Three of Satan’s Favorite Bible Passages for Clubbing Christians with Condemnation & Despair

Satan often twists the meaning of God’s Word and uses his distortion of truth as a weapon against God’s people. Satan uses his distortions of God’s Word to convince undiscerning people to do foolish things -- and also to believe foolish things. Satan uses these distortions of God’s Word as a club to smite God’s people with guilt, condemnation, and despair.

There are three Bible passages that Satan especially loves to distort and misuse to condemn God’s people and make them despair of any hope. Those three passages are Matthew 12:31f (and its parallel accounts in Mark 3:28f and Luke 12:10), Hebrews 6:4-6, and Hebrews 10:26f.

Let’s look at how Satan distorts the meanings of these three passages, and uses them to heap guilt, condemnation, and despair on Bible believers. Then we will look at why these verses cannot possibly mean what Satan wants us to think they mean. Finally, we will examine them and see what they really mean.

I. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matt. 12:31f).

“Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:28f).

“And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10).

Satan has convinced more than one Christian that they might have blasphemed the Holy Spirit and thereby committed “the unpardonable sin.” These believers wonder if they perhaps are already eternally damned with no hope of ever obtaining forgiveness.

This fear is possible only if you let the Devil define what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is far more than merely resisting the Holy Spirit. Stephen said to Saul and the rest of the mob at his stoning, “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51). Saul of Tarsus probably resisted the Holy Ghost more than anyone else in his generation, yet he later obtained forgiveness for resisting the Holy Ghost.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is also far more than rejecting genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit because you question or doubt their authenticity. Rejecting genuine manifestations is a foolish thing to do, but that is not the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is even more than speaking against true manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Although that is a dangerous thing to do, that is not the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

What then is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? As with so many other Bible passages, a careful consideration of the context is absolutely necessary to correctly understand these verses.

To carefully consider the context, we must ask four questions: Who, What, Why, and When?

• Who was blaspheming the Holy Spirit?

• What were they saying that constituted blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

• Why were they saying what they said?

• When did they say it?

• WHO?

The people who were blaspheming the Holy Spirit are called “the Pharisees” in Matthew 12:24 and “the scribes which came down from Jerusalem” in Mark 3:22. Not all of the scribes and Pharisees were bad people. When Yeshua spoke His lengthy rebuke of them in Matthew chapter 23, He began each of His seven denunciations with “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Yeshua was not denouncing all the scribes and Pharisees. He was denouncing only the hypocrites among them.

Many of the Pharisees became followers of Yeshua. One of those Pharisees was Nicodemus, who helped Joseph of Arimathea prepare Yeshua’s body for burial. Nicodemus was “a ruler of the Jews” and “a master of Israel” (John 3:1 & 10). Nicodemus’ very first statement to Yeshua is of the utmost importance for determing what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is. Let me explain why.

The first thing Nicodemus said to Yeshua was: “Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2).

Consider what Nicodemus was saying. Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews and a master of Israel, said, “We know...” Nicodemus did not say, “I know.” He said, “We know.” In other words, we, the rulers of the Jews and the masters in Israel, we know that You are sent from God.

Furthermore, Nicodemus did not say, “We think maybe” or “We suspect” or “We think probably.” He said, “We know You are a teacher come from God.” And Nicodemus stated the reason the rulers of the Jews and the masters in Israel knew this: “for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him.”

Why is this so important for determining what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is? Because these scribes and Pharisees who were blaspheming the Holy Spirit knew that Yeshua was a teacher come from God. They knew that the miracles Yeshua was doing were happening because God was with Him. Yet they were falsely accusing Yeshua of using demonic power to do His miracles, while knowing He was sent by God and knowing that no man could do those miracles unless God was with him. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not some accidental slip of the tongue. It is a conscious act done with the full knowledge of what is happening.

WHAT?

What did the scribes and Pharisees say that constituted the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? They said that Yeshua was casting out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a deliberate act done willfully by people who know that a miracle is being done by the Holy Spirit, yet they say that the act is being done by demonic power. In essence, they are calling the Holy Spirit an unclean demonic spirit, when they know it is the Holy Spirit.

After Yeshua said, “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation,” Mark tells us in the very next verse why Yeshua said that: “Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit” (Mark 3:29).

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is saying that Yeshua used demonic powers to do His miracles, when you know that the miracles were really done by the power of the Holy Spirit.

WHY?

Why did the scribes and Pharisees say that Yeshua was casting out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils? The Bible does not plainly state the reason, but it is fairly easy to figure out by looking at the event that immediately preceded and prompted the Pharisees’ statement:

“Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?” (Matt. 12:2f).

There were Jewish exorcists who could cast out demons, but they first had to get the demon to say its name. If the demonized person was dumb, there was obviously no way to get the demon to say its name. Therefore a belief arose among the Jews that when Messiah Son of David came, He would be able to cast out even dumb spirits. Hence the people’s amazement and their question “Is not this the son of David?” (See “The Basis of the Second Coming of Messiah” by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, GOE 10-3, p. 9.)

This is what prompted the Pharisees to say that Yeshua was casting out devils by Beelzebub. They did not want the people to receive Yeshua as their Messiah. Why not? Because Yeshua had been exposing their hypocrisy and the many flaws in their man-made religious system. If the people followed Yeshua instead of the Pharisees, the Pharisees’ religious empire would crumble and they would lose power over the people. So in a desperate effort to preserve their flawed religious system, they tried to steer the people away from their Messiah by saying that Yeshua was doing His miracles by demonic power, when they knew it was by the power of the Holy Spirit. That was the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

WHEN?

When did the scribes and Pharisees blaspheme the Holy Spirit? This is a two-part question: 1) When in the immediate context? 2) When in a historical context?

We have already seen when they blasphemed in the immediate context. It was immediately after the people were amazed and said, “Is not this the son of David?”

The question of when in a historical context is also important. The Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit at the exact time in history when Yeshua was in the world, in the flesh, doing miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who blasphemed the Holy Spirit were not rejecting a Jesus that they had read about in a book called the New Testament. These blasphemers were first-hand eyewitnesses watching Yeshua do miracles. They knew He was a teacher sent by God. They saw Him do amazing miracles and they knew that they were witnessing immanuel, God with us, “for no man can do these miracles, except God be with him.”

These blasphemers lived in the same generation as Yeshua. You may disagree with me here, but I think it is very likely that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit could be committed only by people who were alive in that generation when Yeshua was on earth. The reason I tend to believe this is because of all the statements Yeshua made about that generation in direct response to that generation’s blasphemy:

• “O generation of vipers...”

• “An evil and adulterous generation...”

• “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and condemn it...”

• “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it...”

• “and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (Matt. 12:34-45).

Those five references to that particular generation of Pharisees who saw Yeshua in the flesh and were first-hand eyewitnesses of His miracles makes me tend to believe that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit could be committed only by people who lived in that generation and saw Yeshua do miracles.

As I said, you may disagree with me, and if so, that’s okay. But even if I am mistaken, if it is indeed possible for someone to commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit today, I believe it can be committed only by people who have personally witnessed amazing miracles, and knew with absolute certainty that the miracles were done by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then deliberately lied and said it was done by demonic powers, in an effort to drive people away from faith in Yeshua, so they could preserve a religious system where Yeshua is not welcome, and thereby continue to be religious control freaks over people. Unless that describes you, don’t let the Devil tell you that you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit and thereby committed the unpardonable sin.

II. Impossible to Renew Them Again Unto Repentance

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame” (Heb. 6:4-6).

Satan uses these verses to make people think that there is no possibility for a backslidden believer to repent and return to the heavenly Father. A backslidden believer is doomed and has no hope of escaping eternal torment in the lake of fire, Satan says.

“So, if you are a backslidden believer,” Satan says, “just resign yourself to your unfortunate fate and forget about ever returning to God. That is impossible for you. Hebrews 6:4-6 says so.”

But is that really what Hebrews 6:4-6 actually means? The fact that there have been many backslidden believers throughout the centuries who repented and returned to their heavenly Father and then lived fruitful lives would indicate that a backslidden believer is not doomed and without hope.

“But Daniel, those are just personal testimonies, anecdotal evidence. We need proof from the Bible.”

Very well. If you want Biblical proof, consider what the Bible teaches in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke chapter 15. If you cannot see the possibility of a backslidden son of God repenting and returning to his heavenly Father in that parable, you are spiritually blind.

Consider various individuals in the Bible who fell away and later repented and returned to God. Samson, who had fornicated with heathen harlots. King Solomon, who had worshipped heathen gods. King Manasseh, who had committed many abominations, including witchcraft, idolatry, and the shedding of much innocent blood. Peter, who had denied the Lord three times. All these backsliders repented and returned to their heavenly Father. Therefore it is not impossible for a backslidden believer to return to the heavenly Father.

What then does Hebrews 6:4-6 mean? It does indeed use the word “impossible,” so something is obviously impossible. What is it that is impossible? Simple. It is impossible to renew a backslidden believer to repentance. That is, it is impossible for you to renew a backslidden believer to repentance. But it is not impossible for God to renew a backslidden believer to repentance. “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). “For with God, nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37).

Have you ever tried to renew a backslidden believer to repentance? You can plead with them; you can try to coax them with encouraging words about God’s love and mercy; you can warn them with frightening words about God’s fierce wrath. But they already know about all this stuff. It is impossible for you as a mere human, relying on the power of human persuasion, to bring them again to repentance. If they are going to come to repentance and return to their heavenly Father, it will take an act of God to bring them to their senses. And hopefully God will do something to wake them up and draw them back to Himself. Hopefully God will make them miserable and use their misery to bring them to their senses, like the Prodigal Son came to his senses in the pig pen.

III. No More Sacrifice for Sins

“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Heb. 10:26f).

Satan uses these verses to make people think that the sacrifice of Yeshua pays only for the sins they committed before coming to the Lord, and not for any sins they commit as believers.

A believer commits a sin, and Satan says, “You can’t plead the blood of Jesus to obtain forgiveness for that sin. You committed that sin after you received the knowledge of the truth. There is no sacrifice that will pay for that sin, not even the sacrifice of Jesus. Hebrews 10:26 says so.”

Satan’s distortion of this passage is very similar to his distortion of Hebrews 6:4-6. Satan’s distortion of Hebrews 6:4-6 is used as a club against believers who are living in a continually backslidden state, while his distortion of Hebrews 10:26 is used as a club against a believer who has stumbled and committed a sin, but is not necessarily living in a continually backslidden state.

The belief that the sacrifice of Yeshua atones only for the sins we committed before coming to the Lord is a false belief based on the Devil’s distortion of Hebrews 10:26. How do we know this is a false belief? Because it clearly contradicts plain, easy-to-understand statements of truth in other parts of the Bible. Anytime you read a Bible verse that appears to contradict several other plain, easy-to-understand passages of Scripture, you can be sure that you are misunderstanding the meaning of the contradictory verse.

If Hebrews 10:26 really meant what the Devil wants people to think it means, then we would have some major contradictions. We have the same examples mentioned in the above section -- The Prodigal Son, Samson, King Solomon, King Manasseh, and Peter.

We also have King David’s sin with Bath-sheba, a sin that God forgave.

“But Daniel, that’s in the Old Testament. David lived under the old covenant, during the Dispensation of the Law. We are now living under the new covenant and the Dispensation of Grace.”

Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that it was easier for God’s covenant people to obtain forgiveness under the old covenant than it is under the new covenant? If so, you are saying that the blood of bulls and goats was more effective than the blood of Yeshua, and therefore more precious than the blood of Yeshua. You are elevating the sacrifices of bulls and goats above the sacrifice of Yeshua. Yet Hebrews 10:4 says “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” and contrasts those animal sacrifices to the superior once-for-all, one-time sacrifice of Yeshua to take away our sins.

Even if someone wants to insist that the example of David obtaining forgiveness cannot be used, because David lived during the so-called “Dispensation of the Law,” we still have proof in the Bible that new covenant believers, living during the so-called “Dispensation of Grace,” can obtain forgiveness for sins they commit after they have come to the knowledge of the truth.

Where is that proof? In 1 John. John, writing to new covenant believers, says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8f).

Just this by itself is really all we need to prove that the Devil’s distorted meaning of Hebrews 10:26 cannot possibly be true. Even if you are a Dispensationalist and want to dispense with all the Old Testament examples of backsliders obtaining forgiveness, there is no way you can read John’s statement and Dispensationalize it away. John is writing to people who had already received the knowledge of the truth. He tells those people (and us) that they (and we) can obtain forgiveness as believers by confessing our sins and thereby receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing.

If Hebrews 10:26 does not mean what Satan wants people to think it means, then what does it mean?

To correctly understand these verses, we must carefully consider the context, as we did for the verses about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. We must ask Who, What, Why, and When? The answers to these questions are important for understanding what the verses mean.

• Who was the writer addressing?

• What particular sin was the writer talking about?

• Why was the writer warning his readers about this?

• When did the writer write this?

WHO?

To whom were these words written? Hebrews 10:26 is in the Epistle to the Hebrews, so these words were written to Hebrews, i.e., to Messianic Jewish believers. However, to be more specific, we have to consider the fact that these particular Messianic Jewish believers were suffering some rejection and persecution from their fellow Jews because of their faith in Yeshua. This fact can be inferred from several remarks throughout the epistle, especially in Hebrews 10:32ff and 13:13.

WHAT?

What sin was the writer talking about? Did he mean just a single sin, any kind of sin, or some sort of continual sin? The answer to that question can be found when we carefully consider the “Why” and “When” of this passage.

WHY?

Why was the writer warning his readers about this? We can infer from other warnings which the writer gives in other places in this epistle that some of these Messianic Jewish believers were wavering in their faith in Yeshua. They were being tempted to let themselves be drawn away from Yeshua and to go back to living as they did before, as Jews who did not believe in Yeshua, and thereby avoid rejection and persecution from their fellow Jews.

The writer reminds them that Yeshua, as the Son of God, is greater than Moses. He warns them to not harden their hearts with unbelief. He tells them to hold fast their profession of hope without wavering. He warns them to not tread under foot the Son of God and thereby count Yeshua’s blood wherewith they were sanctified as an unholy thing. He warns them to not cast away their confidence and to not draw back. He urges them to continue looking unto Yeshua, the author and finisher of their faith. He tells them they have not come to Mount Sinai, but to Mount Zion, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, and to Yeshua, the mediator of the new covenant.

From all these warnings, we can conclude that the “willful sin” in this verse is not just any kind of sin committed by any believer, but sin committed by someone who had formerly put his faith in Yeshua but then later denied Yeshua and permanently abandoned his faith. In other words, it is talking about someone who has denied Yeshua and totally apostasized from the faith. For such a person there remains no more sacrifice for sins. This does not mean that a person who denies Yeshua can never repent and be forgiven. Peter denied Yeshua three times and was forgiven. But for someone who remains an apostate, there remains no more sacrifice for his sins. Why does the writer say “sacrifice” here instead of “forgiveness”? The answer to that question can be found when we carefully consider the “When” of this passage.

WHEN?

When did the writer write these verses, and why is that important?

The Book of Hebrews was written before the AD 70 destruction of the Temple. We know this because the writer refers to the Temple and the Levitical sacrificial system in the present tense, as something that was still functioning at that time. The writer spends a great deal of time comparing and contrasting the inferior and temporal earthly tabernacle/Temple, Levitical priesthood, and animal sacrifices to the superior and eternal heavenly tabernacle, Melchizedek priesthood, and sacrifice of Yeshua.

While the Temple still remained and the Levitical priesthood still functioned, Messianic Jewish believers continued to participate in worship at the Temple. There was nothing wrong with that. However, they needed to realize that it was the blood of Messiah, not the blood of bulls and goats, that took away their sins. They needed to realize that they had a better sacrifice, offered by a better priest, in “a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building [i.e., not of this created realm]” (Heb. 9:11f).

If these Messianic Jewish believers had received the knowledge of the truth about Yeshua being the perfect sacrifice that provides eternal redemption, and then abandoned their faith in Yeshua and decided to just live like the Jews who worshipped at the Temple but did not believe in Yeshua -- for such a Jew who knew the truth but denied it, any animal sacrifices he offered for his sins would be useless. For a Messianic Jew who apostasized from his faith in Yeshua “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Once a Jew received the knowledge that Yeshua was the once-for-all sacrifice for his sins, no other sacrifice remained for his sins. Any animal sacrifices for sin offered by an apostate would be rejected by God and would not provide forgiveness. Hebrews 10:26 in the Aramaic-English New Testament says: “For if a man sin voluntarily after he has received a knowledge of the truth, there is no longer a sacrifice which may be offered for sins.”

Messianic Jewish believers could and did participate in worship at the Temple while the Temple remained. But the Levitical sacrificial system would soon be phased out, because the Temple was soon going to be destroyed, as Yeshua said it would.

“In that He saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).

Once the Temple was destroyed, the Levitical priesthood would no longer be able to function. That sacrificial system would vanish away. Then there would “remain no more sacrifice for sins” for anyone, except for the sacrifice of Yeshua.

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” (Heb. 10:16-18).

Under the new covenant, the only acceptable and effective offering for sin is Yeshua. Any offering of animal sacrifices for sins will not obtain forgiveness for the sinner. As the old hymn says, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

Conviction of the Spirit Vs. Condemnation of the Devil

The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins to draw us closer to the Lord. The Devil condemns us for our sins to drive us away from the Lord. Learn to discern the difference between the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Devil.

A wise person once said that the Holy Spirit and the Devil are as different as a dove and a crow.

The voice of the Holy Spirit is like a dove, soft and gentle. When the Holy Spirit needs to convict us of sin and correct us, the Holy Spirit’s voice is as firm and as stern as necessary, but still soft and gentle, offering us hope and encouraging us to repent.

The voice of Satan, “the accuser of the brethren,” is not like the gentle cooing of a dove. It is like the loud cawing of an unclean crow. “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! ” the Devil squawks. “Doomed! Doomed! Doomed! ” The Devil adds no words of hope or encouragement to repent and return to God. Satan’s voice brings nothing except guilt, condemnation, and despair.

Don’t let the Devil use his distortions of Scripture as a club to condemn you. If you have sinned, simply admit it, confess it to God, accept His forgiveness, and let Him cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Then go and sin no more.

| DB

Image: Psalm 36 by Daniel Botkin from his Psurrealistic Psalms Gallery. See this and all the Psalms he has painted so far on his art website, DanielBotkin.com.