The Unforgivable Sin

[Therapon]

Several believers attending Charismatic churches told me they were scared they might be committing “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” if they spoke out against a spiritual manifestation that didn't agree with the Bible. Well, that sin isn’t just criticizing a spiritual gift that doesn’t sound biblical and it is never wrong to obey the Bible! The Bible tells us to “test the spirits” behind spiritual manifestations . . .

1John 4:1-3 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world. By this know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit which does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God; and this is the antichrist which you heard is coming, and now is already in the world."

Testing all spiritual manifestations isn't optional, it's a command. So just because someone gives a prophecy or speaks in tongues doesn't mean their utterance is from God and we aren’t supposed to believe them unless that spirit is tested.

Guess what else, it's impossible for a true Christian to blaspheme the Holy Spirit! Here is how you know. While Jesus was casting demons out of a blind and dumb man, He told the surrounding crowd about that unforgivable sin . . .

Matthew 12:31-32 "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

Mark 3:28-29 "Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."

Notice that ALL sins except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit are forgivable. Then John the Baptist tells us about another unforgivable sin . . .

John 3:36 "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

So someone who refuses to believe in the Lord Jesus will never be forgiven!

But wait a second, isn't blasphemy against the Holy Spirit the only unforgivable sin? That is what the Bible says, so a final rejection of the Lord Jesus and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit have to be the same sin or there would be TWO sins for which man would not be forgiven and there is only one!

No one comes to Jesus through his own volition. God the Father, through His Spirit, draws us to His Son (John 6:44, John 12:32). The Holy Spirit then witnesses in our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God, to the point that we absolutely know it to be true down into our innermost being. If we stand against the Holy Spirit’s irrefutable witness, we knew we are turning against the truth. That is what happened to those Pharisees. Jesus was standing before them casting out demons. Meanwhile the Holy Spirit was witnessing in their hearts, saying:

Matthew 17:5 "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."

The Pharisees knew Jesus was the Christ from the Holy Spirit's witness in their hearts. When they spoke against the Holy Spirit’s irrefutable witness they were calling the Holy Spirit a liar. In so doing, they blasphemed the Holy Spirit. The unforgivable sin is rejection of the irrefutable witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts by which we know without question that Jesus is the Christ.

In the Islamic Dome of the Rock (on the temple mount in Jerusalem), is a major inscription in Arabic that reads: "God forbid that he should have a son." That declaration is also in the Koran. So here is the question: Did the prophet of Islam commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? The answer is obvious and the Bible says his fate and the fate of his followers will be . . .

Revelation 14:9-11 "If any man worship the (Leopard-Bear-Lion) beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb."

Revelation 19:20 "And the beast (Islam) was taken, and with him the false prophet (Muhammad) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast (666), and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

That God has no son is a major tenet of Islam and there are 1.6 billion people in that false religion today. We need to pray for Moslems. If they don’t turn to the Lord, their fate is a spiritual tragedy of unimaginable proportions.

How the above verses apply to Islam is explained in the book, "Islam in the End Times," downloadable free from www.ellisskolfield.com. For more details on testing spirits, read "The Shining Man with Hurt Hands," free from the same site.

 

[Katy-follower]

so a final rejection of the Lord Jesus and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit have to be the same sin or there would be TWO sins for which man would not be forgiven and there is only one!

I've been thinking the same thing. There is only one unforgivable sin, not two. A person who dies without Christ can never be forgiven, it's too late for them. It's the Holy Spirit that draws a person and convicts them of their sins and need for Jesus as savior, so a continual rejection of the Holy Spirit's promptings would be blasphemy.

Revelation 19:20 "And the beast (Islam) was taken, and with him the false prophet (Muhammad) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast (666), and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

This is where I disagree. The Antichrist will deceive the whole world. No one is deceived by Islam except the Muslims themselves. They're not a wolf in sheep's clothing, they're clearly a wolf. Where you see blatant evil it's more likely a distraction to send you running into the arms of someone to "save" you from it, the real deceiver.

 

[Cobus]

The unforgiving sin is the SAME one the Devil committed. Here is the PLACE you have to be before you CAN commit that sin....

God says, if you see your brother commit a sin that IS NOT UNTO DEATH, pray for him. God will NEVER even want you to pray for a sin that is unto death... The thing is IT IS THE SAME SIN, but in different places...

Let us take the one God explains in the Bible.... God says this.... Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Now let us call Ben the theif... Ben steals from people. But what Ben does not realize as thief that his name is written in the BOOK OF LIFE, even before the earth was formed.... And like any other person whose name is in the Book of life, God starts His salvation ofn be by CALLING BEN TO HIMSLEF... This calling only does ONE THING... God gives Ben the Holy Spirit AS A LEADING SPIRIT... A Spirit that will reproof Ben EVERY TIME HE STEALS SOMETHING... So Ben the thief now suddenly are REALLY convinced that stealing is WRONG! IT is SIN! Now Ben musters up the courage as the Spirit LEADS ben in Truth to CONFESS His sin... Ben comes to us as church and ask... I have sinned but I am repenting... We pray for this sin is NOT UNTO DEATH, and we pray for Ben....


God says, if we pray for him God shall giv this man life.... ALL unrghteousness is sin... so this Stealing is sin, but God will give him life... a life where he will work with his hands that is good, and a life where he will earn enough to even sahre with the poor.
So this is what God does for BEN NOW.... GOD FORGIVES BEN HIS OLD LIFE... God will see that BEN GETS A WORK UNTO WHAT IS GOOD, and GOD WILL BLESS BEN IN THAT LIFE TO HAVE EANOUGH TO GIVE TO HIM THAT NEEDETH...

NOw Focus on this,,,, BEN IS NO LONGER A THIEF.... He is now a GOD BLESSED EX-THIEF THAT EARNS ENOUGH ON A WORK WHICH IS GOOD, TO GIVE TO THE NEEDY... From thief to GOOD HEART (Good LIFE) GIVER...


Now! Once BEN HAS TASTED THIS HEAVENLY POWER OVER SIN. THIS FORGIVENESS AND REMOVAL OF THIEVING LUSTS, BEN MAY NOT EVER STEAL AGAIN, NOT ONCE!!!! God did remove the sin as far as the East is of the West, but that can STILL be covered by a person. Ben CAN still sin at this stage.... Ben is only a SAINT now, not YET BORN OF GOD... So if ben sins now, he will commit sin unto death.... But if HE DOES NOT... Ben as a Saint, giving to poor and living a GODFEARING LIFE, God still does one more thing to BEN....God makes BEN IMMORTAL... Ben's Spirit and SOUL will be immotalizedd with the BAPTISM OF HOLY SPIRIT....


Now God makes Ben the Saint, unto a PERFECT MAN. Ben the non sinner has not YET have the knowledge of Jesus, not YET to the fulness of Jesus, the MEasure of Jesus and the SATATURE of Jesus... Now God gives BEN THIS PERFECT MAN IN CHRIST...
Born of God.. and they CANNOT SIN... almost like angels? Nope bigger than Angels... At this stage it is to the MEASURE OF THE FULNESS IN CHRIST...
I am convinced that is a person that is on this level of SALVATION, he is like the 1 John 3:9 people... THEY CANNOT SIN BECAUSE THEY ARE BORN OF GOD... Eph 4:11 to 13 expalins how ONE they are with God. Also John 17.

So it is somewhere between the SAintship and the FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, that some fall AWAY, and they do sin unto death ... It is when they are in THE HOLY SAINTSHIP, not yet PERFECT, and sin... Only SAints can do sin unto DEATH. No sinner was EVER a SAINT, but a SAINT THAT GOES SINNER AGAIN is a brother that does sin unto death to ALL SAINTS!

 

[T_Laurich]

John 3:36 "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

So someone who refuses to believe in the Lord Jesus will never be forgiven!

But wait a second, isn't blasphemy against the Holy Spirit the only unforgivable sin? That is what the Bible says, so a final rejection of the Lord Jesus and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit have to be the same sin or there would be TWO sins for which man would not be forgiven and there is only one!

let me put this in a analogy, if I drink a gallon of arsenic... I am going to die, there is nothing anyone can do about that, I am dead.... So lets say that is the unforgivable sin... Now lets say I get cancer but do not let the doctors treat me, I will surely die.. BUT I had a chance to live...

All John 3:36 is saying is if you refuse to let the doctor treat you, you will die...
But what the blaspheme against the spirit is saying is: if you drink arsenic no amount of doctors help will every save you... Because you killed yourself...

 

[nathan3]

Non of these scriptures cover what this is all about .I would not worry , its not something just anyone can do. And it really has nothing to do with the exchange with the scribes and phrases , that people connected it with. I know its in the same chapter as the exchange, but its not the only place its written . When you study those places, then you can see what it is. Ignorance is not bliss, if its causing people grief for no reason.

 

[JDecree]

My opinion:
I can only go by the surrounding context to determine what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is. That context is the jews claiming that Jesus was casting out devils by the power of satan. In essence they were attributing the work of the Holy Spirit of God to that of the evil one. My opinion is that they didn't do it out of sincerity, "testing the spirits" as it were...I *think* they knew exactly what Spirit it was and went against Him anyway. They knew it was of God.

Now naturally if someone doesn't believe before the end, they wont be forgiven. However I get the impression from the text that it is something they cant repent of. Like you've done it, that's it. No going back. We know however that people can and do repent of their unbelief in Christ, or we would all be lost.

So we test the spirits to see if they are from God.

But that's just like, my opinion, man.

 

[HeRoseFromTheDead]

Blasphemy of the holy spirit can only be done by those whom GOD has hardened the hearts of and turned over to satan. They will never be given repentance because they hardened their hearts to the point that GOD further hardened their hearts completely.

If a person fears blaspheming the holy spirit, they cannot possibly have done so because they fear being separated from GOD. That is the opposite of having a hard heart.

Some of the pharisees' hearts were so hard that they called good, evil. They called all of the healing that Jesus did demonic, and therefore evil. That takes a truly reprobate heart and mind. Those are the ones whom Jesus spoke the words about blasphemy of the holy spirit to; he also called them children of the devil. They were so far gone, GOD had hardened their hearts to the point that they were not be able to see.

 

[notuptome]

See here's where I'd be tempted to tell them they might be in trouble if they didn't speak out. Let's face it the Holy Spirit does not operate in contradiction with God's word. He only speaks of what He as heard from the Father. So if blasphemy is attributing to the Holy Spirit the works of the devil does it go both ways? Can it be sin to act or not to act? Sin by omission as well as commission? That's liable to spook a Pentecostal right out of his mind.

For the record I do not believe that a born again believer can commit the unpardonable sin. Only unsaved people with religious knowledge are able to commit that particular sin.

For the cause of Christ
Roger

 

[tono77]

I fear I had committed the unpardonable sin, because I attempted to speak in tongues in my own, ( I say in my own a bunch of non-sense tongue like words ). I imitated a gift of the Holy Spirit, and been very concern if whether that is or is not the unpardonable sin. Please help. I am really depressed. Blessings

 

[Delija]

When man alone take to interprete Bible on his weak shoulders,all sorts of nonsense falling on his mind...
If anyone want to speak about "Unforgivabe sin" first of all,man must know what mean "Blasemy against Holy Spirit"!
From this story,i can clearly see they have no idea what is it...

 

[summersunshine]

Charles Price Christ for Real amazing book which speaks about this very thing. Have peace you have not committed it. You could go to this link at present it shows a page from the book about the unpardonable sin. It will make sense when you read it and bring peace. You are under conviction so repent also remember the devil will accuse you in your mind.. it is his trick. I have been there. He will keep saying to you thats it its over for you. Its a lie. Get into the word and realise we are all sinners saved by grace we can do no good thing, it is about Christ in us. Let go of trying and realise you cannot be good.. only by the grace of God... let him take control and spend time knowing him... and all he has done. Christ for Real: How to Grow Into God's Likeness - Charles W. Price - Google Books Go to this link on amazon and the page should be there to read. But get the book... The pastor is english but in Canada now. Peoples church.

 

[Eva1218]

Mar 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
Mar 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

Blessings!!!!!!!

 

[summersunshine]

The unforgivable sin is about being Anti Christ.

 

[Eva1218]

Luk 12:10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.

Blessings!!!!!!!

 

[summersunshine]

“I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mk 3:28-29)
Although many fear that they have done unforgiveable things, Jesus clearly said that there is only one unforgiveable sin, and that is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to blaspheme someone? You might have heard that it is taking the Lord’s Name in vain, but that doesn’t fully capture the meaning of blasphemy. In the original Greek, the words blasphemy (Mt 12:32) and blaspheme (Mk 3:28) mean to slander or to speak falsely of someone in a manner than injures their good name. When people accused Paul of preaching grace as a license to sin, he said their reports were blasphemous, or slanderous (Rm 3:8). In other words, the reports were false and injurious to his reputation and message.
Jesus’ warning about not slandering the Holy Spirit is reported in three gospels (Mt 12:32, Mk 3:29, Lk 12:10). In two of those accounts the warning comes after Jesus had been driving out demons “by the Spirit of God” (Mt 12:28). But the Pharisees and law teachers thought Jesus’ power came from Satan. “By the prince of demons he is driving out demons” (Mk3:22). In other words, they were giving the devil credit for work done by the Holy Spirit. I would say that is fairly slanderous! In Luke’s account the context is a little different. This time Jesus was preaching to a crowd of “many thousands” when He gave them this famous couplet:
“I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” (Lk 12:8-9)
Right there you have a baseball bat for whacking every single believer who has been cowardly in their witness. Well, you would, if Jesus didn’t immediately follow up with this:
“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Lk 12:10)
What are the forgiven sins?

Peters of the world be encouraged! Peter disowned Jesus before men but Jesus declares of him, “he’s forgiven!” When Jesus warned us about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, He made it clear that the sin of speaking a bad word against the Son of Man, like all sins and blasphemies, will be forgiven. If you grew up cursing God, be assured that this sin – along with all your sins and blasphemies – was indeed forgiven when Jesus went to the cross (Col 2:13). You may have cursed God, but He has blessed you! How? By removing your sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12).
People sometimes ask me, why do you grace preachers say all our sins are forgiven? The answer is, because Jesus said so! This is the Good News and either you take Him at His word or you don’t. You are not forgiven because of anything you’ve done but in accordance with the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). But just because you’re forgiven, it doesn’t follow that you’re saved. Grace is ineffective unless it’s matched with faith (Eph 2:8). And this brings us to…
The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
As we have seen, to blaspheme someone is to slander or speak falsely about them. To understand what it means to speak falsely of the Holy Spirit, we must first discover what is true about Him and His ministry. Jesus tells us:
“When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness andjudgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (Jn 16:8-11)
Before He died, Jesus said that His blood would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins (Mt 26:28). If all the sins and blasphemies of men were forgiven at the cross, there’s only one sin the Holy Spirit can convict you of: “in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” Do you believe that you have been eternally redeemed through the blood of Jesus (He 9:12)? Do you believe the Spirit-inspired scriptures when they declare that Jesus’ sacrifice has done away with sin once and for all (He 9:26)? If not, you are resisting His conviction and calling Him a liar. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but the stakes are enormous. If you think you must do things like confess and repent from your sins in order to get what Christ has freely given, then you are denying Him and His finished work. You are walking after the flesh and slandering the Spirit. What’s the solution? Jesus tells us: “repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15)!Biblical confession means agreeing with the Holy Spirit about your sins (1 Jn 1:9). Although you were completely and eternally forgiven 2000 years ago, you will not experience that forgiveness until you say “yes!” to Jesus.
Jesus also said, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and law-teachers, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). Writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul declared that the gospel reveals a righteousness from God, a gift that is received by faith from first to last (Rms 1:17). You are not righteous because of anything you’ve done, but because of everything He’s done. On the cross Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness (2 Co 5:21). In Christ you are as righteous as He is (1 Co 1:30). The second aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to convict you of your righteousness. If you believe Him you will look at yourself in the mirror and confidently declare, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!”

The third aspect of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is that He will seek to utterly convince you that the prince of this world is condemned. You are not condemned, Satan is. If you are responsive to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, you will confidently declare, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” You will ask with wonder, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” With a firm revelation of the Father’s love for you – revealed through the Son and affirmed in your heart by the Spirit – you will have no fear of punishment (1 Jn 4:18). You won’t wonder whether God gives and takes away and you won’t view natural disasters as divine judgments. Instead of confessing your sins you will boldly confess your sonship and lay claim to all the rights of intimacy and inheritance that come with that (Gal 4:7).
The Holy Spirit must be the most misunderstood Person in the Bible. I plan to write more about the Him and His ministry over Easter. But to answer the question at the top of this post – what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? – it is refusing to believe the Holy Spirit’s testimony regarding the grace of God revealed through Jesus Christ. In a word, it is unbelief. Unbelief may manifest in a hard heart or in a religious spirit that confuses the devil’s work with the Lord’s. In either case, to resist the Holy Spirit is to trample the Son of God underfoot and treat as unholy the blood of the new covenant that sanctifies us. It is slanderous and insulting to the Spirit of grace who seeks to convince us – through the written word and revelation – that Jesus is true, you are forgiven, and He now offers you the free gift of His righteousness.
As we will see in the coming posts, the Holy Spirit is not some Divine Policeman in the sky with a great big whacking stick. He’s actually the most awesome, powerful, and wonderful Being in the universe. And He is absolutely committed to your success in Christ! What is the Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? – Escape to Reality

 

[The_highwayman]

Just some thoughts about this topic...
We know Jesus said that Blaspheming the Holy Ghost was the unpardonable sin, when the Pharisees accused him of casting out the devil by the power of the devil.

Here are some thoughts....

How would the Pharisee's even understand the term Holy Ghost, since the Holy Ghost had not been given yet, because Jesus had not gone away?

What is Jesus really saying? I believe without question Jesus was saying to them, you said I do things of the devil, so you don't believe in the Spirit of God or the Holy Ghost.

The message to us: Simple, Blaspheming the Holy Ghost or the works he does through people is to be under the spirit of UNBELIEF. The spirit of UNBELIEF is detestable to God and goes back to the very root of idolatry. UNBELIEF is just as bad or on the same lines as Idol worship. You don't believe in the one true God, but another god.

Blaspheming the Holy Ghost and his power, essentially means you don't believe that Jesus ever rose again, which simply means you don't have any belief in the redemptive work of the cross, Jesus completed.

Rom 8.1 says:
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

SO if you don't believe in the ministry, work and the Holy Ghost as part of the triune Godhead, then you are being controlled by the spirit of antichrist. Antichrist is anything thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Hebrews 6 tells us, even a born again believer can commit this sin.

Hebrews 6.4-8
[SUP]4 [/SUP]For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
[SUP]5 [/SUP]And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
[SUP]6 [/SUP]If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
[SUP]8 [/SUP]But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

So to recap, UNBELIEF is the unpardonable sin. This is also why re-dedicating your life back to Christ is a sham. You cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom. You are either ALL in or ALL out...

 

[Delija]

According to St John Chrysostom in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, the reason blasphemy against the Son of Man is forgiven while that of the Holy Spirit is not is because the Jews knew nothing of the Son of Man, who He might be, but they had ample experience of the Holy Spirit through the words and signs of the Prophets and all in the Old Testament had a high notion of Him. If one is thus at first offended that God has taken on human flesh, then this is pardonable. But throughout the Scriptures the Holy Spirit was amply revealed, and since the Jews of Jesus' time could not discern the same Holy Spirit that the Prophets revealed in the words of Jesus who is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, then they will not be forgiven. On top of that Jesus was casting out devils and working cures among the people in the power of the Holy Spirit and even raising the dead like the Prophets before Him, and they still could not discern that it was the same Holy Spirit doing these things that did them through the Prophets before Him. Instead in their depravity they called the works of the Holy Spirit a product of Satan. This cannot be forgiven. As St. Athanasius the Great says: "The Savior while before He rebuked them for many sins exhorted them to repent; yet when they said, 'He casts out devils by Beelzebub,' He speaks of this no longer as a sin, but as blasphemy so great, that on those who dared this, punishment must come, without escape or pardon." Furthermore, St. Basil the Great explains that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is to attribute His operations to the opposite spirit. He says that this is done by attributing any gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the Saints as being from the devil. And the condemnation of the Jews is worsened over the fact that the Gentiles were able to discern the Holy Spirit through the teaching and miracles of the Apostles while these teachers of the Law could not discern Him.

 

[Delija]

This also applies today when someone accepts the Old Testament but does not receive the New. It also applies to those who accept both the Old and New Testament but do not accept the Saints or the Holy Mysteries. Thus all heresy is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. St. Symeon the New Theologian explains this in his sermon titled Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit. He further declares that this condemnation comes upon all those who deny that the gifts of the Holy Spirit continue always within the Church. Yet St. Symeon goes to great lengths, as do all the Fathers, to explain that it is always possible to draw near to God through repentance. For such, no sin is unforgivable nor eternal. Stubbornness in one's heresy is unforgivable.