(2) The nature of the sin. — In seeking for this, the occasion of the utterance serves as a guide. A study of the context in Mt. and Mk. at once disposes of some of the views that have been enter- tained as to the nature of the sin against the Holy Spirit — all those, e.g., that are associated with the idea that only Christians can be guilty of it. Jesus was speaking to Pharisees, and it is by thinking, in the first place, of the Pharisees and their attitude to Him and His teaching that we get on the right line for arriving at the meaning of His words. He had cast out demons ; and the
UNPARDONABLE SIN
UNPARDONABLE SIN
787
Pharisees said that He did this by the help of Beelzebub. He had delivered men and women from unclean spirits (Mk I-'^t-, Mt 10', Lk 4^"- and passim) ; and they said of Himself, ' He hath an unclean spirit' (Mk 3^"). Now, such language regarding Jesus strikes us, first of all, as blasphemy against tlie Son of Man Himself — and tliis it un- doubtedly was. But this was not the aspect of the sin upon which Jesus fastened. On the con- trary. He declared that all blasphemy against the Son of Man shall be forgiven. It was possible for men to insult Him personally, through want of thought or ignorance as to His real character. Of all such offenders He was ready to say, as He said at last of those who nailed Him to the cro.ss or reviled Him hanging there, ' Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do ' (Lk 23*'). But apart from all questions of His personal dignity, Jesus came revealing in His words and deeds the Divine spirit of holiness and love. The works He did testified to the manner of spirit He was of. But in the presence of the Divine goodness that shone from His beneficent activities, the Pharisees only gnashed their teeth and declared that the spirit of Jesus was the spirit of Satan. This was blasphemy, not against Jesus only, but against the Divine Spirit that was manifested in Him. And such blasphemy, we must remember, the Pharisees were guilty of, not once, but constantly. Jesus might have affirmed of them, as Stephen afterwards affirmed in the face of the Sanhedrin, 'Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost' (Ac 7'^). John the Baptist had come ' in the way of righteous- ness' (Mt 2P-) ; and they said of him, ' He hath a devil' (Mt 11'^ Lk 7**). Jesus came in the way, not only of righteousness, but of love ; and of this incarnation of the Divine grt^ce they said again and again, ' He hath a devil' (Mt 9^^ 12-^, Mk 3^2, Lk 11'*, Jn 7^" S-is- ^^2 1020). They said this, more- over, not rashly or carelessly, but deliberately and malignantly ; not because they were blind to the tokens of God's presence with Jesus, but because tliey hated Him for having crossed them in their paths of selfishness and pride, and revealed both to themselves and others the utter emptiness of their religious life. Their blaspliemy thus was not the hasty utterance of a moment, but a vice of their indwelling thoughts and character (Mt 12--'') ; not a single act, but a habitual attitude. The light that came into the world shone round about them ; but tliey loved tiie darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. And at last they came not only to prefer the darkness, but to hate the light so bitterly that nothing would serve them but to declare to others and try to persuade them- selves that it came not from God, but from the devil.
(3) Its unpardonable character. — The nnpardon- ableness of such blasphemy as tiiis, Jesus affirms in language tliat can hardly be mistaken. In Lk. once (12'») and in Mt. twice (12=*i- ^2) He declares, ' It shall not be forgiven ' — adding in Mt. (v.^) the ominous words, ' neither in this age {alwv), nor in tliat which is to come.' The attempt is sometimes made to soften down the force of tlie last expres- sion. The present age, it is said, was simply tlie Mosaic age or dispensation under which the Jews were living ; M'hile ' the age to come ' was the Messianic age or Christian dispensation. Our Lord's words thus mean only that, whether men live under the Law or the Gospel, blasphemy against tlie Holy Spirit is unpardonable They have no reference to the future life ; they tell us nothing about a state of doom after death ; they do not carry us on to any final issues (so Cox, Expositor, II. iii. [1882] 322). But while it is true that the Jews of our Lord's time used the phrases • this age ' and ' the coming age ' to denote the
period before and the i)eriod after the advent of the expected Messiah (cf., however, Schiirer, HJP II. ii. 177), it is clear from the Gospels that Jesus Himself habitually employed them to indicate the age before and the age after His own Parousia (see Mt 1339- «• 49 243 282«, Mk 10''», Lk \^^ 20^"), thereby throwing ' the age to come ' into that future world which lies beyond His Second Advent and the resurrection of the dead (see Salmond, Chr. Doct. of Immort. 381). And if Mt.'s language left us in any doubt as to the absoluteness of His meaning, the doubt would disappear when we turn to Mk. For there we find Him saying of the man who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit that he ' hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin ' (329 RV). Even if it stood by itself, ' hath never foi-giveness ' would carry a sound of finality with it. And when there is added, dXXa ivox^^'i eaTiv aioiviov a/xapTTfj/jLaros, it seems hardly possible to escape from the conclusion that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is here described as a sin for which there is no remedy. The words in the original are exceedingly striking, ^voxos ( = eVex^^f "os, fr. iv and ^x'^) means ' held in the grip of ' (see Morison, Matthew, in loc). And if we give to aiuvios the meaning it regularly has on the lips of Jesus, ' an eternal sin ' appears to mean a sin that eternally persists, a sin that has so engrained itself in the character as to become fixed in the form of destiny. See, further, Eternal Sin.