Mk 3:28-30

[Cpb88]

“Amen I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mk 3:28-30

What would this sort of sin look like? Why are other blasphemies forgiven, but not those against the holy Spirit? Wouldn’t all blasphemy be against the holy Spirit? How does this fit into the context of Mark?

 

[FishyPete]

The way I always have understood it, is if you believe in God, and still you hold him in contempt and hate him, your doomed. This passage has always been to me a key to understanding those who are truly doomed to a hell of their choosing, i.e. believers who hate God and see him as a negative force. This is the only thing that cannot be bypassed by the love of God - i.e. a refusal of the love.

But i may be way off base.

 

[chefmomster2]

“Amen I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mk 3:28-30

What would this sort of sin look like? Why are other blasphemies forgiven, but not those against the holy Spirit? Wouldn’t all blasphemy be against the holy Spirit? How does this fit into the context of Mark?

This is the way it is explained in the NABRE notes:

• [3:29] Whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit: this sin is called an everlasting sin because it attributes to Satan, who is the power of evil, what is actually the work of the holy Spirit, namely, victory over the demons.

From Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Thomas, whom we may safely follow, gives a very good summary of opinions in II-II.14. He says that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost was and may be explained in three ways.

This is the sense in which St. Mark also defines the sin question; for, after reciting the words of the Master: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall never have forgiveness”, he adds at once: “Because they said: He hath an unclean spirit.” With this sin of pure downright malice, Jesus contrasts the sin “against the Son of man”, that is the sin committed against Himself as man, the wrong done to His humanity in judging Him by His humble and lowly appearance. This fault, unlike the former, might he excused as the result of man’s ignorance and misunderstanding.

• Sometimes, and in its most literal signification, it has been taken to mean the uttering of an insult against the Divine Spirit, applying the appellation either to the Holy Ghost or to all three Divine persons. This was the sin of the Pharisees, who spoke at first against “the Son of Man”, criticizing the works and human ways of Jesus, accusing Him of loving good cheer and wine, of associating with the publicans, and who, later on, with undoubted bad faith, traduced His Divine works, the miracles which He wrought by virtue of His own Divinity.
• On the other hand, St. Augustine frequently explains blasphemy against the Holy Ghost to be final impenitence, perseverance till death in mortal sin. This impenitence is against the Holy Ghost, in the sense that it frustrates and is absolutely opposed to the remission of sins, and this remission is appropriated to the Holy Ghost, the mutual love of the Father and the Son. In this view, Jesus, in Matthew 12 and Mark 3 did not really accuse the Pharisees of blaspheming the Holy Ghost, He only warned them against the danger they were in of doing so.
• Finally, several Fathers, and after them, many scholastic theologians, apply the expression to all sins directly opposed to that quality which is, by appropriation, the characteristic quality of the Third Divine Person. Charity and goodness are especially attributed to the Holy Ghost, as power is to the Father and wisdom to the Son. Just, then, as they termed sins against the Father those that resulted from frailty, and sins against the Son those that sprang from ignorance, so the sins against the Holy Ghost are those that are committed from downright malice, either by despising or rejecting the inspirations and impulses which, having been stirred in man’s soul by the Holy Ghost, would turn him away or deliver him from evil.

 

[PietroPaolo]

“Amen I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mk 3:28-30

What would this sort of sin look like? Why are other blasphemies forgiven, but not those against the holy Spirit? Wouldn’t all blasphemy be against the holy Spirit? How does this fit into the context of Mark?

Traditionally, “blasphemy against the holy Spirit” has been understood as:

1. despair
2. presumption
3. impugning the truth
4. envy at another’s spiritual gain
5. final impenitence

All of which is to say that we cannot be forgiven when we are unwilling to seek forgiveness.

 

[Cpb88]

Fair to say that there may be some ambiguity here. I wonder if the CCC addresses this issue?

 

[chefmomster2]

Fair to say that there may be some ambiguity here. I wonder if the CCC addresses this issue?

CCC 1864 "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven."136 There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

It isn’t strictly that it won’t be forgiven, but that it CAN’T Be forgiven. If the person will not accept God’s mercy it is impossible for him to receive the merciful forgiveness of reconciliation and salvation.