Ask Father Mike: What is the sin that ‘cannot be forgiven’?

Ask Father Mike


Thank you for this question. If there is anything that could inspire fear in the heart of a believer, it is the idea that we could do something that God couldn’t handle. Or the notion that a person could sin against God in such a way that he would not be able or would not be willing to forgive them. Is that what Jesus meant when He said, “I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven”? (Matthew 12:31). 

The first thing that we need to be reminded of is the fact that there is no sin that is so bad that God would be unable to handle it. This is critical for us to understand: God is infinite. God’s mercy is infinite. God’s love for humanity (and more to the point, his love for you personally) is infinite. There is no end to it. God does not “struggle” to forgive us. The power of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection has the power to redeem the entire world. When Jesus became one of us through the Incarnation, God united his divinity with humanity. When he offered himself to the Father on the Cross, his trusting obedience conquered everything that has the power to conquer us: sin, death, suffering …. 

Because of this, we know that there are absolutely no sins that God is not willing to forgive. Stay with that truth for a moment: there is no sin that God does not want to forgive. He demonstrated in Christ that he wants all of us to be reconciled with him, no matter how much we may have rejected him and no matter what we have done. There is no sin that disqualifies us from God’s love. 

Not only that, but since God is infinite, his sacrifice for us is also infinite. No matter how bad a sin might be, that sin is still finite: there is a limit to it. But God’s love and power are without limit. There is no sin that God cannot handle. There is no sin that God will not or cannot forgive. 

So, what is Jesus talking about when he says that “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven”? What does that mean? What is that particular sin? 

The ancient Catholic understanding of this teaching is this: There is no “one” sin against the Holy Spirit. It could actually be anything. It does not depend on the tragedy or awfulness of the sin. A sin against the Holy Spirit is any sin that we do not allow God to forgive. 

That’s it. Simply put: God is willing and able to forgive absolutely any sin we are guilty of. He loves you, and he has taken all of the sins of the world upon himself to such a degree that all of them can be forgiven — except for the sin that we will not give God permission to forgive. If we were to harden our heart to the Lord in such a way that we refuse to allow his love to enter our heart, then God will not force his way in. 

I always like to describe sin in these terms. Sin is not merely breaking a rule, and sin is not “making a mistake.” Sin is when we say to God with our actions, “God, I know what you want. I don’t care. I want what I want.” We use our free will to place ourselves outside of God’s reach. Not that God cannot reach us, but he will not violate our free will. If we refuse to come into his mercy, he will not force us. If we refuse to allow him to forgive us, he will not override our refusal. 

This is one of the reasons pride is the most deadly of all of the sins. If a person were to fall into any kind of sin (even repeated and deadly sins) but continued to choose humility and hope, they will always be forgiven by the Lord. But if a person lacks humility and hope, then even a small sin could be enough to keep them from mercy. In his book, “The Screwtape Letters,” author C.S. Lewis taught about the spiritual life from the perspective of a senior demon/tempter instructing a junior demon on how to lead a soul to Hell. When it comes to the severity of sin, he said, it is like this: “Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.” 

If I grasp onto to my sin, no matter what it is, rather than entrust my sins and my heart to the Lord, the end result is the same: I die saying, “God, I know what you want (to forgive me), but I want what I want (to hold myself to a higher standard than even you are holding me to).” This is why pride and despair need to be conquered by humility and hope. 

If you want to avoid this sin against the Holy Spirit, my invitation is to consistently ask God to soften your heart. We can have a hard heart in three ways: we can harden our heart to God, to others, and to ourselves. We harden our heart to God when we persist in our sin and do not allow the Source of truth to tell us right from wrong. We harden our hearts to others when we choose to give in to resentment and unforgiveness. And we harden our hearts to ourselves when we do not allow God to extend his grace to us. 

Father Michael Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.