Blasphemy Against the Ruach ha-Kodesh / Holy Spirit

Question:

A Facebook user in a private group asks, "Can someone help me explain to my daughter what is the unforgivable sin? Blasphemy against the holy spirit? What does that mean in practical terms?"

Answer:

It's akin to taking the L-rd's Name in vain, which is not about course language. Taking His Name is about the marriage covenant. If we take His Name and use it for gain, for prestige, for holding it over others, and using it for things that go against His character or instructions for how we are to live, then we are taking His Name for our own vanity. We are, in essence, USING Him for our own carnal desires. Now, take this and add to it, forcing Him to do it all with you because He is IN YOU. He is literally seeing through your eyes, hearing through your ears, feeling what you feel, and being forced to watch your wicked and perverse heart take satisfaction and fulfillment through doing such things in real-time as you do them. This is blasphemy, and when He is in you according to the promise Yeshua made, you are committing blasphemy against the Ruach ha-Kodesh/Holy Spirit.

This is what Ananias and Sapphira did. They tried to use Adonai's Name for their own gain, i.e., social clout and public renown.

... a man named Ananias together with his wife, Sapphira, sold a property. He kept back some of the proceeds, with his wife’s full knowledge, and brought part of it and set it at the feet of the emissaries. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has satan filled your heart to lie to the Ruach ha-Kodesh¹ and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, it was your own, wasn’t it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? How did this deed get into your heart? You haven’t lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:1–4, TLV)

Then we turn to a passage in Hebrews to round out this topic:

For it is impossible for those who once were enlightened—having tasted of the heavenly gift and become partakers of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the olam ha-ba², and then having fallen away—to renew again to repentance, since they are again crucifying Ben-Elohim³ for themselves and publicly disgracing Him. (Hebrews 6:4–6, TLV)

Blasphemy against the Ruach ha-Kodesh is not something that can be done accidentally or by mistake. It is an act of one's own will in defiance and rebellion against Adonai. It's using Him to lift oneself up—even to the point of putting oneself above Adonai Himself.

1 "Holy Spirit ⇑

2 "age to come" in ESV ⇑

3 "Son of God" in ESV ⇑

Category: Questions And Answers