Outraging the Spirit of Grace

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 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?

Hebrews 10:28-29

The definition of grace is “divine influence upon the heart”. What does it mean to “outrage the Spirit of grace”? Grace is a concept that appears in many belief systems of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism. All these systems of religions have different views as to how one obtains divine grace. The Greek word translated “grace” is charis.

G5485 (Strong)
χάρις
charis
khar’-ece
From G5463; graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude)

Outraging the Spirit of grace is akin to blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Luk 12:8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God,
Luk 12:9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
Luk 12:10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
Luk 12:11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,
Luk 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Having spent forty-seven years in the Christian church, it was always taught to us that we were not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. I have only ever heard one teacher try to define what it would mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. He told us that if we were worried that we have blasphemed, than chances are we haven’t. I suppose that is likely true, but this whole concept seems much too important to keep people guessing. This is where the words of Yahweh, that Jeremiah spoke, become applicable today.

Jer 23:16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their mind, They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.
Jer 23:17 They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’
Jer 23:18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively to his word and heard it?

The writer of Hebrews gives us a good picture of what it is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

Heb 10:19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
Heb 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
Heb 10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Heb 10:26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
Heb 10:28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
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?
Heb 10:30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

If we do a short study on the word for “outrage” as in “outraged the Spirit of grace”, we find the root word in Strong’s G5195.

G5195
ὑβρίζω
hubrizō
Thayer Definition:
1) to be insolent, to behave insolently, wantonly, outrageously
2) to act insolently and shamefully towards one, to treat shamefully
3) of one who injures another by speaking evil of him

If we look up the meaning of the Greek word translated to blaspheme, it has a similar meaning. It is Strong’s G987.

G987
βλασφημέω
blasphēmeō
Thayer Definition:
1) to speak reproachfully, rail at, revile, calumniate, blaspheme
2) to be evil spoken of, reviled, railed at

The writer of Hebrews is telling us we blaspheme the Holy Spirit of grace by deliberately sinning. This makes sense in light of most scripture, and in another place in Hebrews we see a similar concept.

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
Heb 6:5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Heb 6:6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
Heb 6:7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
Heb 6:8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

These are hard words, but fall in line with blaspheming, insulting and outraging the Spirit of grace. Grace is a free gift from God that helps us stop breaking the commandments of God.

Heb 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
Heb 2:15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Heb 2:16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

With the sacrificial system, there were no offerings for most intentional sins. Please see my blog post Sacrificial System Relevance for more on unintentional and intentional sins. Before Jesus came in the flesh, there really was not much anyone could do for intentional sin, except plead to the Father as in David’s case. Hebrews 10:28, “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses”.

David showed us that Yahweh displayed mercy even with intentional sin before the cross. David still lost his son because of it.

2Sa 12:9 Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes? Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites!
2Sa 12:10 So then, a sword will not turn away from your house forever, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife!’
2Sa 12:11 Thus says Yahweh, ‘Look, I am going to raise up evil against you from within your house, and I will take your women before your eyes, and I will give them to your neighbor, and he shall sleep with your wives in broad daylight.
2Sa 12:12 Though you did this in secret, I will do this thing before all of Israel in broad daylight!'”
2Sa 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh!” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die.
2Sa 12:14 But because you have utterly scorned Yahweh in this matter, the son born for you will certainly die.”

The Spirit of grace is what enables us to please Yahweh. When we let the Spirit work in us we can be obedient through faith. Jesus then promised another helper, the Spirit of truth. I realize that those in Christianity have probably never heard of the Spirit of truth, but it is in the Gospel of John, written in red. John talks about it in his letters too. This is not coming from some foreign text or unique translation. This is the English Standard Version of the Bible.

Joh 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Joh 14:17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Joh 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Joh 14:20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Joh 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Joh 14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
Joh 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
Joh 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Once a person stops resisting the Spirit of grace, that is divine influence of the heart to keep God’s commandments, a second comforter will come with the truth. The options are obedience then truth, blasphemy leading to damnation, or a seared conscience and a reprobate mind.

Rom 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Rom 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Unfortunately, without the Spirit of truth, none of this will make sense. Only Yahweh, through His Spirit, can undo the centuries of lies that have been told to the church. Lies that say it is okay to blend other gods into the worship of Yahweh, no one can keep God’s commandments, we shouldn’t try to keep His commandments, and so on. All of these lies come from the spirit of AntiChrist. The spirit of AntiChrist and error replace the Holy Spirit with anything that is contrary to the Holy Spirit.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1Jn 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
1Jn 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
1Jn 4:4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1Jn 4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
1Jn 4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

The spirit of error tells us not to follow God’s commandments because there is nothing we can do ourselves to be saved. This is deception because we are told over and over again in scripture to follow the commandments, not because it can save us, but because it shows we are saved. Faith is obedience. John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”. Salvation is a free gift from God.

The choice is yours: blaspheme the Holy Spirit of grace by trampling underfoot the son of God, sear your conscience and be given over to a debased mind listening to the spirit of error, or let the Spirit of grace divinely influence your heart to obedience (write laws on your heart), keep the commandments and receive the Spirit of truth.

The featured image is by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash.