Question: What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and what makes this sin unforgivable?
There are two questions here “What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?” and “What makes this sin unforgivable?” the first leading into the second so lets take them in that order.
“What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?”
Lets get started by looking at the scripture to which this question is referring:
“Wherefore I (Jesus) say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven.”
Matt 12:31
Now to fully understand this verse we need to look at the meaning of blasphemy and spirit in this context. The Greek word blasphemia literally means evil or wrong speaking. The Greek word translated spirit is pneuma, from which we get the word pneumatic. Pneuma literally means breath or breeze and figuratively refers to the mind.
With this in mind, look at Matt 12:31 again: … but speaking wrong against (about) the Holy Breath shall not be forgiven.
Now consider these verses in regard to breath:
“And the Lord God formed Adam of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Adam became a living soul.”
Gen 2:7
Jesus said “It is the spirit (breath) that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the Words that I speak to you, they are spirit (breath), and they are life.”
John 6:63
“Then Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you shall know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself; but as the Father has taught me, I speak these things.”
John 8:28
The Words of Jesus which are the Word of God are the breath of Life which God breathed into Adam making him spiritually alive in the beginning. So, the Holy Spirit (Breath) is the Word of God. This is not to say that physical scripture is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the true meaning of God’s Word.
Once again, Matt 12:31: … but speaking wrong against (about) the Word of God shall not be forgiven.
Jesus said “It is not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
Matt 15:11
So, in answer to the first part of the question, “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” is speaking or teaching the Word of God incorrectly or without understanding it’s Spiritual meaning.
“What makes this sin unforgivable?”
Jesus said “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Matt 23:15
Through their teaching they are condemning people to thinking they understand God when in fact they are blinding them, making them twice dead.
“These are spots in your feasts of love, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;”
Jude :12
Jesus said “Let them alone: they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (pit).”
Matt 15:14
Jesus said to the Pharisees “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
John 8:44
The scribes and Pharisees were of the devil because they taught lies regarding God’s Word. As false teachers they were spiritually murdering those whom they taught by blinding them to the true/spiritual meaning of God’s Word. Just as the serpent in the beginning spiritually murdered Eve by twisting the truth, teaching a fleshly understanding of a spiritual thing.
“But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth.”
John 4:23-24
So, in answer to the second part of the question, speaking the Word of God wrong is unforgivable because it will spiritually kill (Ex 20:13) those to whom you speak.
Anyone who seeks to teach God’s Word should seriously consider this.
Unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit at the end
“For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say to you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” Acts 3:22-23
Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
According to all that you, Israel, desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the Day of the Assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
And the Lord said to me, ‘They have well spoken that which they have spoken.’ I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put My Words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My Words which he shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him.” Deut 18:15-19