“All the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:28-29).^*

If someone blasphemes the Holy Spirit can they still be saved?

The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is not an act; it’s a continuous willful ongoing rejection of the love and grace and mercy of God. So, it’s never something you do once or even twice, it’s an ongoing rebellion against God until the point of your death.

Jesus said, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers” (Luke 6:43-44). What is he saying about being able to tell by their own fruit?

You can know by the fruit of a tree, whether it’s an apple tree, or an orange tree, or a pear tree—by their fruit you can identify the tree. The same thing is true with the human being. The fruit of that human being identifies them. What you do and what you believe identifies you in terms of who you belong to. Do you belong to Jesus Christ? Are you a follower of the Lamb? Then, you are marked out by your thought life and what you do. Your worldview and what you do demonstrates to whom you belong.

Can you tell whether or not someone is saved?

By their fruit you can know them. Yes, if you have someone who says, “I am a follower of Jesus Christ,” which means that they recognize they’re a sinner, they’ve repented of their sin, they’ve received Jesus Christ and then they have visibly identified with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection through baptism. You can know that that person is marked out for Jesus Christ. By the same token, you can know the difference between an authentic Christian and a person who says they believe but in reality they don’t.

Now, we aren’t absolutely perfect fruit inspectors. We can be wrong. There are people who would have looked at Judas and said, “You know what, there’s the real deal.” But, they would have been wrong. Their fruit inspection would have been deficient. So, we as human beings are fallible, but God is not. He knows who is marked out as bought by the Lamb, and who is marked out as the possession of Satan.

For further related study, please see the following:

How Can I be certain that I’ve not Committed the Unforgivable Sin? (Hank Hanegraaff)

Is Suicide the Unforgivable Sin? (Hank Hanegraaff)

What is the Unpardonable Sin?(Clay Jones)

* All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), unless noted

Blog adapted from “If someone blasphemes the Holy Spirit can they still be saved?”