Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 12:10

"And every one who shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven." — Luke 12:10 (ASV)

Jesus’ final warning relates to the “unpardonable sin.” In Luke it occupies a climactic place in the continued buildup of hostility between Jesus and the teachers of the law. It is difficult, however, to determine its meaning without the contextual explanations in Mt 12:25–36; Mark 3:23–30.

Those passages make it clear that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the attribution of the works of Jesus to the very prince of demons. According to Luke, therefore, if dishonoring the Son of Man is such a serious matter (vv.8–9), then total rejection of God by insinuating that his “holy” Spirit is “evil” is so much the worse. One may reject Christ and later, by God’s grace, accept him; but there is no remedy for absolute and complete denial of the one holy God— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is what “blaspheme” (GK 1059) seems to mean here.