“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
For some strange reason the first part of this long statement is usually passed over in our quest to understand the definition of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. In our negative focus we ignore the fact that "all sins will be forgiven" as well as "blasphemies they utter". All and whatever - these sweeping affirmations take my breath away. This is the good news of Jesus Christ. All murders.. every rape.. even tortures can be forgiven by our gracious Lord.
Some believe, because of the context, that the unforgivable sin is limited to a person who says that Jesus had a demon. I think that the sin is much larger in scope. When I think about how a person can reject the convicting presence of God's Spirit I have to believe that this rejection is the sin that will not be forgiven. Blasphemy is not merely an utterance against God. Blasphemy is much more serious because it is a rejection by the heart.
I rejoice that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven when our heart responds to You.
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I would agree that blaspheme of the Holy Spirit means rejecting God's gift of salvation. I am always suspicious of important ideas that are found only in a few places in Scripture and cannot be found anywhere else.
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