There’s a really scary verse in the gospels that talks about an unforgivable sin, the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We’re told that anything can be forgiven or pardoned except this sin. Do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
It’s not likely that any of us in church regularly on Sundays who pray and worship God and hear and apply His Word are ever in danger of blaspheming the Spirit. In fact, if you’ve ever read that verse and thought to yourself, “Uh oh! That’s not good. I hope I’m not blaspheming the Spirit.” Chances are that just by being concerned about this in your own life and wanting to make sure that you’re not doing this, you probably are not blaspheming the Spirit.
But closely related to blaspheming the Spirit is the idea of grieving the Spirit. In fact, when we continue in patterns of grieving the Spirit without repentance or remorse, that is the path that leads to blaspheming the Spirit. I remember the first time I really came to the realization that the Holy Spirit could be grieved by me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. It brought to reality to me that the Spirit has emotions, just like Jesus was angry at the vendors in the temple courtyard, and God is joyful when we come to salvation in Him, the Spirit also has emotions and He can be grieved.
This idea grieved me. The Spirit can be hurt by me? He can be saddened by my actions or my words? Does that seem arrogant to say that I can injure the very Spirit of God? How does someone grieve the Spirit, so I can make sure that I’m not doing that? I love the Lord deeply, and the last thing I want to do is to make His Spirit deeply sad. Maybe you’ve had thoughts like this too, and I thought it was only appropriate as we’re closing up a series on the Holy Spirit, to talk about the nature of the grief of the Spirit.
Let’s start with scripture. There are three key verses in the Bible that speak about the grief of the Spirit, though there are many others that give understanding to the topic as well. But, I want to look at the key verses and see how they help us understand grieving the Spirit.
The first we find in Isaiah 63:10. In fact, this is the verse that all the New Testament verses about grieving the Spirit refer to, so it is important for us to look at. “But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.” (NASB)
We often talk about the ancient Israel nation in negative terms. We beat them up in church. How could God’s chosen people, whom He had lived amongst in a tent with His Holy cloud resting over it, they could see His presence; His people who saw His power and miraculous might against the Egyptians; how could they keep going back to idols over and over again when they got to see God’s power move in ways that we haven’t?
What this verse in Isaiah 63:10 zeroes in on, is how the ancient Israelites broke the relationship with the God they knew. They knew Him, they had seen Him move in powerful and amazing ways. They had been personally saved and ministered to. In the verses just before this verse, Isaiah speaks about, and remembers all that they had seen from God, that they had known His rich mercies, that they had been granted a lot by the Lord, that they had known His great goodness toward Israel, that He had given them compassion, that He trusted them not to deal falsely, that He became their Savior and was distressed when they were distressed, that His presence saved them, that His love and mercy had redeemed them, that He had lifted them up and carried them all. Israel had received and enjoyed every GOOD thing from God.
But they REBELLED. Even though they had received all of God’s goodness, even though they knew Him, had seen Him act, they rebelled against the God they knew and broke their relationship with Him. The consequences were that God left them to their chosen course. When they continued to turn to foreign gods and idols over Him, the One they knew, He let them. There were grave consequences, they were displaced from their homes, and many did not return home, choosing rather to stay where they could continue to rebel against the God they had once known.
Isaiah tells us that this grieves the Holy Spirit. When a person who knows God’s goodness, has become aware of who He is, has received every good thing from Him and knows Him well, chooses to break that relationship and choose what is outside of God’s goodness, this grieves the Spirit. These actions make the Spirit sad, mournful.
Like I said, we like to beat up ancient Israel about this, but each of us has likely chosen this path as well at some point. Maybe you’re still doing this. Maybe you know someone who is actively doing this. If you know God, know who He is and what He has done for you through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, have received salvation and every good thing, but at some point have rebelled against that relationship, even if just once, then this is a breaking of that relationship with the God you know, and it grieves the Spirit.
Let’s look at the second passage, in Ephesians 4:30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (NASB) That verse in of itself doesn’t help us understand which actions grieve the Spirit, it just tells us not to do so. But, if we look at what comes before and after, this is what we find, from verse 25-32,
“Therefore, ridding yourselves of falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are parts of one another. 26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28 The one who steals must no longer steal; but rather he must labor, producing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. 29 Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (NASB)
What we find before and after this verse with the command not to grieve the Spirit are words about how to treat others, particularly those in the church who have also been sealed for the day of redemption by the Holy Spirit of God. We are told to speak the truth to others, to not sin in our anger toward others and thereby give the devil an opportunity to cause disunity in the church, to share, to labor, to speak with good words that are useful for building others up, to be kind to one another, compassionate and forgiving.
So what we realize after looking at the entire passage is that when we don’t treat others, especially those in the church, with the attitude Paul describes here, that is what grieves the Spirit. When we allow disunity, gossip, and HATE to seep into the church through our actions and words, we break the relationship that we have with others who are sealed by the Spirit just as we are.
We talk a lot about the kind of radical discipleship Jesus expects of His followers. This life we’re called to is meant to look radically different than the lives of those in the world. There should be something markedly different about us to every person we meet. When we break the relationship with other believers through our disunity, gossip and hate, it grieves the Spirit, not only because we have treated others in the body of Christ with contempt, but also because it shows that we have failed to fulfill the kind of radical changes that God expects of His disciples. He expects that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to radically change us, but when we ignore the Spirit’s movement in our own hearts toward others, this grieves Him.
The consequence of this is that the witness of the church is broken and damaged. It damages how other Christians see our witness, how open they will be to trusting us and hearing the Spirit through us, and it damages our witness to other pre-Christians who become aware of how the relationship between Christians has been broken. Have an honest conversation with someone who is not a believer sometime about their view of the church. It’s sad, and often, the negative perception was reached because of something some Christian did that broke their relationship with other Christians in a way that grieved the Spirit.
Finally, we have Acts 7:51, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.” (NASB) This passage is at the end of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin. Stephen was the first martyr we read about in the New Testament. The Sanhedrin, a council composed of elders and wise men and even Pharisees, headed up by the High Priest, had charged Stephen with blasphemy. The punishment was death. But before Stephen was stoned to death, he gave this fiery and gospel-centered speech you can read in Acts 7.
When he was done speaking, and reminding them of their history, all they had been through and all God had done for them, he accused them of resisting the Holy Spirit, just as their ancestors had done. They had heard about God, the Pharisees claimed to follow Him, the High Priest certainly should’ve known God personally. But when it came down to it, they didn’t know God, they knew about Him. And they continued to reject Him, even though they were “God’s people”. They chose instead to cling to religious heritage and cultural TRADITIONS, and failed to come to a covenant relationship. They knew about God, but never came to a saving faith.
You likely have met someone like this too. They grew up in church; their culture was deeply religious and they had a lot of religious heritage; their grandpa was a preacher; their family have been part of that church for seven generations; they played in the worship team; they’re the pastor’s kids…they have all this rich religious heritage, but because they personally continued to reject a covenant relationship with the God that they had always been told about, the consequence is that salvation is never truly accepted, and their lives are never truly changed.
It’s not enough to just know about God, you must have a personal relationship with Him through Christ Jesus. It is not enough to just grow up in church or have a culture that is religious. It is not enough to cling to tradition of your family. When you reject a personal relationship with Christ, this too grieves the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit has feelings. He can be deeply grieved by the choices we make. And when we make choices that break relationships, either a broken relationship with the God we know personally, or a broken relationship with others who are sealed by the Spirit, or a rejected relationship with the God we’ve heard about but never known, these things grieve the Spirit. The Spirit is all about holiness and healing relationships. He works in us who know Him to heal our relationship with God. He works in us to heal our relationships with the church. He works in us to bring us to God through Christ the Son. This is His work in us, and when we refuse His help, when we reject His working, when we ignore His prompting, this grieves Him.
1. How will the knowledge that the Holy Spirit has feelings, and can be grieved, affect your daily life?
2. Where have you noticed your own actions grieving the Spirit before, if ever?
3. What sins or broken relationships do you need to repent of?