Is Attributing the Works of God to Satan the Unforgivable Sin?

The following is an excerpt from my book, Why You Have Not Committed the Unforgivable Sin.

Many believe that the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit — or the unforgivable sin — occurs when someone attributes the works of the Holy Spirit to the works of the devil. This view is based on Matthew 12:31-32, where some of the religious rulers state that Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons (12:24).

This is one of the most popular views about the unpardonable sin.

Attributing the Works of the Spirit to the Devil

It is often taught that this sin is committed when a person sees a miraculous work of the Spirit, and rather than give glory to God for what was done, gives credit to the devil instead.

It is believed that this sin is committed when people see the works and miracles of God, but state that the miracles are being performed the power of Satan rather than by the power of God.

This view is commonly held in Pentecostal charismatic circles where miracles, healings, and demonic exorcisms are a frequent occurrence. Leaders of these ministries argue that when others write off supernatural healings, demonic exorcisms, and the gift of tongues as possibly coming from the devil, such people deny the power of the Holy Spirit, and commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Of course, in some charismatic circles, the behavior goes way beyond healing and prophecy and speaking in tongues. Some churches engage in holy laughter, barking like dogs and braying like donkeys, getting slain in the Spirit, rolling in the isles, and having tooth fillings changed to gold. When non-charismatic Christian leaders argue that these sorts of activities are unbiblical and therefore not of God, they are condemned by charismatic leaders for being guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Problems with this View

Though this is a popular view, it is not the best interpretation of Matthew 12:31-32.

First, Scripture is clear that not everything that appears spiritual is from the Holy Spirit. Satan can and does counterfeit the work of God.

So we are supposed to test the spirits and see if they are from God (1 John 4:1). If we are convinced a certain activity is not from God but is a counterfeit deception from the devil, it is our obligation to denounce it. It does not seem that God would tell us to test the spirits and denounce those that were false if doing so could accidentally cause someone to commit blasphemy against the Spirit. This warning of Jesus against this sin indicates that one commits it intentionally, not accidentally.

Furthermore, many religions and cults other than Christianity see miracles, signs, wonders, speaking in tongues, ecstatic experiences, dreams, visions, healings, and other such things. Certainly charismatics would be quick to denounce these practices as not being from the Holy Spirit, but since these practices are nearly identical in form and frequency as in charismatic circles, how can they be certain that in condemning these practices in other religions, they are not in fact attributing to the devil a work of the Holy Spirit?

God works in mysterious ways, and we cannot be certain that the Holy Spirit is not at work in the lives of other religious practitioners—even in miraculous ways—with the intent of bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ. If charismatics are right, they must not condemn any miraculous utterance, prophecy, sign, miracle, answer to prayer, or spiritual experience of any person or religious group as being of the devil, for there is no way to be certain when and where the Holy Spirit is blowing (John 3:8).

So although this theory is compelling and seems to fit the context of Matthew 12:31-32, the fact that it is impossible to live out in real life indicates that it is not the proper understanding. Theology must not only fit with Scripture, but must also fit with what can be lived out in life.

But aside from even the impracticality of this view, it does not actually fit the context of Matthew 12:31-32 as well as we might initially presume. While it is undoubtedly true that in the context of Matthew 12:31-32, Jesus is performing miracles and casting out demons, and the Pharisees accuse Jesus of doing such things by the power of Beelzebub, this does not mean that condemning the work of the Holy Spirit as a work of the devil is the same as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Note that Jesus does not actually say that the religious leaders have committed the unpardonable sin, but rather were on the path to committing it. If they had already committed it, why would Jesus warn them about it?

So attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil is not the unpardonable sin.

Though the Pharisees do make such an accusation against Jesus, He is simply warning them that if they continue on the path they are on, they may likely commit the unpardonable sin. They have not committed it yet, but if they persist in denying all the evidence that is before them, they may come to a place where they are beyond the reach of God’s grace and forgiveness.

Learn More About the Unpardonable Sin

If you have questions about whether or not you have committed the unpardonable sin, here is a whole series of posts I have done on this topic. Feel free to read them all! Please note that most of these posts were drawn from my book, Why You Have Not Committed the Unforgivable Sin, which you can purchase from Amazon for less than $6.

[Click here to learn more about Why You Have Not Committed the Unforgivable Sin, or you may purchase the book from Amazon as an ebook or paperback.]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1494215138 Steven McDade on Facebook

I’m half way through Unforgivable Sin. Why do people still believe that they are NOT forgiven? Good work on debunking poor thinking.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002224551634 Kavin Elume on Facebook

WHAT ABOUT SIN THAT IS UNTO DEATH AS SAITH BY JOHN. WHAT IS IT REALY
Sam

We’re not Pentecostal or charismatic, but a couple of times have been a part of rather eclectic groups that included those who were Pentecostal and/or charismatic.

While we’ve missed out on the folks who bark, cluck and whinny, we have seen those who prophesy (future happenings) and those who seem to think they have the gift of knowing who is present with certain physical or emotional issues. Rather than seeing the accuracy of of their “prophecies”, we noted that they were correct about as often as someone who makes random guesses. However, that does not prove much of anything (except perhaps that they wanted to be correct).

Yes, this behavior is odd, but to attribute it to the devil is also odd. The primary problems I have seen with these behaviors are that they tend to make many people cynical of Christianity (including of Jesus) and they tend to shift the focus away from Jesus. I would suppose that the devil would much prefer to get a bunch of Christians occupying their days with discussing how many angels can sit on the head of a pin or whether or not rolling in the aisles in Spirit led, rather than spending an hour or two loving the unlovable in Jesus name.
- http://www.tillhecomes.org/ Jeremy Myers
  
  Ha ha! I needed a laugh today, Sam, and you provided it! “Bark, cluck and whinny” I love it!
  
  We Christians do separate over a lot of things, often just to avoid what God is really calling us to do – love others like Jesus.
http://helapingsten.wordpress.com/ Micael Grenholm

Interesting thoughts, Jeremy, it has never struck me that Jesus words are a warning rather than a description of an act His opponents just did. Thank you.

However, I find it problematic ti group barking like dogs together with “being slain” (I prefer “resting”) in the Spirit and tooth miracles, and then reject it all. Very few Charismatics today think that behaving like animals are a work of the Spirit, the very few who behaved like that during the Toronto blessing in the 90′s were very marginal. Resting in the Spirit and tooth miracles in the other hand is something the Holy Spirit likely can do. There are several times when people fall down before the presence of God in the Scriptures, and likewise there are several times when God perform miracles where He changes the substance of a material to another. Just because a miracle is not exactly described in the Bible doesn’t mean that it’s “unbiblical and therefore not an act of God”. Many of Jesus miracles had not happened in the Old Testament. And we don’t even know of them all, since John wrote that all books in the world could not contain Jesus’ miracles. The Bible never says that God can only do what’s written in the Bible, the Bible says that we should do the same works of Jesus – and greater!

God bless you!
Micael
- http://www.tillhecomes.org/ Jeremy Myers
  
  Micael,
  
  Yes, I agree that God can (and does) do lots of things that are not written about in Scripture. I do think it is a bit of a stretch to say that because God changed water to wine that he will change fillings into gold… I am not saying God cannot do this. He can. But why would He? It seems too much like a charlatan’s trick to me…
  
  I work with a lot of different religions, and all of them claim miraculous divine intervention from their various deities. How would you disprove the miracles they claim to see on a regular basis?