The Unpardonable Sin and Judgment of Sinful Speech

(Matthew 12:22-37, Mark 3:20-35 & Luke 12:10)

This interpretation follows the passage in Matthew 12:22–37. You will want to have a Bible with
you to follow along with this interpretation.
The idea of an unpardonable sin is a terrifying one, and the Bible does speak of an
unpardonable sin. However, I want to comfort you by saying if you are worried you committed
this unpardonable sin or will commit it, that is proof you haven’t! The unpardonable sin in
question is rejecting Jesus as Savior until death, and I will go through the passage about this sin
from the book of Matthew to clear up any confusion on the matter.
The first thing to look at is what the book of Matthew says about salvation by grace
through faith in Christ. Matthew uses a special expression to talk about faith in Christ; this
expression is “the will of the Father.” This expression appears multiple times throughout the
Christian books of the Bible, and it means to have faith in Jesus. John makes this clear in his
book.
“38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who
sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given
me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the
Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John
6:38-40 NIV).
With this knowledge we can see what Matthew has to say about salvation through faith in
Jesus. Matthew teaches that everyone who doesn’t do the will of the Father (those who don’t
believe in Jesus) won’t be saved (Matthew 7:17-23). Matthew goes on to teach that everyone
who does the will of the Father (those who believe in Jesus) will be saved (Matthew 12:46-50).
These two promises can be simplified into the following easy to understand verse from the book
of John.
“18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
(John 3:18 NIV).
The second thing to look at is what the Bible says about spiritual fruit. The term “spiritual
fruit” is used to describe the character and works that stem from what is in a person’s heart. In
this passage, Jesus divides people into two categories. He likens people to good trees that bear
good fruit, and bad trees that bear bad fruit. As with the will of the Father, it is helpful to find a
clear teaching on what makes a person a good tree or bad tree, and John gives us this clear
teaching in his book.

“’27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the
Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’ 28 Then
they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ 29 Jesus answered, ‘The work
of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’” (John 6:27-29 NIV).

“5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear
much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NIV).
As a person abides in Christ through faith, The Holy Spirit expresses His character
through that person and teaches them how to be a better person (Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Corinthians
3:12-18). This reality is further emphasized by the fact that Jesus focused more on the hearts of
His listeners than what they said. People with good hearts, those who believe in Jesus, speak
reverent words out of their believing hearts, while people with bad hearts, those who don’t
believe in Jesus, speak irreverent words out of their unbelieving hearts (Matthew 7:17-23,
Matthew 12:46-50, John 6:38-40, John 15:1-5).
Having established that the message of salvation by grace through faith is in the book of
Matthew, we can look at Jesus’s words about sins that will be forgiven, and the sin that won’t be
forgiven. Jesus teaches that “every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven.” Since we know that
Matthew contains the Bible’s message of salvation, we can take that promise literally. Mark
shares the same promise by saying “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and
every slander they utter” (Mark 3:28 NIV). If everyone who believes in Jesus will be saved, that
means all sins are forgivable. If that weren’t so, Jesus couldn’t have given us the promise that a
saved person can’t lose their salvation (John 10:27-29, John 14:16-17, Ephesians 1:13-14,
Hebrews 13:5, 2 Timothy 2:13, 1 John 3:19-20).
The obvious question this raises is if all sins are forgivable, what is the unpardonable sin?
Before talking about the unpardonable sin, the local religious leaders who were against Jesus
said the miracles He performed through the power of the Holy Spirit were done by demons.
Jesus then warns the religious leaders against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and tells them
blaspheming the Holy Spirit is an unpardonable sin. With this warning by itself, we don’t have
enough information to know what Jesus meant when He talked about blaspheming the Holy
Spirit. Thankfully, Matthew’s book gives us what we need to know to understand this warning.
The first teaching appears after the comments of the religious leaders, and before Jesus’s
warning about blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
“28But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has
come upon you” (Matthew 12:28 NIV).
The reason Jesus refers to unbelief as blaspheming the Holy Spirit is because Jesus
performed His miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. The miracles the Holy Spirit
performed were done to prove that Jesus is who He said He is (the Son of God, Savior of the
world, and Lord), and prove His promises about salvation can be trusted (John 4:48, John 5:36,
John 9:1-5, John 10:25, John 10:37-38, John 14:11, John 15:24). If a person rejects Jesus, they
not only reject Him, they also reject the works of the Holy Spirit that prove Jesus spoke the truth
about Himself and salvation. For this reason, Jesus uses this specific opportunity to refer to
unbelief as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And if a person doesn’t believe in Jesus, they have
committed an unpardonable sin by refusing God’s forgiveness for all of their sins.
 Matthew’s book confirms that the unpardonable sin is unbelief at the end of Jesus’s
warning.

“46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside,
wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside,
wanting to speak to you.’
48 He replied to him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ 49 Pointing to his
disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my
Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Matthew 12:46-50 NIV)

By capping off His warning about blaspheming the Holy Spirit by talking about doing the
will of the Father (believing in Jesus), Jesus was making the point that He was talking about our
need for faith the whole time.
The second part of Jesus’s warning about speaking against the Holy Spirit is acting on the
unbelief in a person’s heart by speaking against the ministry of Jesus that was validated by the
works of the Holy Spirit (John 3:18, John 15:5). Jesus drives this point home in verses 12:34-35
by saying the real problem with the religious leaders was what was in their hearts, and not what
they said. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have made the effort to convince the religious leaders to
change. Even though they made a sinful comment, they hadn’t fallen so far that they could never
be forgiven.
If you read about the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the book of Mark or the book
of Luke, you may still have unanswered questions that make you uneasy. Luke mentions the sin
of blaspheming the Holy Spirit without giving an explanation of what it is. Mark presents this sin
with an explanation of what it is, but that explanation can be hard to follow. Below are the key
verses for Mark’s explanation of the unpardonable sin.

“20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples
were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him,
for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’ 22 And the teachers of the law who came down from
Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out
demons.’…

[Jesus said] ’28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander
they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are
guilty of an eternal sin.’ 30 He said this because they were saying, ‘He has an impure spirit.’
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to
call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are
outside looking for you.’ 33 ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked. 34 Then he looked at
those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever
does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Mark 3:20-22, 28-35 NIV).
 In Mark’s passage about blaspheming the Holy Spirit, we see the message of salvation by
grace through faith in Jesus the same way we see it in the book of Matthew. In Mark’s passage,
Jesus makes a comparison between His biological family members who didn’t believe in Him,
and the crowd of unrelated people who did believe in Him (those who were doing the will of the
Father), by saying those who believe in Him are the true members of His spiritual family. But
this teaching is easy to miss, because Mark focused on the words of the religious leaders in verse
3:28-30. That is why I focused on this teaching from the book of Matthew.
The books of Matthew and Luke have a special connection to the book of Mark, because
both books are based on Mark. Matthew and Luke both took the book of Mark, and used it as an
outline for their books. They took Mark and added stories that weren’t in it, added teachings that
weren’t in it, and added details to it to capture greater meaning. When Matthew wrote his
account of Jesus’s warning against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, he added details to make what
Mark wrote clearer. The warnings from both Matthew and Mark end with Jesus saying His
spiritual family is made up of those who believe in Him (those who do the will of the Father), but
Matthew adds details to clear up misunderstandings people may have with Mark 3:28-30.
Matthew writes that the real problem with the comments the religious made is they reflect the
unbelief in their hearts. By clearing up any misunderstandings those who read the book of Mark
may have about Mark 3:28-30, we can clearly see that in both the book of Matthew and the book
of Mark, the unpardonable sin is unbelief.
It is also important to keep in mind that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the only books in
the Bible that talk about the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The rest of the
Christian books in the Bible repeatedly and consistently teach that all of those who have faith in
Jesus will be saved, and there is no sin God won’t forgive.
If all of this isn’t enough to feel secure about your relationship with God, the Bible gives
various signs a person can look at to be sure they are a saved. Jesus teaches in John 7:17 that
anyone who chooses to do the will of God (believe in Jesus) will know whether or not He is
telling the truth about Himself and His promises about salvation. This is so, because anyone who
believes in Jesus will see their life change in ways the Bible promises it will change. One change
is you feel aware of God’s presence and love in special ways you didn’t before you came to
Christ (1 John 4:13, Romans 8:15-16, Romans 14:17). Another change is God disciplines you
like a parent does their child (Hebrews 12:5-11). This discipline includes doing things to turn
you away from sinful behaviors when you need correction, and doing things in your life to grow
you into a better person. Another change is seeing God’s work in your everyday life (Romans
8:28-29). If you look at your day-to-day life, and see that God is using everything to give you
stronger faith, grow you into a better person, and move you forward in life, that is evidence you
are saved. Another change is that God answers your prayers (John 9:30-33, 1 John 3:21-23). The
Bible teaches that prayer is a privilege God only gives to those who are saved, and if you have
seen God answer prayers in your life, even if He didn’t answer them the way you asked, that is a
sign of your salvation. Another evidence of salvation I find slightly humorous is if you even have
the desire to be saved through faith in Jesus, that is a sign you are on the right path (John 6:35-
40, Matthew 11:27-30).
 Some of these things you won’t experience all of the time. You won’t always be aware of
God’s love and feel it in your heart. Some of these things you won’t be aware of all the time.
You won’t always be aware of God working in your life to build you into a better person, and
you won’t always be aware of God working in your life to answer your prayers. But if you catch
glimpses of these works of God in your life, hold onto them when you worry about where you
stand with God. Something else to hold onto is the promise of Jesus that nobody who is saved
will be lost again (John 10:27-29, John 14:16-17, Ephesians 1:13-14, Hebrews 13:5, 2 Timothy
2:13, 1 John 3:19-20). This means if you are confident you are saved today, you will be still be
saved tomorrow, and any day after that. It is also important to keep in mind that salvation is a
gift God chooses to give us, and if He decides to give someone the gift of salvation, there is
nothing the person receiving that gift can do to lose it (Ephesians 1:3-11, 1 Corinthians 2:9-12,
Romans 8:31-34).
After everything we just learned about Jesus’s warning against blaspheming the Holy
Spirit from the book of Matthew, we come to the warning in verses 12:36-37 about God judging
every empty word we say. This warning is a continuation of Jesus’s warning against
blaspheming the Holy Spirit. People who are condemned because of the unbelief in their hearts
will deny the ministry of Jesus out of that unbelief, while people who are saved by grace through
faith in Jesus speak reverent words out of their believing hearts. These two warnings were placed
next to each other, because verses 12:36-37 are a continuation of verses 12:22-35.

Bibliography
Holy Bible: New International Version. Zondervan, 2018.