Lucas 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.

II. Warning against blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

At the conclusion of the previous writing, Christ instructed that men should confess him, the converse of that being that some would deny him; and it was that habit of Israel's denying God through long ages, and now denying the Christ himself, which prompted the warning here that there was a final and irrevocable sin about to be committed by them in denying the gospel about to be launched through the apostles under the power of the Holy Spirit. This warning here was brief, but additional light on it is available from Jesus' other pronouncements of it on another occasion (Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:29). The three dispensations of God's grace are in view here. Blaspheming God in the patriarchal period, or Christ as the culmination of the Mosaic period, or the Holy Spirit in the age of the gospel were in the ascending order of seriousness. "The Holy Spirit with his teachings is the last that God has to offer man; and, if one blasphemes the Holy Spirit by rejecting the New Testament, there is no chance for forgiveness."[14] Jesus is God's last word to men. For discussion of the unpardonable sin, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 12:31-32. As Ash viewed this verse, "One could reject Jesus during his personal ministry and still accept him by accepting Spirit-inspired preaching. But reject the latter and there would be no further overture from God."[15]

[14] Ibid., p. 250.

[15] Anthony Lee Ash, The Gospel according to Luke (Austin, Texas: Sweet Publishing Company, 1973), II, p. 39.