Exploring the Meaning of Blasphemia in Greek

βλασφημία (Blasphemia) means “blasphemy.” In the New Testament passages where it appears, it names a kind of speech treated as a grave moral evil, sometimes as a specific accusation against Jesus and sometimes as a vice to be put away.

Occurrences

“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.” (Matthew 12:31)

Here βλασφημία is paired with “sin” as something for which forgiveness can be granted. Yet the same verse distinguishes one particular instance—“the blasphemy against the Spirit”—as uniquely excluded from forgiveness. The word functions as the name of a serious, accountable offense, and the sentence frames it in terms of divine pardon and its limits.

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:19)

In this list, βλασφημίαι (“blasphemies”) is one item among acts and speech-acts that originate “out of the heart.” The plural places it alongside “false testimony,” indicating the word’s role among corrupt expressions that flow from inner moral disorder.

“Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy.” (Matthew 26:65)

βλασφημία is the direct charge that triggers the high priest’s dramatic response (“tore his clothing”) and ends the need for further testimony. It is framed as an utterance (“He has spoken…”) that the hearers themselves have directly “heard,” so the word here marks an alleged verbal offense treated as self-evident to the court.

“Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme;” (Mark 3:28)

βλασφημίαι is included within a broad assurance of forgiveness: “all sins… including their blasphemies.” The construction ties the noun to the action (“with which they may blaspheme”), presenting the word as an identifiable category of wrongdoing that people commit and for which forgiveness is in view.

“covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.” (Mark 7:22)

Within this vice list, βλασφημία appears as one component of a cluster of moral evils. Its placement among inner dispositions (“lustful desires,” “pride”) and social harms (“deceit”) portrays it as a corrupt practice that belongs to a larger pattern of wickedness.

“You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” They all condemned him to be worthy of death.” (Mark 14:64)

βλασφημία is again presented as something “heard,” functioning as the pivotal offense in a judgment scene. The verdict—“They all condemned him to be worthy of death”—shows the charge operating not merely as an insult but as a decisive legal-religious ground for condemnation in that setting.

“The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”” (Luke 5:21)

Here βλασφημίας (“blasphemies”) is the label the scribes and Pharisees apply to someone’s words, and the reason is supplied in their question: “Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” The term therefore marks speech perceived as illegitimately taking a divine prerogative, and it surfaces as the interpretive conclusion of their internal reasoning.

“The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”” (John 10:33)

βλασφημία is the stated basis for attempted punishment (“We don’t stone you… but for blasphemy”). The explanation clause defines what they mean by the accusation in this instance: “you, being a man, make yourself God.” The word thus operates as a charge tied to claims about identity and status, sharply distinguished from “a good work.”

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31)

βλασφημία appears here as “slander,” grouped with destructive attitudes and expressions (“bitterness… anger… outcry”). The imperative “be put away from you” frames it as a communal and personal practice to remove, and its pairing with “malice” gives it a social edge: a harmful manner of speaking that accompanies ill will.

“but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.” (Colossians 3:8)

Again translated “slander,” βλασφημία is something to “put… away,” now explicitly linked to speech “out of your mouth.” The verse connects it with other speech-related wrong (“shameful speaking”) and with inner vices (“anger… malice”), locating it at the intersection of inward hostility and outward expression.

“he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,” (1 Timothy 6:4)

In this description of a quarrelsome person, βλασφημίαι appears as “insulting,” listed among the products of “arguments, disputes, and word battles.” The word contributes the idea of injurious speech that emerges from contentious verbal conflict, alongside “envy” and “strife.”

“But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!”” (Jude 1:9)

βλασφημίας is rendered “an abusive condemnation,” something Michael “dared not bring” even while “contending” and “arguing.” The contrast highlights restraint: even in conflict, βλασφημία is presented as a kind of speech-act withheld, replaced by an appeal to the Lord’s rebuke.

Sense and Usage

Across these passages, βλασφημία consistently names a severe wrong expressed in words, whether directed upward toward God (as understood by opponents who protest divine prerogatives) or outward toward others (as “slander,” “insulting,” and “abusive condemnation”). In the Gospel narratives, the term is most visible as a courtroom-like accusation: hearers identify something they have “heard” (Matthew 26:65; Mark 14:64) and judge it worthy of decisive action. Luke 5:21 and John 10:33 give the inner logic of that accusation: speech is branded βλασφημία when it is perceived to trespass on what “God alone” may do or to collapse the distinction between “a man” and God.

At the same time, the word also appears in moral catalogs that treat it as part of a larger complex of evils issuing from within (Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:22). In those lists, it stands beside both violent acts (“murders”) and other speech-sins (“false testimony”), placing it among behaviors that disclose a corrupted heart. This list-context does not reduce its seriousness; rather, it situates it among concrete outward expressions of inner disorder.

In the epistles, βλασφημία is framed pastorally as something believers must actively remove (Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8). The commands “be put away” and “put them all away” treat it as a pattern of speech tied to bitterness, wrath, and malice—vices that tend to spill over into “outcry” and verbal harm “out of your mouth.” 1 Timothy 6:4 further anchors the term in a recognizable social setting: contentious “word battles” that generate a trail of relational damage, including βλασφημία as “insulting.” Jude 1:9, however, adds a striking counterexample: even an archangel in dispute refuses this kind of speech, choosing instead a restrained appeal for the Lord’s rebuke. Taken together, these uses portray βλασφημία as speech that wounds, dishonors, or presumptuously crosses a boundary—treated as spiritually perilous in some cases, and as corrosive to community life in others.

Closing Image

The word often appears with the sound of a charge in the air: “You have heard the blasphemy!” (Mark 14:64). Whether it is a public accusation or a vice to be set aside, βλασφημία is portrayed as speech with weight—words that do more than communicate, shaping judgment, conflict, and the moral climate of a community.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).