The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 157

collects his flock and pens them in the fold, we are scattering the sheep a.way from and lee.ving them without the place of se.fety. IV. THE BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GuoeT. 1. Patristic ezpl/1/M,tions of this sin. Some he.ve understood it of apostasy in time of persecution. This was the opinion of Cyprian (.A.D. 248), who says, in' Epist.' xvi., that" It wa.s a. very great crime which persecution oompelled men to commit, as they themselves know who have committed it, ine.smuch as our Lord e.nd Judge has ea.id, 'Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father who is in heaven. But he that denillth me, him will I also deny.' And again,' All sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven to the sons of men : but he the.t blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, shall not have forgiveness, but is guilty of eternal sin' (re'Us est reterni peccati)." Some understand it of the denial of the divinity of our tord, as Athanasius (A.D. 326), who says that " the Pharisees in the Saviour's time, and the Arians in our days, running into the same mad• ness, denied the real Word to be incarnate, and ascribed the works of. the Godhead to the devil and his a.ngels, and therefore justly undergo the punishment which is due to this impiety, without remission. For they put the devil in the place of God, and imagined the works of the living and true God to be nothing more than the works of the devil." And elsewhere the same Father says, " They who spake against Christ, considering him only as the Son of man, were pardonable, because in the beginning of the gospel the world looked upon him only as a prophet, not as God, but as the Son of man: but they who blasphemed his divinity after his works had demonstrated him to be God, had no forgiveness, so long as they continued in this blasphemy; but if they repented they might obtain pardon : for there is no sin unpardonable with God to them who truly and worthily repent." Others again have understood it to consist in the denial of the divinity of the Holy Ghost. Thus Epiphanius (A.D. 368) charged with this sin the Macedonian heretics, because they opposed the Godhead of the Holy Spirit, me.king him a mere creature. In like manner Ambrose (A.D. 374) accused these same heretics of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, because they denied his divinity. 2. The two most important patristic authorities on this sub;ject. These are Chrysos• tom (A,D. 388) among the Greek Fathers, and Augustine'.(A.D. 396) of the Latin Fathers ; both near the close of the fourth century. Th':l former on the nature of the sin itsel! says, "For though you say that you know me not, you are surely not ignorant of that also, that to expel demons and cure diseases are the work of the Holy Spirit. Not only, then, do you insult me, but the Holy Spirit also. Therefore your punishment is inevi- table both here and hereafter." Again, in reference to the unpardonableness of this sin, he says, "' Ye have said many things against me-that I am a deceiver, that I am a.n opponent of God. These things I forgive you on your repentance, and I do not exact punishment of you; but the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven even to the penitent.' And how could this have reason, for truly even this sin was forgiven to persons repenting? Many, then, of those who said these things believed afterwards, and all was forgiven them. What, then, does he mean? That this sin above all is least capable of pardon. Why at all? Because they were ignorant who Christ was; but of the Holy Spirit they had had sufficient proof. For truly the prophets spake by him what they did speak, and all in the old dispensation had had abundant knowledge of him. What he means then is this: 'Grant it, you stumble at me because of the ge.rb of flesh I have assumed ; can you also say about the Holy Spirit that you are ignorant of him? Therefore this blasphemy shall not be forgiven you; both here and there you shall Bllffer: punishment.'" Further on he proceeds to say," For truly some men are punished both here and there_; others only here; others only there; while others neither here nor there. Here and there, as these very persons (i.e. the Pharisees), for truly both here they suffered punishment when they endured those irremediable suffer- ings at the capture of their city ; and there they shall undergo the most severe punish- ment, as the inhabitants of Sodom, and as many others. But there only, as that rich man when tortured in flames was not master of even a drop of water. Some only here, as the person who had committed fornication among the Corinthians. Others again, neither here nor there, as the apostles, as the prophets, and as the blessed Job; for what they suffered did not belong to punishment, but was exercises and conflicts." The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is, according to Chrysostom, greater than. the sin against the Son of man, and, though not absolutely irremissible to such a.s repent, yet in 162 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. MARK. [on. m.1-36.