28 DAYS TO PENTECOST

TEXT: MATTHEW 12

²²Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb; and He healed him, so that the blind and dumb both spoke and saw.
 ²³And all the people were amazed and said, "Is not this the Son of David?"
 ²⁴But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This fellow doth not cast out devils, except by Beelzebub, the prince of devils."  
 ²⁵And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.   
 ²⁶And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?   
 ²⁷And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
 ²⁸But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you.
 ²⁹Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and despoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? And then he will despoil his house. 
 ³⁰"He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad. 
 ³¹Therefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
 ³²And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

KEY TEXT: Matthew 12:31 “…all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”

REFLECTION:  What is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost?

It is a question of great import for the Lord Himself said, “Those who speak against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come.”  By definition “blasphemy” is the act of showing contempt, disdain, or lack of reverence toward someone or something sacred. 

Thomas Aquinas, the great Christian thinker of the 13^th century, observed that there are three leading interpretations of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

First, some have insisted that blasphemy ought to be narrowly understood in the context of our Lord’s warning.  When the Pharisees accused Jesus of healing by the power of the devil, he rebuked them and cautioned, “If Satan cast out Satan he is divided…but If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God is come unto you…the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven…” Attributing to Satan the works of the Holy Spirit is blasphemous. In our day, when so many counterfeit miracle workers are deceiving the masses, we are prone to make hasty judgments and imprudent pronouncements against all who testify to Divine intervention.  We would do well to heed our Lord’s admonition and exercise caution. 

Second, St. Augustine believed that final impenitence, or perseverance in sin until death, was the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  He explained, “Impenitence is against the Holy Ghost, in the sense that it frustrates and is absolutely opposed to the remission of sins.”  Augustine contended that since Christ taught that blasphemy is absolutely unpardonable, final impenitence must be what He had in mind.   

Third, several Christian leaders applied “blasphemy” to all sins committed in opposition to the Holy Spirit. They believe that all who have despised or rejected the leading of the Holy Spirit, leadings that “deliver us from evil,” are guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. 

James Arminius embraced a variant of this view.  He wrote, “The sin against the Holy Ghost is the rejection and refusing of Jesus Christ through determined malice and hatred against Christ, who, through the testifying of the Holy Spirit, has been assuredly acknowledged for the Son of God.”

John Calvin warned, “This kind of sacrilege is committed only when we knowingly endeavor to extinguish the Spirit who dwells in us…Those only are blasphemers against the Spirit, who slander his gifts and power, contrary to the conviction of their own mind… in this manner they purposely and maliciously turned light into darkness; and … make war against God…We need not then wonder, if for such sacrilege there is no hope of pardon; for they must be desperate who turn the only medicine of salvation into a deadly venom.”

Clearly impenitence renders us lost. “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3,5)  But unrepentant sinners who are guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit not only refuse God’s offer of salvation, they evidence the highest contempt and disdain for the Spirit alleging that His work is of the devil.  Take heed. 

Those who worry that they may have committed this “unpardonable sin” need not despair.  The unforgivable blasphemers against the Holy Spirit have so often refused the call of God’s Spirit, so consistently resisted the truth of God’s Spirit, and so shamelessly reproached the work of God’s Spirit even alleging it is of Satan, their hardened hearts are unconcerned.

Grieving the Holy Spirit by disregarding His leadership is a sin, but it is forgivable when we repent and trust Christ.  Impenitence is a sin, but it too can be forgiven when we turn to Christ—when we thoroughly repent. But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is a sin that remains forever unforgivable.  May all who read take heed.

PRAYER: Our Father in Heaven, We thank you today for the conviction of your Holy Spirit.  We count ourselves blessed to have felt your chastisement and to have known your comfort.  “Come Holy Spirit we need Thee!”  We pray that we would always be sensitive to thy Spirit.  We pray that we would always hearken to the call of thy Spirit. We pray that we would be Spirit-ually minded in all that we do today.  May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with us all.  In Jesus name, Amen. “Our Father, &c.”