared to the disciples after the Resurrection, He said: “Peace be with you.” And blowing on them, he said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; on whomever you leave it will remain [John 20:22-23], whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven” [Matthew 18:18].
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
— On Trinity Sunday, during the liturgy, we just read the Gospel, where these words are written and it says that by this Christ prophesied about the Spirit, which the disciples would have to accept in due time. And at that moment the Spirit had not yet descended on them, because Christ had not yet been glorified. That is, it turns out that for the descent of the Holy Spirit into the world, Christ had to suffer on the Cross, descend into hell, rise from the dead, ascend to Heaven, and only after that the Holy Spirit, according to the promise of God the Son, descended on the Apostles, and from simple fishermen - He made the Apostles - the pillars of the Church - witnesses of the life of Christ on earth. After all, look how many people are in our Church now, how many saints! What a mass of traditions, what a powerful dogmatic teaching! What vibrant iconographic art! All this is built precisely on the Apostles. And the Apostles became Apostles precisely on the day of Pentecost, and this is very important.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-All the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to ordain priests for the Church.
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-If you go back to the roots and trace the history of our ordination, you can come to the Apostles and to Christ Himself. Because in Orthodoxy hierarchical continuity has never been stopped. It is true and undistorted. The grace of the Holy Spirit flows from one bishop to another, and from bishops to priests and deacons.
Phone call:
-I go to church, I confess, but I have no strength to endure what befalls me. I have a daughter-in-law, who, along with my son, turns her children - little ones - against me, they are not allowed to see me, and they are told that I am dead. My hands gave up and I fell into complete despondency. My daughter-in-law threatens me that my mother and I will rot in this apartment and she will cause damage. My son's family was completely on my neck. They didn't work. My daughter-in-law just recently went to work. I always tried to help them with food and clothing. And now the true face of the daughter-in-law has been revealed, and I am simply horrified: how, for what?
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-When a person is attacked by a dog, he takes a stone and throws it at it. The stone flies far away and for some reason the dog chases after it. Who is to blame: the stone or the person who threw it? It is clear that the person who threw the stone is guilty. But the stone is not to blame. In the same way, demons turn your daughter-in-law against you, and you think that she is doing you harm. Even if all the sorcerers of the world, sorcerers and magicians gather against one person, they are not able to cause harm to his soul. It is said that without the will of God not a single hair will fall from the head. If your daughter-in-law attacks you, then that’s how it should be. Why? Because we do not live here to eat, drink and sleep. We are here to make our soul good, pure, holy. The Lord said: “Through your patience save your souls” [Luke 21:19] and “he who endures to the end will be saved” [Matthew 10:22]. No need to pay attention to this. Have fellowship with the Lord, thank Him and rejoice that you have such an opportunity to be patient with your neighbors. This is all very valuable. Here's an example: there are 7 billion families on earth and not one of them is prosperous. There will definitely be deaths: parents, grandparents, loved ones die, and demons provoke enmity in families. But the most valuable thing is when a person thanks God, endures and does not harm anyone. After all, what is the purpose of the Lord? - So that we make our soul peaceful, calm, balanced, kind, so that we do not get irritated, do not take offense, do not swear, so that we have peace, quiet and peace in our souls. This is what we should strive for. If in this peaceful state, when there is no evil in us, the soul goes to that world, it will be exactly the same there. And if a soul is touchy and goes into the next world in enmity with its neighbors, it will be exactly the same there. We need to work on ourselves. Therefore, the Lord put you in such a framework so that you learn to endure and find peace and quiet. There is evil everywhere. It is important to learn to thank God for everything, as the long-suffering Job did. He thanked God for everything. Even when he reached his breaking point, lost all his wealth and became a leper, he still thanked God and went down in biblical history as an example of patience and humility. So, like the long-suffering Job, we need to thank God and rejoice, and not pay attention to everyone living with us. What should I do? The morning comes, say: “Lord, help me endure everything! Lord, I thank You for putting me in this framework! Help us, with Your help, to endure everything!” And when you say this, the devil will move away from your neighbors. If at the same time you still ask your loved ones for forgiveness, then remember that demons do not like the words “forgive” and will immediately disappear. This is how we are saved - through humility, in the words of the psalmist: “Humble yourself and the Lord save me” [Ps. 114:15].
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-Even on the day of the Holy Trinity there is no escape from sorrows.
Archmandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-Yesterday, when Vespers was going on, everyone knelt down and the clergy read prayers, at which time the Holy Spirit descended on those people who longed for this. Although we do not see tongues of fire, people feel that they are becoming different. Let's say a person cheated a lot, but now he has stopped. Someone was annoyed, but now they started to take care of themselves. That is, when working on ourselves, we gradually eradicate sins. This is the action of the Holy Spirit. And, of course, to those people who remain in prayer day and night, endure everything and everyone, the Lord sends the Holy Spirit, and the person becomes joyful. One woman once told me: “I set myself up like this, a person scolds me, but I’m happy.” Because only the Holy Spirit can give joy. Many people have material wealth, but there is no spiritual peace, and the joy that the Holy Spirit sends to us cannot be bought anywhere: neither abroad, nor at the market, nor in a store, only the Lord gives it through repentance, through Holy Communion. If you look at the dome from above, it is like a drop of grace descending on the temple, on all the people praying there. And if a person does not go to church, the Holy Spirit does not descend on him. And this person is deprived of spiritual consolation.
If any of you, dear brothers and sisters, want to get rid of despondency, despair, melancholy, it’s easy to do: be determined, come to church and repent of your sins. When we repent of our sins, throw away the dirt that we carried in our souls, express everything and make a promise to the Lord that we will not sin again, then the Lord at that moment, through the priest, forgives us our sins and the person leaves confession with a relieved soul. After all, many would like to get rid of their passions, but do not know how. So the only way out is to repent of all sins. Come to church, tell the priest everything, through the priest the Lord Himself accepts this confession and forgives us our sins.
Phone call:
-Is the gift of the Holy Spirit given to every Orthodox Christian or selectively, exclusively?
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-You know, all people on the planet breathe air, because without air a person cannot live and will quickly die. A soul without grace is like without air. If you want to receive grace, you need to cleanse your soul from dirt, and when we cleanse your soul from dirt, then you can receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For example, we came to a beekeeper with a dirty jar that had been standing unwashed for 30 years and asked to fill it with honey, to which the beekeeper, of course, would tell us: “There is a lot of dust and dirt in it. Wash it first." And when there is not a single dirty spot, then it will be possible to pour honey. In the Psalms we read that “the word of God is sweeter than honey and drops of the honeycomb” [Ps. 18:11].
We see that the Holy Spirit enters only a pure soul. When a person works hard on himself, the Lord gives him comfort.
Many people think that when they sin, they gain something. But we know that in Greek the word “sin” means “failure.” That is, a person thinks that he will now receive joy, but it turns out that instead he loses grace, since an evil force enters him and he becomes uncontrollable, does not control his actions and words.
The Lord would be glad to give such a person grace, but he will not be able to bear it. Imagine: our soul has entered the spiritual world, but we are not prepared for this - like a person who with sore eyes goes out into the bright light, towards the sun. He cannot bear this and rushes into the darkness. And paradise is billions of times brighter than the sun, and an unpurified person cannot endure it either. Likewise, when we live uncleanly and do not work on ourselves, we simply cannot fit in heaven.
Phone call:
- A long time ago, when I first came to faith, I learned what love is. And now it seems to me that there is no love. I don't see love among people and in the church. Tell me, we all pray and when we take communion, we feel love for God, His mercy for ourselves personally. But you don’t feel love for your neighbors. For example, there was a case when I was invited to celebrate Trinity. I went there following the example of agape, for the sake of love for my neighbor. And you know, I remembered the love that I experienced at the beginning of my journey in the Church. But do you really need wine and a table for this? And how did these agapes go before? Maybe you can tell me something? How are things going with this for you, the monks? Have you ever met such love?
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-We just saw an example of this love when we were on Mount Athos a couple of days ago. There we had an unexpected meeting with Elder Ephraim and there we saw this love. And monastic love is truly expressed at meals, when all the brothers sit at the same table and eat the same thing. And at the end, when they leave the meal, the abbot blesses everyone, and the cellarer asks everyone for forgiveness. All this follows the example of agape, when Christians of the first centuries gathered for a common meal, called the “supper of love,” in remembrance of the Last Supper, at which the Lord established the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-At first, the Lord gives you a taste of love, and then it fades away, and a person must earn it through his own labors. Let’s say a child is born, his parents feed him, wash him, dress him, and when he gets a little stronger, they put him on his feet and support him. And although he still stands unsteadily, he holds on, he is happy, and when the baby learns to walk a little, the parents let him go, although he falls, he gets up. This is how the child begins to walk and then run. It happens that the baby breaks his nose or his knee. This will happen until the child learns. If you constantly carry him in your arms, he will become disabled. So the Lord is our Father, and we are His children, if He constantly gives us grace and love, then we will not appreciate it. We must work ourselves, show it and not expect love from our neighbors.
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
— Father, once, with your blessing, I was preparing for a sermon and the topic was about love. I discovered an interesting thing. The Holy Fathers spoke about love like this: the worldly love of a man for a woman flares up in the following way: a young man saw a girl, and mutual love flared up between them. But this love can both flare up and go out. This is worldly love. Christian, divine love is completely different, it is of a different nature and the mechanism of its emergence is different. This is a feat. This kind of love needs to be cultivated in yourself. How? Christ says about this: “By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” [John 13:35] and “If you love Me, keep My commandments” [John 14:15]. We celebrate the Day of the Holy Trinity and know that communication between the Persons of the Holy Trinity is love. Perfect, Divine love is communication between the Persons of the Holy Trinity. I wonder what this love is expressed in? — In the readiness of each of the Persons of the Holy Trinity to serve and be in obedience to the other two Persons of the Holy Trinity. Obedience is the only way Christian love can be expressed. Therefore, when we do not see love in others, it is natural. After all, she is not there. It is not in others, but in you yourself. Either it is there or it is not. But it can be developed in oneself by fulfilling the commandments of Christ.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-The Apostle Paul says, addressing the Corinthians: “I accommodate you all in my heart” [2 Cor. 6, 12]. Among these people there were fornicators and drunkards and robbers, but he accommodated everyone in his heart, that is, he reached the heart of Christ. So the Lord accommodates us all, loves us all.
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
— They ask, what is Tradition? This is nothing other than the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. In your sermons you often give the example that the Church is the Body of Christ, the Head of which is Christ, and we are all cells in this Divine-human organism. Each has its place, its function, its purpose, but in every body there is blood that flows and supplies the entire body with nutrients. In the Church of Christ, this blood is the Holy Spirit, namely the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. This is the blood of the Church, which nourishes every person joined to the Body of Christ. Tell us, father: how to acquire the Holy Spirit? Because only through Him do we breathe, create, accept cleansing and healing.
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
— You can acquire the Holy Spirit only through repentance, when a person confesses all his sins, so that nothing remains in the soul. This can be achieved when a person receives communion worthily, accepts the Living Christ into himself and constantly remains in prayer and good deeds. Christ teaches us in the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew that we must feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit hospitals and prisons. We must perform these good deeds and do all this for the sake of Christ and for Christ, with love and humility. I really don’t like it when people get offended. This is such an infection that resides in a person, probably with hooves, horns and a tail. A person loves to be offended, but this should not be done, resentment is a disease of the soul. Anger and deception are also a disease of the soul. When we get rid of this, then a person’s soul will become light and good. If a person has sinned a little somewhere and repents of it and asks the Lord for forgiveness, then his soul will be joyful both here on earth and there, during the transition to the next world.
Phone call:
-What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Archimandrite Ambrose (Yurasov):
-Suppose a sick person went to church, repented of all his sins, took communion and received healing. He knows that God healed him, and then this same person goes against God, against the Holy Spirit. This is what blasphemy is.
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
- Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a sin of conscious God-fighting, when a person knows that God exists, understands that He acts in the world and everything that He does is absolutely from God, and with all this a person consciously goes against God, this is and there is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This sin is not forgiven, neither in this age nor in the next. Why? Because with death a person loses the ability to change. It records what he acquired in earthly life. And it is not only fixed, but also begins to develop. And this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, when a person blasphemes God with his life, will never be forgiven. This is the worst sin.
Phone call:
-Who is depicted under the arch on the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit? I always thought it was the Mother of God. Today I took a closer look and saw that there was a beard there. Who is depicted there?
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-The icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles actually depicts the Mother of God in the center, and around Her are the Apostles and the Holy Spirit descends on all of them. It’s hard to say who you saw in the arch, but the Mother of God is definitely there.
Phone call:
— Nothing is said about the Holy Trinity in the “Creed”; it speaks about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When did the doctrine of the Holy Trinity appear?
Hierodeacon Eleazar (Titov):
-You know, to say that the “Creed” says nothing about the Holy Trinity is the same as looking at a forest and saying that there are a lot of trees there, but the forest is not visible.
The meaning of the “Creed” is the discovery of the Holy Trinity. First, God the Father is revealed to us, then it is told how God the Son is born and incarnated and the Holy Spirit emanates through Him. The term "Holy Trinity" appears later. This is already a development of Christian Theological terminology. Radonezh
About forgiveness without repentance
Quite often, blasphemy against the Spirit seems to be a kind of guaranteed method of spiritual suicide, when just one abusive phrase addressed to a certain address entails irreversible consequences due to some divine “over-offensiveness”, which does not allow God to forgive the blasphemer, even if, after time, he repents of his thoughtless actions. words. How true is this opinion?
There is such a funny phenomenon in modern popular culture - fan fiction. This is a literary genre in which fans of a literary work, based on it, compose their own continuations of their favorite stories. This genre, frankly speaking, is not for everyone, but there is one very correct principle: in terms of their characteristics, the heroes of fan fiction must exactly correspond to the heroes of the original work or historical prototypes. Violation of this rule is referred to in the genre by the English abbreviation OOS - Out Of Character, which can be translated into Russian as “falling out of character.” The most obvious example of such a “loss” was once described by the English writer G. K. Chesterton: “...It is much more natural to believe in something that is beyond the limits of our reason than in something that does not go beyond these limits, but simply contradicts it. If you tell me that the great Gladstone was haunted in his dying hour by the ghost of Parnell, I would rather be an agnostic and say neither yes nor no. But if you assure me that Gladstone did not take off his hat at Queen Victoria's reception, patted the queen on the back and offered her a cigar, I will strongly object. I won't say it's impossible; I will say it's incredible. I am more confident that this did not happen than that there was no ghost, because the laws of the world that I understand are violated here.”
Thus, OOC is an action that the hero can never perform under any circumstances, otherwise he will simply cease to be himself.
And when it comes to the fact that the God of Christians does not want to forgive the person who blasphemed Him, even if he repents, this looks like a typical example of Out Of Character in an unsuccessful fan fiction, because such an idea of God completely contradicts the gospel narrative. Christ, God incarnate, through His earthly life gave the world all the completeness of ideas about Divine properties accessible to human perception. It would take quite a long time to list them, but we can say with complete confidence that among them there is no ruthless vindictiveness and rejection of sinners asking for mercy. Even Judas, at the very moment of betrayal, Christ calls His friend. So can such a God really not forgive a repentant blasphemer?
We again find the answer from St. Athanasius the Great: “It should be noted that Christ did not say: he will not be forgiven the one who blasphemed and repented, but the one who blasphemes, that is, the one who remains in blasphemy. For due repentance resolves all sins . The Church clearly says that there is no sin that cannot be healed by repentance. And blasphemy is not a special exception to this rule. Even in relationships between people, we see the same principle: if a little grandson rashly called his grandmother a “stupid” and then came to her to ask for forgiveness, will she drive him away from her, proudly pursing her lips? For God, any blasphemer is like a foolish fool who himself does not really understand what he is doing. And He loves every person immeasurably more than the kindest grandmother loves her grandchildren.
As for the blasphemy against the human nature of Christ, the holy fathers say absolutely amazing things. It turns out that Christ forgives the grossest insults of this kind to His detractors even without repentance on their part!
This is what Saint Theophylact of Bulgaria writes, explaining the words of the Savior: “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. This means that whoever blasphemes against Me, according to the appearance of the simple Son of Man, eating, drinking, dealing with tax collectors and harlots, whether he repents or does not repent of his blasphemy, he will be forgiven . For to such a person his unbelief is not considered a sin. For what did he see that was conducive to faith? On the contrary, what did he not see worthy of blasphemy? He saw a man treating harlots and spoke blasphemy against him, and therefore sin was not imputed to him. For, naturally, he could think: what kind of Son of God is he who deals with harlots? Therefore, the one who does this, and yet pretends to be the Son of God, he can revile and call him a deceiver.”
“...But when these people see that He works undoubted miracles, and yet they blaspheme the Holy Spirit, that is, the working of miracles that come from the Holy Spirit, then how will they receive forgiveness if they do not repent? When they were offended by the flesh of Christ, in this case, even if they did not repent, they will be forgiven as people who were offended, but when they saw Him doing the works of God and still blasphemed, how will they be forgiven if they remain unrepentant? »
Practical Considerations
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit lies at the end of the descending progression. People with open hearts saw Jesus' miracles and accepted Him and His message. Others accepted miracles without yet accepting Him as the Son of God (Matthew 16:13-17). His own family thought He was crazy (Mark 3:20-21). Those guilty of blasphemy, or perhaps almost accused (Mark 3:30), attributed miracles to Satan. At any point along this path, people could come to faith, but at the end of the story we are looking at, faith was no longer an option for those people.
Paul was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, an abuser, and a cruel man (1 Timothy 1:13). Yet he did not personally see Jesus and claimed that these miracles were from Satan. Once we see miracles and vehemently reject them, attributing them to Satan, then nothing can wake us up. The longer sin lasts, the more it takes root in a person. When Peter preached to thousands (Acts 2:38), he made no distinction or exception against those guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
No one should be denied God's mercy if a person truly repents of sins and comes to God. The Spirit Himself invites everyone to come to Him (Revelations 22:17). If you are afraid that you have committed the “unpardonable sin,” you most certainly have not. However, becoming entrenched in sin is a scary thought in any case. It can begin in carelessness, continue in indifference, and end in entrenchment.
In Hebrews it began with sidetracking (2:1), then moved to an unbelieving heart (3:11-12), and then led to the impossibility of repentance (6:4-6).
Notice that the downward spiral begins with us becoming friends with the world (James 4:4), then we begin to love it (1 John 2:15), then the laws of the world begin to govern us (Romans 12:2) and finally we are condemned along with the whole world (1 Corinthians 11:32). So the problem is not whether God will forgive. And the question is whether a person can repent. Jesus knew hearts and knew that those He spoke to had passed the point of “no return”—they were fully established in sin. Even so, His Words could have been a warning that they might be beyond that point. A great miracle of resurrection might be their last hope.
...Kill Lazarus too
The Lord spoke words about blasphemy against the Spirit after the Pharisees accused him of witchcraft: Then they brought to Him a man possessed by a demon, blind and dumb; and he healed him, so that the blind and dumb man began to speak and see. And all the people marveled and said, Is this not the Christ, the son of David? The Pharisees, having heard this, said: He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Matthew 12 :22-24). The logic of the detractors of that time is clear: the Pharisees did not want to admit that the power of God was at work in the wandering preacher. But they could not deny the supernatural origin of this power, since Christ performed miracles in front of the people and no one could accuse Him of deception. Therefore, the Pharisees decided to explain these miracles as demonic action. This is what Christ called blasphemy against the Spirit.
Two thousand years have passed since then, Christianity has become the faith of hundreds of millions of people and has largely determined the development of world history. Nowadays, it is unlikely that it would occur to anyone to accuse Christ of making an agreement with the demonic prince. But this does not mean at all that for modern man Christ’s warning about blasphemy against the Spirit has ceased to be relevant. Today, as at all times, a person can fall into this grave sin and destroy himself forever, remaining unrepentant in it.
The fact is that, by accusing Christ of using demonic power to perform miracles, the Pharisees, to put it mildly, were being dishonest. They knew very well that not even the most powerful magician had ever opened the eyes of a man born blind, healed lepers, and even more so, raised the dead. Such miracles could only be performed by God's power, and this was obvious even to the most implacable opponents of Jesus. And finally, He performs the most amazing, unprecedented and unimaginable miracle - in front of many witnesses, He resurrects the dead Lazarus, who had already lain in the grave for four days! All of Judea was filled with admiring rumors about this event. After all, only God is able to resurrect a stinking four-day corpse. Residents of Jerusalem greet Christ with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna,” which literally means “Save!” No one doubts that Jesus is the same promised Messiah about whom the prophets spoke, and the most convincing proof of this is the resurrected Lazarus accompanying Christ. But what do the high priests do, before whose eyes all this is happening? They decide to kill Christ, and with Him, Lazarus...
John Chrysostom called blasphemy against the Spirit a shameless rejection of obvious truth, and the decision of the high priests fits this definition most precisely. But, unfortunately, it is precisely this form of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that is quite accessible to each of us today.
The Holy Spirit is the one who can help
In terms of spiritual state, there are three types of Christians in the church:
- They burn and flame with the Holy Spirit: they glorify the Lord with their lives and labors for His sake.
- They burn, but not as much as at the beginning: fatigue is visible, a certain coldness, but the person is still “living” and working.
- They barely burn, almost smolder: if there is spiritual life, then barely...
But for all of us, children of God, there is saving grace - the gift of the Holy Spirit. For those who are able: thank the Lord for this! For those who are weak: ask the Lord for help, because He has strength! Those who understand that their life in God is “dying” - confess to Him, let Him open your eyes to what exactly Satan was able to catch you in, repent of this, leave this sin - and the Holy Spirit will renew you, ignite you with a new one fire! The Lord has a lot of grace, He wants to help us, but no one will do the work of confession and filling with the Holy Spirit for us, this is our responsibility before the Lord (see Luke 11:9-13).
Filling with the Holy Spirit is a commandment of God, and the Holy Spirit is a sign of His great grace and mercy towards us, a sign of His priceless, all-consuming love, which gave His life for us on the Cross.
What is truth?
Christ tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit...will guide you into all truth... (John 16:13 ). But what is truth? People use this word so often that they have already become accustomed to it and do not particularly bother themselves with searching for its meaning, especially since a great many definitions of truth have accumulated in philosophy, and it can be quite difficult for an unprepared person to understand them. However, in Christianity this concept has a very specific meaning: truth is God’s creative plan for the world and man. And if a person lives in accordance with this plan, then he stands in the truth. If not, then he is likened to Satan, who refused to participate in the divine plan of creation, and ... did not stand in the truth (John 8:44 ), turning from a bright angel into an enemy of God and a murderer of people.
Thus, the instruction in all truth given by the Holy Spirit consists in exposing those of our actions that contradict God’s plan for us and the world around us. This happens through the action of conscience, which directly points a person to his inappropriate thoughts, words and actions.
This is where it becomes possible for everyone to blaspheme the Holy Spirit in the form of rejection of obvious truth, when a person, knowing absolutely for sure that he is wrong, still continues to do evil. Saint Theophan the Recluse wrote: “When do people contain truth in untruth? - Then, when they know the truth, and do not fulfill it, when life does not correspond to knowledge; one thing is on their mind and conscience, sometimes in words, and the other in life and deeds, in the feelings of the heart and the mood of the will. ...This untruth increases a hundredfold when someone does something wrong at the very time when his mind and conscience disgust him and does not tell him to do it. This is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit , about which the Lord pronounced a terrible definition - unforgiveness either in this age or in the future.”
And the point here is not at all about God’s mercy or its absence. We are accustomed to perceiving the word “forgiveness” in the categories of the ethics of interpersonal communication, when it means the removal of guilt, the refusal of the injured party to impose any sanctions against the offender. But among the many meanings of the word “simple” (from which “forgiveness” comes) there are also such as - straight (as opposed to the evil one - curved, like a bow), whole, pure. Therefore, to forgive also means to cleanse, straighten, and most importantly, to restore lost integrity, that is, to heal. And when we talk about forgiveness received from God, it should be understood first of all as healing, cleansing, correction in a person of what was distorted by sin.
So who risks being left with God unhealed, unpurified, uncorrected? The answer to this is as simple as it is sad: one who considers himself healthy, clean and not in need of any correction, even after seeing his dirt, sores and deceit in all their ugliness.
Specific features in the text and their context
Sin is an expression of disobedience and enmity towards the Spirit. Literally it means “to protest, to be against, to attack, to insult with attacks.” Those involved in sin were Jewish leaders who were well acquainted with the Law, with its Messianic prophecies, and they had witnessed the miracles of Jesus Christ. Not only did they not believe that Jesus, who appeared from God, performed miracles, but they also attributed these miracles to Satan. In this way they slandered the Holy Spirit in their vicious accusations against Jesus and His authority.
Let's look at the main points in each passage:
“And therefore I say to you: every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. He who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but he who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
Let's note the key points here:
- All other blasphemies could be forgiven.
- Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit - no.
- Going against Jesus could be forgiven.
- Going against the Spirit is not.
- No such forgiveness would be given, either in this age or in the next.
“Truly I say to you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and all blasphemy; but whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven , but will be guilty of eternal sin.” Jesus Christ said this because people said, “An unclean spirit entered into Him.” (Gospel of Mark 3:28-30)
Now the key passages in the Gospel of Mark:
- All other blasphemies could be forgiven.
- Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
- This blasphemy constituted an eternal sin.
- Jesus' warning was based on what they said: “He has an evil spirit.”
Finally, Luke 12:8-10
“I tell you, whoever stands up and acknowledges Me before men, I, the Son of Man, acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever stands up and rejects Me before men, I will also reject before the angels of God. And if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, he can be forgiven. But he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Gospel of Luke 12:8-10)
- It had to do with confirming or denying Jesus to the people.
- Speaking words against Jesus could be forgiven; blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven.
When the Truth Isn't Satisfying
It is difficult to find a person who would claim that he does not strive for truth. But the truth does not always please and warm the soul. Each time, it seems to reveal to us two plans of our existence: how we could live, following God’s plan for us; and how we really live. And then - through conscience, through reason, through mental pain - we clearly feel where and how we have deviated from the truth. This is the action of the Holy Spirit in every person. And blasphemy against the Spirit is the persistent and constant rejection of such a gracious action, when, in the end, a person simply becomes incapable of repentance. Well-known school wisdom says: repetition is the mother of learning. Repeated and conscious adherence to evil, unfortunately, also brings very definite fruits in the form of complete death of the soul, which becomes unable to distinguish good from evil.
The Lord’s words “it will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the next” are not a threat, but a caring warning against this misfortune, which may have its beginning in some very insignificant detail, a tiny moral compromise. In itself, of course, it is not yet that same blasphemy that will not be forgiven either here or in eternity. But each such unscrupulous act, like a snowball, is capable of wrapping around many other, more serious, evil deeds, which, in turn, will also be found with a “worthy” justification. And finally, the moment will come when all the good in a person will be buried under these blocks of arbitrarily created evil, and the skill of rejecting obvious truth will turn into his second nature. Such an unfortunate person will never be able to receive forgiveness and healing from the Spirit of Truth, because the truth itself will become painful and hateful for him. And even the almighty God cannot save the one who hatefully rejects his salvation.
