What Makes the Holy Spirit Holy?
A Reflection on Love, Judgment, and Eternal Life
C. Gourgey, Ph.D.
Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.
Mark 3:28-29
The Problem of the Unforgivable Sin
This is without a doubt one of the most puzzling passages in the New Testament. First, it seems extremely harsh, and the wording in Matthew is harsher still: “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32). Jesus taught about forgiveness. How can there be an unforgiveable sin? But even more than that, why is it pardonable to blaspheme God but not the Holy Spirit? What is so special about the Holy Spirit?
One reason confusion arises on contemplating this passage is that we try to understand it in terms of classical Trinitarian theology. The tendency is to think of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate entities, all divine and supposedly equal, but with preference here given to just one of the three. Why elevate the Spirit over the Father and the Son in this way?
We have to remember that the doctrine of the Trinity does not come from the New Testament. Of course the biblical text does mention the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but not as classical theology would have it, three distinct yet equal “persons.” The doctrine of the Trinity as we know it, that God is one “essence” in three “persons,” is foreign to the New Testament. It evolved gradually and was not formally articulated until the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople roughly three hundred years after the New Testament texts were written. In terms of this doctrine, the biblical passage makes no sense. It sounds like one member of the Trinity is being placed above the others.
The vocabulary of the Trinitarian doctrine is confusing, and we have to be careful when using it. “Three persons in one Godhead” sounds like three separate Gods somehow living together. Indeed, modern interpretations of the Trinity, as three separate divine beings bound together in mutual love, certainly make it sound that way. So why is offending two of these beings no big deal while offending the third is a mortal sin? We need a different way of thinking about it.
Understanding the Spirit
The best way of thinking about it, I believe, is that the three Trinitarian designations are not different Gods, but neither are they identical and interchangeable. Rather, they are three ways in which God can be known. One might also say they are three different aspects of God.
God has many different ways of becoming known. Let’s take a close look at the Holy Spirit to see what in fact the Bible does mean. Once we’ve done that, we can consider how the three relate to one another. Here are some key passages:
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me. (Psalm 51:11)
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth. (John 14:16-17)
When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
These passages describe the Holy Spirit as that aspect of God making direct contact with human beings, forming part of our experience. Here’s what else we know about the Holy Spirit:
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)
The holy spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:12)
No prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (2 Peter 1:21)
The Holy Spirit teaches, guides, and inspires us. It is a divine presence animating everything we say or do that serves eternal life. That includes teaching and prophecy. It also includes artistic expression. Art and music can carry the divine presence in ways healing to others. The Holy Spirit appears in the smallest of ways, usually not in grand gestures or heroic acts. In our day-to-day lives, it may lie behind acts of kindness performed in love, even the smallest ones, like a smile or simple word toward someone who has helped us or who needs our help, making that person feel even a little more loved.
Finally, here is the Holy Spirit at its essence:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)
The Holy Spirit connects us to God’s essence, which is love. It lets us know that we are eternally loved. It can give our lives direction, if we follow it. Above all, it inspires us to be loving toward others.
The Holy Spirit is not a divine being alongside two other divine beings. It is the divine attribute through which God becomes known to us. It is our source of meaning and confidence.
And now we are ready to understand why blaspheming the Holy Spirit is so serious.
The Nature of Blasphemy
What may bring someone to blaspheme God? Usually, it is suffering. “Curse God, and die” (Job 2:9) says Job’s wife, upset about what has happened to him. Many lose their faith because of their pain, and may curse the God they believe has failed them. God knows that we suffer. God does not hold that against us. Think of your own best response to someone who reacts to suffering with a crisis of faith, causing even more pain. If you can view that person with compassion, God can do no less.
What about Jesus? Some deny Jesus because they were not brought up to believe in him. With others, it may be more emphatic: they may experience hostility toward Jesus because of so many acts of intolerance committed in his name. This was my own situation before I became a Christian. I got tired of being threatened with hell just because I was Jewish. Since then I have learned to see Christianity differently, but that took a lot of work, which not everyone can do. But I do know this: Jesus would not hold it against them. I believe Jesus would be grieved to see what so many Christians have done, and are still doing, in his name, after his appearance here on earth. A look at history, as well as our own contemporary political situation, should make this abundantly clear. Even today, in our own country, people who profess to be Christians are using Christianity to justify intolerance, authoritarianism, and cruelty.
So in the end, I believe God sees these “blasphemers” with enormous compassion and does not reject them. I believe they will receive God’s love, in a way they can accept.
But what about the Holy Spirit?
No one blasphemes the Holy Spirit by cursing it directly. It happens in more subtle ways. So in light of what we’ve considered earlier, what would blaspheming the Holy Spirit mean?
One who rejects the Holy Spirit rejects and treats with contempt what the Holy Spirit stands for and does for us: teaching us, inspiring us, and schooling us in love. Those who act this way - even if they call themselves Christians - are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. To act contrary to the divine nature, to choose self over love at every turn, to practice cruelty when it serves one’s interests, is to reject the call of the Holy Spirit. And now the unpleasant part, which the Gospels do not avoid: those who do so without repentance can never be forgiven, and are guilty of eternal sin. It’s in the Bible. We have to try to understand it.
Eternal Life and Judgment
There is no place for evil in eternal life. The prophet Habakkuk says to God: “Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing” (Habakkuk 1:13). This life here on earth, which often we take to be of utmost importance, is a preparation for eternal life. In eternal life we meet the divine presence or, if you will, the Holy Spirit, in its completeness. Evil cannot exist alongside it. But most of us are ambiguous mixtures of good and evil. So what happens to the evil within us?
The Holy Spirit is like a fiery light, yet characterized by pure love. Anything evil (i.e. contrary to God’s will) we have been carrying will be consumed by this light and will disappear. This is why Jesus spoke of “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41). The prophet Malachi also spoke of fire in our ultimate encounter with the divine:
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire. (Malachi 3:2)
It is very important to understand that we are not talking about literal flames. God refines people, but does not torture them. If there were an everlasting hell, as many still believe, then evil would never end and would be part of eternity. That cannot be possible. Evil cannot stand in the presence of the divine. In the full encounter with the divine it is exposed, consumed, and disappears. Then the goodness within us joins the goodness of the Holy Spirit to reach complete fulfillment.
Those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, however, are those who continually and consistently have rejected love in favor of self. When their moment of divine encounter arrives, they may not be carrying enough goodness to save them. Then when the evil within them is consumed, there may be hardly anything left. They are not tortured forever in a hell of constant suffering. They just slip into nonbeing. Paul Tillich has a way of describing this. He calls it “eternal death.”
Reassurance and Direction
Some people do worry that they may not be good enough to survive into eternal life. If you are one of those, be reassured: that very fear is a sign that you cherish the Spirit, and that is enough to save you. God does not demand perfection. What’s important is that we are turned toward God, not away from God and only toward the self. Our direction, not our arrival, is what matters most to God. If we think of salvation as full participation in eternal life, then salvation is not guaranteed. But we need not fear as long as we are turned toward the Holy Spirit - and that is the meaning of the passage with which we began.
Those who do reject the Holy Spirit probably wouldn’t be happy in eternal life anyway. It wouldn’t make sense to them. And it’s not ego-gratifying. As for the rest of us, if we do feel a jolt when hearing that harsh saying of Jesus, well, that was its intention. Jesus wanted to call our attention to the Spirit of God especially as it impacts human life. He also wanted us to examine ourselves more closely. And as he often does so well, with as few words as possible, he creates enough turmoil within us to change our life’s direction.