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It is the total and complete rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life.
It is the denial of God’s grace and speaking against it with insults,
a behavior that reflects a lack of reverence for the sacred.
• Blessed Augustine says:
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the persistence in refusing repentance and membership in the one Body of Christ. For the Holy Spirit unites us with Christ, and the refusal of forgiveness granted by the Holy Spirit is blasphemy.
It is through the Holy Spirit, speaking through the priest, that forgiveness is granted.
Forgiveness is only given by the Holy Spirit, and only within the Church, which possesses the Holy Spirit.
And because our Lord Jesus Christ stirs our consciences by His Holy Spirit so that our hearts convict us, as St. Peter said:
“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
Also, as St. John says:
“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:20).
It is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin (John 16:8) and assists in all works of righteousness, which are the fruit of the Spirit:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).
Therefore, the one who rejects the Holy Spirit does not repent, does not bear spiritual fruit, and does not live in righteousness. He will perish if he continues his life without repentance—this condition is what constitutes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
When the work of the Holy Spirit is hindered in a person—whether by:
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30),
or “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19),
or by resisting the Spirit:
“You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51)—
the unrepentant remains an enemy of God, a child of wrath, as St. Paul says:
“Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh… and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:3).
Thus, not repenting is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—who is the Giver of forgiveness in baptism, and whom the Church receives to forgive sins in the sacrament of Confession.
Such a sin will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the age to come, because the person has shut the door of the Spirit’s work in his life, the same Spirit who “will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8).
• It is also the denial that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God Incarnate. As St. Paul says:
“No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3).
• The sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a spiritual sin with willful intent, committed by one who loves evil and hates truth. The scribes, Pharisees, and Jewish chief priests are prime examples.
As the Holy Scriptures say, when they remembered His words about rising after three days, they conspired with Pilate to guard the tomb to prevent a resurrection hoax (Matthew 27:62–66).
Then later, when the tomb was found empty, they bribed the soldiers to lie (Matthew 28:12–15).
They never sought repentance—they didn’t confess their guilt, didn’t regret their sin, and didn’t turn back. For them, good became evil, and evil became good.
• The Jews accused the Lord of glory of blasphemy when He said:
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
They picked up stones to stone Him. Jesus responded:
“For which of these good works do you stone Me?”
They replied: “For blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself God” (John 10:33).
He answered with Scripture and wisdom, yet they still tried to seize Him (John 10:39).
This happened before when they:
“Picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple” (John 8:59).
• Blessed Augustine said about this moment:
He escaped from their stones, but woe to those from whose stony hearts God Himself departs.
• Because they accused Him of blasphemy, they sentenced Him to death (Mark 14:64, John 19:7), and in doing so, they themselves blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
They did not recognize that Jesus was the awaited Messiah.
They claimed that His divine works were done by the power of Beelzebub, attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan.
They said the words of God were those of demons—thus they denied His coming and His redemptive work for the salvation of the world.
Even while He was on the cross, they continued to blaspheme Him (Mark 15:29),
claiming that His miracles were from the devil (Matthew 12:24–28).
These acts are true blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which shall not be forgiven—neither in this world nor the next—as the Lord Himself said:
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31–32).
• The Lord Jesus, according to Mark, said:
“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—because they said, “He has an unclean spirit” (Mark 3:28–30).
• According to Luke:
“And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10).
Satan uses these verses to destroy souls, making some fear that a passing thought of blasphemy might condemn them forever. But we must understand that any sin confessed and repented is forgiven by God. As it is written:
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7–9).
Note: “all sin” and “all unrighteousness”.
So blasphemy against the Spirit means persisting in resisting the Spirit’s call to repentance until death.
Blessed Augustine also said:
All sin and blasphemy are forgiven, not just those against the Son of Man.
As long as one does not persist in the unrepented state—against the Holy Spirit, through whom the Church grants forgiveness—then all sins are forgivable.
He adds:
Who among us has not at some time spoken or thought wrongly about the Holy Spirit before becoming a Christian or part of the Church?
Many pagans, Jews, and heretics have blasphemed, but upon believing and entering the Church, they receive forgiveness and peace.
So if forgiveness were not possible, then our preaching would be in vain.
The Scripture did not say: “Only the baptized are forgiven,” but said: “He will not be forgiven in this age nor in the one to come.”
Therefore, so long as a person is alive, repentance is always possible.
• Pope Athanasius the Apostolic wrote:
The believer who follows the apostolic teaching understands the Lord’s richness and His love for humanity.
When he sees His divine acts, he glorifies the Lord in the flesh.
The Pharisees should not have denied the Incarnate Word, nor attributed divine works to Satan.
It was just for them to be denied forgiveness because they equated Satan with God, and saw nothing divine in the acts of God—but rather claimed them to be demonic. This was madness.
• The great scholar Bishop Lucas emphasized:
Forgiveness is not withheld by God, but by the sinner who, through his hardness, resists the Spirit’s call to repentance.
• As for the saying:
“Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him”—this is because they stumbled over God taking flesh.
They said, “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:54–57).
The Gospel calls this “blasphemy against the Son of Man,” referring to His humanity, which is more bearable.
But when they attributed divine miracles to Beelzebub, Jesus rebuked them harshly.
This was an insult to His divinity, a denial that God’s power was at work in Him.
They called light darkness (Isaiah 5:20), and so they were judged without mercy.
• The Jews also blasphemed St. Paul when he preached Christ.
“They opposed the things spoken by Paul and blasphemed” (Acts 13:45).
And later: “But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’” (Acts 18:5–6).
Therefore, when Macedonius blasphemed, saying the Holy Spirit was created, the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD excommunicated him eternally.
• The Fathers said:
There is no sin without forgiveness—except the sin without repentance.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and affirms God’s love in Christ.
He implants His fruit in the heart: love, joy, peace… every grace.
But the one who despairs, refuses confession, and dies in his sin—he cannot repent after death, for repentance ends at death.
• St. Stephen told the Jews:
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51).
• Forgiveness is not withheld by God—but by the sinner, who kills his conscience and blocks the Spirit’s work leading him to repentance.
This is the sin committed by Satan and his angels, and because they do not repent, they are condemned to the lake of fire.
• Blasphemy is the ultimate expression of evil.
Instead of praise and worship, one insults God.
As Isaiah said:
“And My name is continually blasphemed every day” (Isaiah 52:5),
and as Paul said:
“The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24).
Just one blasphemer could defile an entire nation:
“Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him” (Leviticus 24:16).
This is how Jezebel falsely condemned Naboth by accusing him of blasphemy (1 Kings 21:11–13).
• Often this sin is committed in anger against God—and historically, pagan nations blasphemed the living God when attacking His people.
