5 Things You’re Misunderstanding about the Unforgivable Sin

1. The Unforgivable Sin Is Saying Christ’s Name as a Swear Word

Blasphémia is “slander, defamation, reviling” according to Strong’s Concordance. One could blaspheme God or another person, suggesting one’s intention is critical. The intention of blasphemy is to negatively affect the reputation of an individual or of God. For this reason, within the Jewish context at the time of Christ’s ministry, disrespecting God’s name was punishable by death. “It was seen as a direct affront to God's holiness and authority.” But does crying out “Jesus Christ!” and “Oh my God!” constitute an unforgivable sin according to this definition of blasphémia?

For one who does not believe in God anyway, the intention might or might not be to disrespect him. If one is an atheist, he or she is arguably incapable of intending to insult the One who is supposedly a fantasy. Then again, many avowed “atheists” are really railing at a God they believe to exist, but they do not know or understand him. In a sense, their “blasphemy” is really a clue as to the true nature of their thoughts and feelings about God. It is an open door, not a closed one.

Besides, one can actually call on the name of the Lord by shouting “Jesus Christ!” It might sound like swearing, but is in fact an utterance of desperation: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Christians can be sensitive to these declarations and, instead of believing the worst about the speaker, take the opportunity to turn that supposedly offensive declaration into the start of a conversation.

2. Jesus, Blasphemy, and His Identity

“The scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” (Luke 5:21). In their eyes, Jesus was a blasphemer because he healed people and forgave them. He did not use bad language; he made big claims.

Another meaning of blasphemy, coming from Romans 1:25, is to replace truth with lies. In their eyes, Jesus was saying I am God because he did what only God could do: forgive sins. Blasphemy had to do with spiritual deception, such as leading people astray. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). The Pharisees believed Jesus was intentionally trying to deceive people into following him as Christ, their Savior.

They were right and they were wrong; Christ was intentional, but he was not deceiving anyone. In fact, his supposedly blasphemous statements of forgiveness point to his true identity, as was his intention. “It’s one thing to suppose that Jesus is out of his mind (his family fears as much at this early stage, Mark 3:21)”, says David Mathis. If he was deeply deluded about himself, Christ would not be a blasphemer, but one who required the care and attention of compassionate experts. However, Jesus was fully in command of his faculties and he was forgiving sins, which only God can do. He was making claims about himself which the Pharisees would have celebrated had their hearts been soft towards the God they worshiped.

3. Religious People Do Not Blaspheme

With the benefit of hindsight, we know that Jesus was and is our Lord and Savior, the Christ. Why, then, did the religious leaders declare that Jesus had “an unclean spirit” (Mark 3:30)? They were saying that Christ was possessed by a demon or he was a demon.

Remember C.S. Lewis’ challenge: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.” The Pharisees and Scribes were, at least, clear about which of these they believed to be true.

Says Mathis, these Jewish leaders “attribute[d] the work of God’s Spirit to the devil”; they saw the miraculous work of Jesus, but were “haunted by it in a callous heart, and turn[ed] to delude others by ascribing the Spirit’s work to Satan.” The Pharisees were leading others away from Christ by calling him a blasphemer, when they themselves were the ones guilty of blasphemy.

Jesus called them to repent. Their reaction to him, explains Mathis, “evidences such a profound hardness of heart [...] that they should fear they are on the brink of eternal ruin — if it’s not already too late.” They not only believed he was a liar, but they were leading others away from him too. This made their sin considerably more grievous. They were committing blasphemy.

4. There Is No Going Back

“Jesus does not necessarily declare that the scribes are already condemned, but he warns them gravely of their precarious position.” Mathis points out that this is a warning to the religious men, and to all men whose hearts are hard. They are headed for eternity apart from God, headed for Hell, but they can also turn (repent) and believe by faith. Their problem is unrepentance, and until they acknowledge their sin, repentance is impossible. This is where the religious leaders had such a difficult time, because they believed they did not need God himself but were saved by keeping his law. Keeping the law is important, and there were consequences for disobedience: “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me” (Deuteronomy 28:20). These curses befell Israel.

However, Israel repeatedly experienced redemption after they repented. Their periods of punishment followed by restoration foreshadow our experiences as Christians, who disobey regularly, but who are invited to repent and come home.

The Lord is not looking for heartless obedience. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The Pharisees did not see that the law exists because of sin, and they were sinners in need of a Savior. They also failed to see that a changed heart will not blaspheme but might have blasphemed. It is one thing to meet Christ and be saved, and another to go on as we were before, doing what we always did; sinning as though there are no eternal consequences. Some law-keepers have no idea that they are far from God.

5. Blasphemy Is Dramatic and Obvious

Christians might enter a period of doubt, confusion, or anger towards God and fall into the trap of denying him entirely. Their ideas about God changed slowly. Perhaps today they still call themselves Christians but argue that God never said this or that thing which they have trouble agreeing with and which made their former, Bible-centered beliefs unpopular.

They dislike Scriptural declarations about gender identity, marriage, or abortion, so they try to redefine what God said according to socially acceptable ideas. They decide to walk away from the true God (big “G”) in favor of a god (small “g”) who gives them what they want, although any being who will let his subjects rule him is no god at all, but a genie, a subject rather than a king.

These individuals frequently slide slowly into apostasy, challenging Jesus’ teaching and taking it out of context, one precept at a time. They read the Bible less and less, turn to the works of psychologists, self-help gurus, atheists, or other religious leaders, and pore over their ideas about God instead of hearing from him. Their favorite podcast hosts and influencers become functional deities, stressing that there are many ways to god, and sin does not exist. There is no hell.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). God has not changed his mind, but our minds are changeable. Slowly, these individuals walk away. This is the unforgivable sin: to reject God’s status in our lives, as the irrefutable authority, King, and Savior; to deny our need for him; and to lead others astray too. It is to be hardened and unrepentant, even when that hardness appears soft, kind, and civilized. Pastors can slip into this position, committing blasphemy from the pulpit, and they frequently do.

Be Transformed

Bradley Green assures us that “we see throughout Scripture that we are yet commanded to ‘be transformed by the renewal of your mind…’ (Rom. 12:2). ...Our initial repentance marks the beginning of a life of transformation that will culminate only in final glorification.”

Saying God’s name in vain, as a swear word or a mindless utterance, demonstrates the state of one’s heart. If God is King in a person’s heart, saying his name will happen naturally, but not as an expletive. Be aware of how others perceive what you are saying. One’s attitude towards Christ helps to reflect the truth about who he is; it is a part of our ministry. We can blaspheme without saying God’s name at all, but by reflecting a distorted picture of him and his teachings. To regard him with apathy and to disobey him is to portray Jesus as nothing special, which can lead others astray, and is a form of blasphemy.

A believers’ faith is most compelling when it is portrayed in their love, reverence, awe, and obedience towards their Savior and King.

Read more here: What Is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and Is This Sin Unforgivable?

Sources
https://biblehub.com/greek/988.htm
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin
https://www.lewisquotes.com/quotations/jesus/jesus-lord-liar-or-lunatic.html
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/repentance/