The sin in Hebrews 10 is aggravated by the fact that the offense against Christ by the apostate in that text is worse in its character than the offenses of the crowds and the Pharisees against Christ in Matthew 12. In Matthew 12, the crowds were sinning against Him in thought and word, but it seems most probable that we’re to understand that they did so in some ignorance since the process of revealing His identity had not yet reached its culmination. On the other hand, the Pharisees were sinning against Him in thought and word too, but were also doing so in deed by conspiring to destroy Him (Matt 12:14).

Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

Matt 12:32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

During a recent small group Bible study, a good question came up about the two passages above. Both passages describe sins against Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Strikingly, however, the offender against Jesus in Matt 12:32 will be forgiven, while the offender against Jesus in Heb 10:29 will be everlastingly punished. Do these two statements contradict one another, or do they harmonize with each other? If they harmonize, how do they harmonize? Here’s my take.

As a first step, it might help us to refer to two passages, 2 Pet 2:20-22 and Rom 2:4-5. In 2 Peter, Peter describes apostates. What stands out to me is 2:20, where Peter states that the last state has become worse for them than the first. I understand him to mean that the last state of apostasy is worse than the first state of (simple) unbelief, and that last state is worse because there is neither renewal from nor atonement for it. Turning to Romans 2, Paul says to the hardhearted and unrepentant hypocrite that you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath (2:5). For the hypocrite who continues in unbelief, God’s wrath against him only accumulates (and presumably gets worse by being compounded) for him over time. What I gather from those descriptions in 2 Peter 2 and Romans 2 is that unbelief is a state (condition) that may vary from bad to worse.

Another step that seems to help us is to keep in mind WLC Q/A 151, in which we are taught that sins may be aggravated by who the offender is, who the offended party is, what the effect of the offense is, what its character is, or when and where it happens. These factors, I believe, assist us to sort out some differences between Matt 12:32 and Heb 10:29. As I see it, though both passages record offenses against Christ, the sin in Heb 10:29 is aggravated in three ways that are not present in the sin in Matt 12:32. Those aggravations seem to clarify why the sin against Christ in Heb 10:29 is unforgivable, but the sin against Christ in Matt 12:32 is forgivable.

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