Read it again.
31 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. 32 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. (Matthew 12:31-32)
The context does not constrain it, as indicated by the nouns and pronouns chosen.
By contrast in Matthew 21, when Jesus intends to be specific to the crowd at hand and general, he employs targeted nouns and pronouns:
42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
He specifically targets the audience (chief priests and Pharisees) -- 'them' (with its antecedent), 'ye'. Then he generalizes -- 'whosoever' and 'whomever' -- which applies beyond his immediate listeners.
As much as I admire FOTF, they got this wrong.
I think probably Bob is right. At least I hope to God he is right (literally that’s where my hope lies) because I’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit before in my life. I’ve since sought forgiveness for that blasphemy and I believe I’ve received that forgiveness. But if what you, nonsporting, are saying is right then I’m damned already. And so are probably millions of others. We’ll see at Judgement Day I guess.
But for now let’s return to the passage in question.
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. 32 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. (Matthew 12:31-32)
To me this is recording how Jesus said, basically, you can insult me all you want and you may be forgiven but if you insult the Holy Spirit you won’t be forgiven. I think that’s undoubtedly what that passage is saying.
So the question is, what does it mean to insult the Holy Spirit? Well, surely cursing Him (as I have in my past) is an example of that. But is that all it is? Is God divided? Is there no recourse to forgiveness for those who insult God the Holy Spirit?
Perhaps not and so perhaps I am damned now. But I’d like to believe there’s more to the “unforgivable sin” than just insulting Him verbally. It also must mean that if you insult Him in some way *and* never seek His forgiveness, then you are damned.
And really what “insults” the Holy Spirit? Well really any sin, not just denying His actions in the world. To say that the only “blasphemy” against the Holy Spirit is denying His works is to deny how offensive all sin is really to God.
So the unforgivable blasphemy is not only sinning against the Holy Spirit, but also not seeking His forgiveness after sinning.
That must be the case or else we’re all already damned really.
They didn’t get it wrong- they weren’t sayying only pharisees coudl commit it- their poitn was that these pharisees were i ndanger of beign so hardened that they would never accept the truth and of havign the Holy Spirit stop convicting them because their hearts were hardened beyond repair-
“They were rejecting it by attributing Jesus’ works to the power of the devil. They weren’t just doubting or even denying the truth. They were maliciously contradicting what they had witnessed with their own eyes.”
These folks were maliciously rejecting Christ or in danger of doing so, and Jesus was warning them that if they stepped over the line, they could never be forgiven