“BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.”
By G.
THERE is much unnecessary speculation concerning the significance of this expression, as used by the Saviour. Much confusion regarding His words results from the notion that long, abstruse dissertation is necessary in order to make them plain. But the nearer we come to taking the Lord at His word, believing that He said just what He meant and meant just what He said, the closer we will get to the pith of His lessons. The following plain definitions are from the Standard Dictionary: “Blaspheme: I. To speak in an impious or irreverent manner of; utter revilings against (God or sacred things).” “Blasphemy: I. Evil or profane speaking of God, derogating from His power, or claiming His attributes; the expression of defiant impiety and irreverence against God, or things held sacred.” With these definitions in mind, let us note the Saviour's words, and the circumstance under which they were uttered. Some Pharisees had said, “This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” In replying to this blasphemous charge, Jesus said positively that this sin could not be forgiven. What had they done?—They had boldly attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil, calling it the devil's work. Here was a sin at which the Pardoner of sins drew the line. He said: “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 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.” Matt. 12: 31, 32. Now, no man can express the Lord's meaning any more plainly than He has in the foregoing words, and to attach any other meaning to these words, is to pervert the Lord's teaching. He does not say that to reject the pleadings of the Holy Ghost, or to neglect its proffer of mercy, is unpardonable, else no one who had ever done so for a moment would be pardonable; and even should such an one continue in such passive opposition until the end of human probation, it would still be true that, had he repented at any time previous to the close of his probation, he could have had pardon. Not so the one who utters his blasphemy against the Holy Ghost; he, that moment, cuts himself off from the possibility of pardon. To say that men who persistently reject or neglect the Spirit's appeals till it is too late, could not have pardon, would have no special significance under such a circumstance as that which we have cited. That is all implied in the simple, positive statement of the Gospel. It would not place those blasphemers against the Holy Ghost in any position different from other sinners. But the Lord emphatically does place them in a category by themselves—stating to them that there is no pardon for them from the moment that they declare that the work of the Holy Ghost is identical with that of the devil. Such a condemnation is not laid upon any other sin, or upon any other class of sinners.