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Post by ozark on May 27, 2010 20:37:42 GMT -5
St. Matthew 12, Verses 31,32 appears to be a way to commit an unpardonable sin.To me, it appears that one could be forgiven for speaking against Jesus Christ but speaking against the Holy Ghost is unforgivable now or forever more. Does this mean that having experienced contact with the Holy Ghost and then denying it is unforgivable? The message seems stern enough to put the fear of God into what we might say against the Holy Ghost ? I have heard some make fun of people that spoke in an unknown tongue. What are your thoughts. The warning seems enough to make all who knows careful what they speak. Thanks for your ideas. Ben
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Post by dougedwards on May 27, 2010 21:30:02 GMT -5
I believe that in light of other scriptures that speak to this subject, such as Hebrew 6: 4-6, that the scripture that you are referring to has a deeper and more complex meaning than it might first appear. It seems that Jesus is saying that if you have experienced the glory of the power of the Holy Spirit and know the Spirit in a definite and personal way that to defile the Spirit after knowing full well what you are doing is to commit a sin that needs or requires no pardon.
God has shown that He repeatedly forgives sin based on the fact that we have a human condition. But once we have been exposed to the unquenchable burning of the Spirit within us.....we cannot denounce or blaspheme the Spirit without hating the same Spirit that brings us to redemption.
Doug
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Post by deadon on May 28, 2010 12:07:00 GMT -5
I do not believe that denying the experience with the holy spirit is unforgivable but denying the existence of the holy spirit after experiencing it may very well be.
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Post by ozark on May 28, 2010 16:17:56 GMT -5
This chapter of Matthew is an interesting section for interpertation. Different people will get a different meaning to it while it appears to be straight forward and clear. I personally see it as a possible sin that will never be forgiven. Others seem to be taking a position that it depends on whether you have had a personal experience with he Holy Spirit. It can be said that Jesus was speaking to his deciples and perhaps not to all mankind. Yet, did the deciples receive the Holy Spirit prior to the death of Jesus? It discusses speaking against rather than denying The Holy Ghost. That could be interperted several ways. Please don't read into my comments that I know the true meaning. All I really know is that I would dreadfully fear speaking against The Holy Ghost.
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Post by dougedwards on May 28, 2010 21:05:40 GMT -5
And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven of him; but whoever speaks evil against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven. Matthew 12:31
Christ referred to himself as the "Son of Man" to emphasize his humanity. To speak evil of Jesus as a man working among men, though deplorable, was an evil that could be forgiven through repentance. The Son of Man in his earthly ministry was liable to misunderstandings and ill treatment by others as a new messenger. When the source of evil speaking against Christ is ignorance, misconception, or ill formed prejudiced then the blasphemy is as of people who opposed Jesus but later came to accept him. Even the experience of Peter who denied Christ was offered forgiveness. Remember that Paul (Saul of Tarsas) was a great blasphemer of Jesus before he came to know Jesus.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a blasphemy against Truth itself. Remember that unless someone is born of the Spirit that person will not inherit the Kingdom. It seems to me that the term "blasphemy" rises to a completely different level than mere gossip. If you were to merely speak ill of someone's behavior as a form of gossip that could be considered sinful. But to knowingly speak a damaging untruth about that same someone so that you put that person in peril is not gossip. It was an act punishable by death in the ancient Hebrew culture.
Make no mistake about it however. To have known and experienced the sweetness of Jesus and then defile Jesus with treacherous words will not be forgiven as is expressed in this passage. "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:4-6
Doug
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