by Kentucky » Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:39 pm
I've heard a lot of interpretations of this over the years. We had a good discussion in the CI forum at Stormfront about 7 years ago (by the way, that forum is now dead; the only exception is Geronimo Visser, a regular SF basher, who has been unbanned by the catholic universalist mod (who is a forum member of the Canaanite People's Ministry) and only exploits Don Black for free advertising... being that he doesn't have the brains to post anything intelligent, he posts links to his audio "sermons" of spiritual diarrhea for the crickets and dingbats.
The following is a thoughtful rendering by my good friend Meggie from Mississippi:
The passage that is used to speak of the "unpardonable sin" is:
(Mat 12:31-32 KJV) "Wherefore 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. {32} And 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."
There has been much ado about this passage. However, I don't think it's
speaking of an unpardonable sin. It's speaking of deliberately lying
against God. The context of the verse shows that Christ was being
accused, behind his back of "casting out demons" by Beelzebub (Mat 12:24).
But Christ knew what they were saying because He knew their thoughts (v.
25). So in response to their false accusations, He said (my paraphrase),
"Think about what you're saying. You admit I'm casting out devils, but if
Beelzebub is the prince of devils, why would he defeat his own cause by
casting his own out? After all the bottom line of "casting out devils" is
to remove them, is it not? And unless Beelzebub is on God's side, which
you say you are, then he's defeating his own cause. And you claim your
people "cast out devils." By whom are they casting them out?
I am doing the same work you claim you are. It seems to me you are
speaking out of both sides of your mouth (v.v. 25-27)."
From this statement, I would have to say the blasphemy that is not
forgiven, is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Christ said He cast out
"devils" by the Spirit of God and the Jews were saying He was doing it by
Beelzebub.
Christ was exposing their double-mindedness, lies and hypocrisy. Then He
says in v. 28, "if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom
of God is come unto you." That's because if He's casting out "devils" by
the Spirit of God then they must be also, because they would have to be of
the Kingdom of God to do God's work. In v. 29, He says, "Or else how can
one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first
bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house." He's saying, for
them to not be of the same power to do the same work, then one must have
bound God in order to spoil His "house." He then says, in so many words,
"Hey, if you're not with me or of the same power, you're against me (v.
30). If I am gathering you are scattering."
That's when Jesus makes the statement of the so-called unpardonable
sin. These people knew what they were doing. They knew who Christ was
(John 3:1-2). Yet they accused the work of the Holy Spirit of being of the
prince of "devils." As I understand it, Christ was saying those who know
better and yet they blaspheme or speak evil of the power of God cannot be
forgiven, because it's the power of God by which God works and for one to
knowingly set himself against that power cannot be forgiven. I mean
these people were so against the Holy Spirit that they paid the watchers to
say Christ's body was stolen, when they knew He had risen via the power of
the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:11-15). Those that set themselves against the Holy
Spirit cannot be forgiven, because it is through the Holy Spirit that forgiveness
comes:
(Acts 2:38 KJV) "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."