To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 13:32:18 -0600
Subject: HF026 - Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
Hebraics,
This is study HF026 - Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
An issue that believers sometimes find themselves grappling with
has to do with what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means, and,
if this 'unpardonable' sin has a bearing on a believer.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit may be the least understood of
all Biblical teachings. Because of this, it has been a cause of pain for
the uninstructed child of God. This is especially true when a child of God
'senses' that a thing being done in the name of Jesus, may not be of the
Lord at all. But someone then warns him or her to be careful, 'You might
blaspheme the Holy Spirit.'
The short side of the story is that blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit is not a believer's sin. Let me simply repeat myself. The
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not a sin of a believer; it has never
been, not today, nor any other time. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
But this is what we need to determine from the Scriptures.
Now that you are relieved, lets get on with our study. It is important to
understand that the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was placed at
the front door of the Jewish leadership during the time of Christ. The
only place you see this term used is in the gospels. As you will see in a
moment, this form of blasphemy was peculiar to the Jewish people. Can it be
done today? Yes. But the right conditions must be in place.
Lets begin by examining a Scripture in its context. Jesus said,
"Everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will
confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me
before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone
who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him;
but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be
forgiven him." (Luke 12:8-10)
Notice that the believer is placed out of the picture on the issue of
blasphemy. The one doing the blasphemy is not a believer. The primary
reason is that this particular sin is in open defiance against God's work,
and in this case, God working in Christ. Thus this is a directed sin
against God Himself.
The people in the most danger of committing this 'unpardonable' sin
was the Jewish leadership. Read the Scriptures where this sin is
mention, in nearly every case the leadership has openly defied
Jesus before the people. It was the leadership that contributed the
work that Jesus was doing, as being of the devil. So the sin was in
reality directed against God Himself.
But we need some background for this. In Isaiah 63, God brings a
charge against the Jewish peoples. Listen carefully; "In all their
affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved
them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, and He
lifted them and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled
and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned Himself to become
their enemy, He fought against them." (Verses 9,10)
Did the Jewish leadership in the day of Christ rebel and grieve the Holy
Spirit? Most certainly.
Carry this over to Acts 7:51,52, where Stephen is making his
defense against the Jewish leadership. He says, "You men who
are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always
resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.
Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They
killed those who had previously announced the coming of the
Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now
become."
This sin became even more pronounced after the cross. The
talmudic writers condemned themselves by contributing the works
of Jesus to sorcery. They invented all sorts of stories to cause the
people to believe that the Jesus was not of God, but rather, that He was
demoniacally empowered.
It was this sin that Jesus called attention to when standing before
Pilate. Pilate said to Jesus, "You do not speak to me? Do You not
know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to
crucify You?" The Lord responded, "You would have no authority
over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason
he who delivers Me to you has the *greater* sin." (John 19:11)
What is the 'greater' sin in the Scriptures? It seems likely that it is
this sin that cannot be pardoned; the sin of open defiance against God.
In almost every case where you find 'blasphemy of the Holy Spirit' it has
to do with connecting Jesus to demonic powers. But there is a crossover
that must also be in place before this becomes the 'unpardonable' sin. It
appears from Scriptures that this sin is a sin of intent, and not of
ignorance.
Listen to Paul; "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has
strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me
into service, EVEN THOUGH I WAS FORMERLY A
BLASPHEMER, and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I
was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance." (1Tim1:12,13 -
Caps for emphasis only.)
A point to be made is that some of the Jewish leadership *knew*
who Jesus was, or at least, knew that He was from God. They
acknowledged this when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.
Nicodemus said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God
as a teacher; for not one can do these signs that You do unless
God is with Him." (John 3:2)
The point was that Jesus was doing things that only God Himself
could do. He resurrected the dead. He opened blind eyes. He
walked on water, multiplied loaves and fish, healed deformed
bodies, healed lepers, and did all the things that the ancient sages said
would be the signs of Messiah.
But the Jewish leadership began to harden their hearts against
Jesus to such an extent that they were becoming guilty of an
unpardonable sin.
An good example of this is with Lazarus. After he had been raised
from the dead, the peoples clamored for Jesus. What was the
response of the leadership?
Listen carefully. "The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was
there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also
see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned
to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the jews
were going away and were believing in Jesus." (John 12:9-11)
I hope that this gives you an idea on what the blasphemy of the
Holy Spirit is. It is an open defiance against God, and it is done
with some degree of knowledge. In blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit, the person has taken God and against His Christ. (Cf.
Psalm 2)
In Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org