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As many of my longtime friends will know, when it comes to understanding and interpreting the Bible, I go strictly by the Holy Scriptures. After all, allowing the Scriptures to interpret themselves as much as possible is the safest way to go, and will hopefully guard us from deception, and keep us safe from misunderstanding anything. Exactly what Jesus meant by blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is a topic which has been debated by theologians and other Christians for a rather long time. In this short article I will present my personal thoughts regarding this intriguing subject. Let me first begin by sharing with you the New Testament verses where this particular phrase is mentioned:

"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."


"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: Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit."


The first thing that I would like to call to your attention is the fact that Jesus clearly said that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the only unforgivable sin. That being the case, I must assume that it also means that it is likewise the greatest sin. Considering how serious of a sin it is, I am sure that you can understand how important it is that we strive to understand exactly what blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is. After all, none of us want to be found guilty of committing such a terrible sin, do we?

To begin with, I believe that Jesus offers us a big clue when He states that sins against Himself will be forgiven, while the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost will never ever be forgiven. So what does that tell us? In my view, it tells us that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost must signify sinning against something even greater than Jesus himself. So who or what is greater than Jesus? Personally, from my knowledge of the Scriptures, I can only conclude that there is one answer to this question, and Jesus provides us with that answer in the following verse:

"Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I."


We can deduce then that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost must therefore signify some kind of grave sin against God the Father himself. As I have pointed out a number of times before, I am personally convinced that the Holy Ghost -- or Holy Spirit -- is an extension of God the Father. It is an extension of His spiritual essence. You may recall that in John chapter four, while speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, Jesus told her that God is a Spirit, and that He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, as we see by the following two verses:

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. GOD IS A SPIRIT: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."


Not only is God the Father a Spirit, He is also pure truth, and from Him emanates pure truth. Thus Jesus likewise said the following in the Gospel of John:

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, he shall testify of me:"


Jesus tells us right there that the Spirit of Truth comes from the Father. In my mind, this can only be because God the Father is the very Spirit of Truth. So as I said, this has led me to believe that the Holy Spirit -- or the Holy Ghost -- is His very essence which flows from Him. Here are some additional related verses:

"This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because THE SPIRIT IS TRUTH."


"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you . . . But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."


"Howbeit when he, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."


"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."


Directly related to the previous group of verses is the fact that Jesus also said that He is the truth, as we can confirm by the following verse:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."


So the question is this: How and why could Jesus say that? Quite simply, because He came from the Father, and He was a reflection of the Father during His time on the Earth. But that is not all. We also know from the Scriptures that the Spirit of God the Father dwelt in Jesus without measure -- that is to say, in all its fulness -- as the following Bible verses clearly inform us:

"For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him."


"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;"


"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."


So the next question then is how this all relates to the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. In my view, it is quite simple. We have seen that God is the Spirit of truth. Or if that is too hard for you to accept, then at the very least, the Spirit of Truth -- the Holy Spirit -- proceeds from Him exactly as Jesus said. That being the case, what could be the worst thing that can be said against Him? In my view, it would be to call God the Father a liar.

In other words, if a person calls God a liar and His Word a lie, he is blaspheming against God, and blaspheming against the Holy Ghost; because if there is one thing we all should know as Christians, it is that God does NOT lie. Here again are some Bible verses to confirm this point:

"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"


"He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."


"Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth."


"That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes."


"God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."


"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;"


So, to reiterate my main point, in my view, to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost is to call God the Father a liar. But that leads us to our next important question: Accuse God the Father of being a liar regarding what exactly? I'm convinced by the Scriptures that it is calling God the Father a liar regarding the testimony which He gave concerning His Son. If you don't know what I am talking about, consider this group of verses:

"And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."


"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."


"And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."


"And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."


"Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes."


"For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."


Thus, as you can plainly see, on multiple occasions in the Gospels, God the Father gave testimony that Jesus was -- and is -- His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. So to deny that Jesus is the Son of God, and to outright deny that He came in the flesh in order to die for the sins of the world, is in fact to call God the Father a liar. It is to blaspheme against Him. It is also to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, which is the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the Father. In his first Epistle, the Apostle John in fact informs us quite clearly that any individual who does this is both a liar and an antichrist, as we can determine by the following set of verses:

"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."


"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son."


"If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."


Taking this truth a step further, in the Book of Daniel, as well as in the Book of Revelation, we are informed that the Devil-inspired Beast blasphemes against God. He calls God a liar and blasphemes His name, as we see by the following set of verses :

"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."


"And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done."


"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."


You will recall that the Lord clearly said that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the only unpardonable sin. That being the case, it should come as no surprise then exactly where the Beast and the False Prophet end up. Furthermore, that is where Satan ends up as well, because as we all know, he is the Father of Lies. Please consider these verses:

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."


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


"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."


Sadly, they are not the only ones who are refused entry into God great Heavenly City, New Jerusalem, and/or who are cast into the Lake of Fire. If you are one who denies the truth of the Scriptures, who calls God a liar and His Word a lie, and who scoffs at the testimony God gave concerning Jesus Christ, His Son, you will likewise meet a terrible and tragic fate. Consider what the following verses say regarding liars and repent now of your unbelief:

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, AND ALL LIARS, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death . . . And there shall in no wise enter into it [God's City] any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, OR MAKETH A LIE: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."


"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, AND WHOSOEVER LOVETH AND MAKETH A LIE."


This then is my personal understanding regarding what it means to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. I believe that I have provided you with a solid, Scripture-based explanation. However, as always, I leave it up to you to decide whether or not you agree with my understanding.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

A Treasure in Earthen Vessels: God's Promise of the Spirit
Are the Gifts of the Spirit for Today?
Are You Saved and Sealed and Healed and Filled?
Holy Ghost: The Spirit of Jesus Christ?
Mechanics of the Spirit
Was Jesus Filled With the Holy Spirit from Birth?

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