Monday, February 10, 2020
691 - Careful Whom You Criticize
Spirituality Column #691
February 11, 2020
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Careful Whom You Criticize
By Bob Walters
“…blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” –
Jesus, Matthew 12:31
You may have noticed we live in a largely criticism-driven
and unforgiving culture these days. But
I think truly only the specifics – not the convention – are unique.
Jesus carried Godly truth, peace,
grace, forgiveness, love, hope, and so much more into the fallen realm of
mankind. And it wasn’t just a message of
those things; in Christ it was the reality of their existence, God’s existence,
God’s abiding presence, and God’s saving promise. Jesus on earth and His everlasting example of
obedience, sacrifice, humility, and love were humanity’s keys to God’s Kingdom
and glory. Jesus was an eternal gift of everything humanity needed to
understand and join God. Yet …
In Jesus’s own time and in His own place Pharisees had sinfully
fashioned for themselves their own kingdom and their own ideas of material
needs from God. And they rejected outright
the notion that this preaching carpenter from Nazareth – miracles and all – was
the revealed God and saving Messiah Christ promised in the scriptures.
These Pharisees stared the revealed God in the eye and
called him Satan.
Now that blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
We read this story (Matthew 12:22-37) of the Pharisees’
saying Jesus’s miracles were of “Beelzebub” and demons, not of God. Jesus fired back with a message aimed
specifically at the Pharisees that is equal parts familiar, remarkable, and confounding.
It is familiar because it contains famous catch phrases: “[a]
kingdom divided against itself will not stand” (v25), “the Kingdom of
God has come upon you” (v28), “he who is not with me is against me” (v30),
and “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (v34). For good measure Jesus calls the Pharisees “a
brood of vipers” (v34).
It is remarkable because Jesus 1) is so bold, 2) points out
the impossibility that demons are driven out by Beelzebub because Satan cannot
drive out Satan, and 3) because the parables and metaphors condemning the
Pharisees flow effortlessly.
But it is confounding because of verses 31-32: “…every
sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit
will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be
forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven,
either in this age or the age to come.”
Catch that? All
man’s sins will be forgiven and yes, it’s OK to blaspheme the Son Jesus. But … blaspheme the Holy Spirit and you’re
condemned forever. What?
First, you can’t divide the Father-Son-Spirit Trinity so
don’t try; you blaspheme one, you blaspheme them all. Second, Jesus knew that not everyone would
understand His salvation message, but being human He knows our temptations and being God
He forgives our weaknesses. Third, Jesus
is clearly and directly addressing the Pharisees, not those who would
come later, believe, be baptized, and sin again, i.e., you and me.
And fourth, the issue here isn’t common sin; it is the raw blasphemy
of the Pharisees in assigning God’s miracles and message – i.e., Jesus – to
Satan, not God. They denied God’s truth, ignored His nature, refused His gift,
and said He was Satan.
From that vile, empty heresy there is no path to – or back
to – the Spirit of God.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com)
has been reading Athanasius again.
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