WHAT ARE THE SINS AGAINST THE HOLY

SPIRIT ?
In Matthew 12:31 Jesus says, “Therefore I tell
you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven
men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will
not be forgiven.”
Jesus called not all blasphemy unpardonable,
but only that against the Holy Spirit. Thus, while
it is usually defined as speaking against God
(see Catechism, no. 2148), in this case
blasphemy is “the refusal to accept salvation.”
There are no limits to the mercy of God, but
anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his
mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of
his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy
Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final
impenitence and eternal loss (CCC 1864).
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church there
are six elements of sin against the Holy Spirit:
1 - PRESUMPTION OF GOD'S MERCY :
We continue to sin with the intention of
repenting before death comes; or if we make
our salvation depend upon our own strength
alone and not upon God: or if we rashly expose
ourselves to the proximate occasions of sin in
the expectation that God will come to our
rescue. We believe our salvation has been
guaranteed by what we has done to deserve it.
It involves pride on our part. (cf. Catechism, no.
2092)
There are two kinds of presumption. Either man
presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to
be able to save himself without help from on
high), or he presumes upon God's almighty
power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his
forgiveness without conversion and glory
without merit
2 - DESPAIR :
This is when a person loses hope of salvation,
judging that his eternal life is already lost and
that he is condemned, even before Judgment. It
means judging divine mercy as being small. It
means not believing in God’s justice and power.
Despair is the willful rejection of hope in that
one judges the duties necessary to obtain
eternal life impossible to fulfill. Despair is a
mortal sin when it arises from distrust of God's
goodness and fidelity.
"By despair, man ceases to hope for his
personal salvation from God (no. 2091), for help
in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins.
Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his
justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises -
and to his mercy. "Despair is also directly
contrary to the theological virtue of hope, which
is, in part, a reliance on the grace of the Holy
Spirit (Catechism, no. 1817).
3 - IMPUGNING THE KNOWN TRUTH :
To "impugn" the known truth means to attack it
by word or argument, to resist it, to contradict it,
or even to oppose the known truth or to
challenge it as false.
One of the sins against the Holy Spirit which
are said to be without forgiveness. It implies a
clear-eyed malice in refusing to accept truth
known to come from God. One in such
obstinate blindness would need an
extraordinary grace before he could repent, and
this, though possible, cannot be expected in the
ordinary course of God's dispensation. If,
however he were to genuinely repent and
amend his life, he would obtain forgiveness.
Resisting divine truth is to resist that which one
knows to have been revealed by the Holy Spirit
as necessary to “divine and catholic faith.” One
is guilty of heresy, thereby cutting themselves
off from God (cf. Catechism, no. 2089).
4 - ENVY AT ANOTHER'S SPIRITUAL GOOD :
One of the deadly sins when one has sadness
because of another's good, especially if it is as
regarded as a lessening of one's own. It is a sin
against charity, whereby we should be at the
good of others, and in a matter of weight is
mortal. That acute form of envy popularly called
jealously, is particularly dangerous for it often
leads to brooding upon our own sufferings, to
fomenting ill-will against our neighbor to
underhand revenge by word or deed, or even to
open violence. Envy is a sin against the Holy
Spirit because it was through Satan’s envy that
death entered the world (cf. Catechism, no.
2538; Wis. 2:24)
Envy is a sentiment of discontent because
someone else obtained something good, even if
you yourself already possess it or could obtain
it some day. It’s the act of not wanting what is
good for your neighbor. With this sin, I make
myself the judge of the world. I’m revolting
against the Divine Will. I’m rebelling against the
law of love for one’s neighbor.
Regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the First
Letter of Paul to the Corinthians states, "All
these are activated by one and the same Spirit,
who allots to each one individually as the Spirit
chooses." To envy the spiritual good of another
is to question the Divine judgment of the Holy
Spirit in His distribution of spiritual gifts. It is to
be jealous of another person who has a gift
different than one's own gift. Through envy, one
rejects the gift that he has received from the
Holy Spirit, determining in his own mind that the
gift he has received is not good enough for him
and he wants someone else's gift.
5 - OBSTINACY IN SIN :
Means to resist the sanctifying power of the
Holy Spirit, to be stubborn, to persist in sin, to
be unyielding. Shutting the heart to all
promptings of grace and refusing to be moved
to repentance by circumstances no matter how
favorable. It implies grievous malice and is one
of the sins against the Holy Spirit!
The firm will to continue in error even after
receiving the light and help of the Holy Spirit.
This is when a person creates his own criteria
for ethical judgment, or simply doesn’t adopt
any ethics at all, and in this way separates
himself from God’s will and rejects salvation.
6 - FINAL IMPENITENCE :
The sin against the Holy Ghost committed by
one who, at the hour of death remains
impenitent of his grievous sins. (cf. Catechism,
nos. 1430-33).
"Impenitence" means to be uncontrite,
unrepentant, hardened, unconverted, to be
without regret, shame or remorse. Hardening of
heart supposes blindness of mind, and a will
carried on to evil with feeble movements toward
good. The soul no longer derives profit from
good advice, from sermons, it no longer reads
the Gospel, no longer frequents the church. It
resists even the warnings of genuine friends.
It is the result of an entire life of rejecting God.
This is when a person persists in error until the
very end. It’s the equivalent of consecrating
oneself to Christ’s adversary. Even at the hour
of death, such a person refuses to approach the
Father with humility. He doesn’t open himself to
the Holy Spirit’s invitation.
APART FROM THE ABOVE 6, A CASE CAN
BE MADE FOR MORE SINS THROUGH
SCRIPTURE
1. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit – It is
deliberately rejecting Christ, rejecting His
message and gift of salvation. Reference:
Matthew 12:31 KJV and commentary.
2. Lying to or tempting the Holy Spirit – As
brought to us in detail in the story of the greed
of Ananias and Sapphira in secretly withholding
a part of the price of the land which was sold to
provide money to be held in common interest
by all. Reference: Acts 5: 4-9 KJV and
commentary.
3. Despising the Holy Spirit – Exceeding
rejection of Christ by verbally and actively
discounting Christ to others and ridiculing to all
that His blood sacrifice counts for nothing.
Actively working to discourage or terminate
another’s belief in Christ. Reference: Hebrews
10:29 KJV and commentary.
4. Resisting or striving with the Holy Spirit –
Choosing to resist the promptings (the
convicting of the Holy Spirit to convince you of
your sinfulness) of the Holy spirit as he judges.
Man was given 120 years after the warning of
the coming judgement of the great flood before
it actually occurred. During that time that the
Lord’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) judged and
convicted them of their sinfulness, yet only
Noah (means “rest”) and his family responded
and moved with that conviction. In similar
manner, if we resist or continue to resist the
promptings of the Holy Spirit, we do so at great
peril. Reference: Genesis 6:3 KJV and
commentary.
5. Vexing or grieving the Holy Spirit – Making
the Holy Spirit weary with you. That sounds
impossible, or too simple, but remember how
Israel would win battles when they did not
grieve the Lord with their all too common
disobedience, and of how they would lose
battles and eventually lose their nation when
they did grieve God. Also, immediately
preceding the Emmanuel Prophecy (Isaiah
7:14) there is a good example of the word
“weary” (grieve) is given in Isaiah 7:13, where
Isaiah answers king Ahaz: “Is it a small thing for
you to weary men, but you weary my God
also?”. Reference: Isaiah 7:13, 63:10 and
Ephesians 4:30 KJV and commentary.
6. Quenching the Holy Spirit – Very similar to
resisting the Holy Spirit, but in the sense of
hindering His promptings so as to suppress
them. Reference: 1 Thessalonians: 5:19 KJV
and commentary.
When comparing these examples to one
another, a clear and central theme emerges:
they are all varying degrees of “disbelief”. (“But
without faith, it is impossible to please God;”
Hebrews 11:6)
CONCLUSION
For any sin to be classified as "mortal" it has to
be a grave matter, and you have to commit it
with full and free consent, and full knowledge
that it is gravely wrong.
If a certain kind of sin of blasphemy goes so
deep that it's truly unforgivable, there's a good
reason for this. But the reason is not because
our God of Mercy isn't willing to forgive, but
because the sinner has rendered himself
completely incapable of repentance, hardened
beyond recall. Since God will not compel the
person's repentance, there is nothing more He
can do for him. He cannot forgive a heart that is
stubbornly impenitent to the bitter end.