Home Pastors Articles for Pastors Can a Christian Blaspheme the Holy Spirit?

Can a Christian Blaspheme the Holy Spirit?

Here is the key phrase: It is a “state [of] willful, determined opposition to the present power of the Holy Spirit.” And then he gives, as one of those other places in the New Testament, 1 John 5:16, which says, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; and I do not say that one should pray for that.” This is not “there is a sin that leads to death,” but “there is sin.” That is the way it should be translated. “There is sinning.” There is a kind of willful, determined, settled opposition to God and his Spirit.

Blasphemy Against the Spirit

So, here are my answers to the two questions:

1. Can a true believer, whose salvation is eternally secure in Christ, still be guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit?

No. Because I think the meaning of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as Alford says is a willful, determined opposition to the present power of the Holy Spirit. And Christians cannot commit that kind of sin. They don’t settle in like that with a settled, determined, willful opposition.

Christians can commit all kinds of sin, but what marks a Christian is they don’t settle in long term. They hate it and they repent from it. They feel bad about it. They turn to God for fresh forgiveness. So no, a Christian cannot commit what Jesus calls blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Grieving the Spirit

2. Is blasphemy of the Spirit the same as grieving the Spirit?

No. They are not the same, and you can see the difference in Ephesians 4:29–31 where Paul says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.”

So two things. One, when we grieve the Holy Spirit, Paul says, we are grieving the one who has sealed us for the day of redemption, which means that, in the very same breath as saying you can grieve him, he is saying: You are secure. You are sealed. He will not break that seal. He has got you, and he is keeping you for the day of redemption.

And the other thing to notice is specifically what it is that does grieve him: What grieves him is bitterness and wrath and anger against other people. These are the things that Christians do and regret doing and have to repent of doing and ask forgiveness for doing, and that very repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit in great mercy to awaken the children of God to repentance so that we will make it to the day of redemption.