St. Mark 3: 21 – 35

21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.

28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.

32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Before I knew about study Bibles, I always read verse 29 very literally and it made sense to me because of all the cursing one hears in a life time, we never hear any kind of foul language that uses the title Holy Spirit. This morning I decided I’d find out for sure what this particular sin is – just to make sure I’m not committing it, lol!

The St. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible shares this:

“an eternal sin: The scribes utter blasphemy by attributing to Satan what is actually the work of the Holy Spirit. Their sin is not unforgivable in principal since no sin can place us beyond the reach of God’s mercy. However, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a form of rebellion that is particularly grievous because it blinds people to their own need for forgiveness; in this case, sins are unpardonable when they are not confessed with contrition. The sin against the Holy Spirit was prefigured in the OT when the Israelites fashioned the golden calf (Ex. 32:1-6). Instead of giving worship and thanks to Yahweh for their deliverance, they honored as their true redeemer an idol of their own making (Ex. 32:4).