Dist. 43
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/2/d/43/q/bon-sent-II-d43-littera
----------------------------------------
### Distinction XLIII.
### *Single chapter. On the sin against the Holy Spirit.*

There is, besides, a certain kind of sin graver and more abominable than the rest, which is called the sin against the Holy Spirit, of which the Truth says in the Gospel: *Whoever shall sin against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither here nor in the world to come.* And John in his Canonical Epistle: *There is a sin unto death; I do not say that for it one should pray. For he who sins against the Father, it shall be forgiven him; and he who sins against the Son, it shall be forgiven him; but he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither here nor in the world to come.* — But it is asked what that sin against the Holy Spirit or unto death is. — « Some say it is the sin of *despair* or of *obstinacy.* Obstinacy is the stubbornness of a mind hardened in wickedness, by which a man becomes impenitent. Despair is that by which someone utterly distrusts the goodness of God, judging that his own wickedness exceeds the greatness of the divine goodness », like Cain, who said: *My iniquity is greater than that I should deserve pardon.* But each

is said to be a sin against the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is the love of the Father and the Son, and the benignity by which they love each other and us, which is so great that it has no end. Rightly, therefore, are those said to offend against the Holy Spirit who by their own wickedness think to overcome the goodness of God, and therefore do not take up penance, and who cling to iniquity with a mind so stubborn that they purpose never to abandon it and never to return to the goodness of the Holy Spirit, abusing the patience of God and presuming too much upon the mercy of God; to whom wickedness is pleasing for its own sake, as goodness is to the pious. *These* sin by excessive *stubbornness* and *presumption,* supposing that God is not just; *those,* by *despair,* deem God not good, removing in this most turbulent sea of iniquities the harbor of the divine indulgence to which, tossed about, they might betake themselves. And by that very despair they add sins to sins, saying: There is no mercy, and condemnation is owed to sinners as a necessity.

But it is asked whether every *obstinacy* of a mind hardened in wickedness, and every *despair,* is a sin against the Holy Spirit. — Some say that *every* obstinacy and every despair is a sin against the Holy Spirit. But if this be so, that sin is sometimes forgiven, since many even of the most obstinate and most despairing are converted, as Augustine says upon that passage of the Psalm: *I will turn into the depth of the sea,* that is, those « who were most despairing », and there: *He sends his crystal like morsels,* that is, « he makes the obstinate teachers of others ». The conversion of such is also evidently shown there where he says: *He who leads out the bound in strength; likewise those who provoke, who dwell in tombs.* According to these, that sin is called irremissible, not because it is never remitted, but because it is remitted scarcely and rarely and with difficulty. For the crystal is not dissolved except by a vehement onset of the spirit. — But others hand down that not just any obstinacy or despair is called a sin against the Holy Spirit, but only that which impenitence accompanies; and these also call *impenitence* the sin against the Holy Spirit. But since Augustine says that *impenitence* is the sin against the Holy Spirit, when someone is so obstinate that he does not repent, it must be examined whether obstinacy is one sin in him and impenitence another, or whether it is the same sin committed in different ways. According to these, that sin is called irremissible because it is never remitted. Hence Augustine also says that this sin alone cannot merit pardon; and Jerome on Mark, that one who sins in such a way cannot worthily repent. And therefore John rightly says, *that no one should pray for it;* because he who sins thus cannot be helped here or in the world to come by the prayers of the Church, having a heart hardened like a stone, as is read of the devil. After this life, those who are gravely wicked cannot be helped by the merits of the Church.

There is also another assignation of this sin. For Augustine, defining this sin in the book *On the Lord's Sermon on the Mount*, says: « The *sin unto death* is when, after the acknowledgment of God through the grace of Christ, someone assails brotherhood, and against that very grace, by which he was reconciled to God, is driven by the firebrands of envy »; « which perhaps is to sin against the Holy Spirit, which sin is said *not to be remitted* », « not because it ought not to be forgiven to the sinner, if he should repent, but because so great is the stain of that sin that it cannot submit to the humility of entreating, even if it should be compelled by an evil conscience to acknowledge and confess its sin; as Judas, when he said *I have sinned,* despairing, ran more readily to the noose than ask pardon in humility; which, on account of the magnitude of the sin, it must be believed that such ones have already from the condemnation of the sin ». — Behold, a certain assignation of the sin against the *Holy Spirit* or *unto death* is here set down, by which that sin is handed down to be the assailing of brotherhood after acknowledgment, and *envy of grace* after reconciliation; which can be understood as a certain species of *obstinacy.* — Yet Augustine, recalling that definition in the book of the *Retractations*, discloses, not by asserting that he had said it, that something is to be added there, saying thus: « *This indeed I did not affirm, since I said that I supposed this. But yet it had to be added: if he should end this life in this wicked perversity of mind,* since one must not despair of anyone, however utterly wicked, while he is constituted in this life; nor is prayer imprudently made for one of whom there is no despair ». — By these words it is intimated that the sin described by the foregoing definition ought to be called unto death, or against the Holy Spirit, only then when it has impenitence as its companion, and that one must not despair of any sinner in this life, and therefore one must pray for everyone. Hence that saying of John: *I do not say that one should pray for it,* seems to be taken thus, that we should not pray for someone sinning unto death or against the Holy Spirit after he has ended this life. But while he is in this life, we must neither judge his sin nor despair of him, but pray for him. Hence Augustine, *On the Words of the Lord*, concerning impenitence, which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, speaks thus: « This impenitence, or impenitent heart, so long as anyone lives in this flesh, cannot be judged. For one must despair of no one, so long as the patience of God leads to penance. He is a pagan today, a Jew, an unbeliever today, a heretic today, a schismatic today — what if tomorrow he should embrace catholic peace and follow catholic truth? What if those whom in any kind of error you brand and condemn as utterly desperate should, before they end this life, do penance and find true rest and life in the world to come? *Do not, therefore, judge anything before the time* ». — From these things it is shown that one must pray for each of the sinners in this life, and one must not distrust of anyone, because he can be converted, while in

this life he is; because it cannot be known of anyone whether he has sinned unto death or against the Holy Spirit, except when he has departed from this life, unless perchance it be revealed to someone marvelously through the Holy Spirit. From the foregoing it can be grasped in some measure how the sin against the Holy Spirit is to be understood, namely, *envy* impenitently assailing the brotherhood of grace, which surely seems to be obstinacy, and the *obstinacy* and *despair* of every impenitent person. But it must be noted that not everyone who does not repent can be called *impenitent,* because *impenitence* properly belongs to the obstinate, and, as some hold, also to the despairing.

Concerning this sin against the Holy Spirit Ambrose also, discoursing in the book *On the Holy Spirit,* hands down a definite assignation, saying: « Why the Lord said: *Whoever shall blaspheme against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, neither here nor in the world to come shall it be forgiven him,* attend diligently. Is the offense against the Son one thing, and against the Holy Spirit another? As there is one dignity, so there is one injury. But if anyone, deceived by the appearance of the body, feels somewhat too remissly about the flesh of Christ, less than is fitting, he has fault, yet is not excluded from pardon. But if anyone should deny the eternal dignity, majesty, and power of the Holy Spirit, and suppose that *demons are cast out not in the Spirit of God, but in Beelzebub,* there can be no exhortation to pardon, where there is the fullness of sacrilege ». — Quite plainly it is here explained what the sin against the Holy Spirit is. And this seems to agree with that description of Augustine, by which that sin is said to be *envy of grace* assailing *brotherhood.* For he who, after the knowledge of the truth of the Holy Spirit, denies the truth, and says his works are of Beelzebub, is not doubted to envy the power, goodness, and grace of God. — Therefore that distinction of words is not to be taken as though the offenses of the three persons were divided, but there the kinds of sins are distinguished. For sin against the Father is understood to be that which is done through weakness, because Scripture frequently attributes power to the Father; sin against the Son, that which is done through ignorance, because wisdom is attributed to the Son; the third has been expounded. He, therefore, who sins through weakness or through ignorance easily obtains pardon, but not he who sins against the Holy Spirit. But since the power, wisdom, and goodness of the three is one, why power is more often assigned to the Father, wisdom to the Son, and goodness to the Holy Spirit, has been said above.

---