In Matthew 12:31 Jesus says, “Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” This verse causes problems for many because it seems to contradict other passages in scripture that promise the forgiveness of sins of the penitent without condition (Ps. 103:10–212; 130:4–4; Is. 1:18; 43:25; 55:7; Mic. 7:18–19; Matt. 6:14–15; Mk. 11:25; Lk. 6:37; 7:47–48; 24:46–47; Acts 3:19; 1 Cor. 6:9–11; Eph. 1:7–8; Col. 1:13–14; 1 Jn. 1:9).
Particularly to the point is 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” along with Isaiah 55:7 which says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteousness man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
So how do we reconcile these passages with what Jesus says about unforgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think the solution is simpler than others have made it in the past and that is that people who have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit are precisely those who refuse to repent.
One of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit is the reveal sin in the life of the believer. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s job is to convict (Jn. 16:8). Conviction is the sense of regret and remorse for offense against God (and others). Conviction likewise leads people to repentance. Resisting this convicting work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This is why those who resist the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven: because they do not follow his lead to the place of repentance of sins.
We have to take it out of our mind the image of someone asking for forgiveness and God refusing it. This isn’t what Jesus is talking about when he talks about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Rather, he’s talking about a person who has repeatedly hardened their heart to the convicting work of the Spirit to lead individuals to repentance.
Thomas Oden puts it this way:
Blasphemy against the Spirit is not unforgivable in the sense that God is powerless or unwilling to forgive, but in the sense that the sinner is militantly unwilling to receive forgiveness. The sin is not unpardonable because the atoning work of the Son is not sufficient for that sin, but because that sufficient work is willfully demeaned, blocked, and detested by those for whom it would otherwise be entirely sufficient (Heb. 6:4–6). This sin is said to be unforgivable because as long as we are so deluded that we cannot repent, we cannot be forgiven, having closed off the possibility of being forgiven by closing ourselves to the Spirit. Those guilty of such sin are in the nature of the case unable to receive forgiveness (Oden, Life in the Spirit, 22).
Are you in a place to have your heart softened? The world needs people with soft hearts.
