It
comes as a surprise to modern man that there could be such a thing as
unforgivable sin. Since the modern position is that man passes judgment on
God, not the other way around, it would seem that here is a point to parallel Sodom and Gomorrah – after all, shouldn’t the loving God forgive everything? We shall
see.
House
Divided
Then
a demon-possessed man who was blind and
mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and
saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the
Son of David, can he?" But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons
only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons." And knowing their thoughts
Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against
itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not
stand. "If Satan casts out Satan, he is
divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? "If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons
cast them
out? For this reason they will be your judges. "But
if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. "Or how can anyone enter the strong
man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will
plunder his house.
(Mat 12:22-29 NASB)
The
principle
It
is common to quote Lincoln when he said, “A house divided against itself cannot
stand.” But if you dig through the older editions of Familiar Quotations,
you will see that this quotation comes from this section of Scripture. Lincoln was quoting it, knowing that virtually all his hearers would understand the
principle as given in the Scripture. It was an apt quotation, considering the
strife of the Civil War.
But
the principle has not gone away. Our nation now blesses “tolerance” (by which
we mean intolerance of the Truth, in favor of whatever…) and “diversity” (by
which we mean “it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere.”)
This cannot continue; we will either continue as a Christian nation or break
apart – for we are a house divided.
Worse
than that, the American church is a house divided. I do not mean Roman
Catholic vs. Protestant; that division remains but (in America at least) seems to have lost its power. Indeed, the evangelical and Catholic find
common ground in things like our opposition to abortion. The right wing
Catholic holds to many tenets that our common with the evangelical Christian –
but not common with the “mainstream” church. Even in the evangelical
churches, the apostate is common enough.
The
Great Divide
The
point was raised here by Jesus in answer to a severe accusation. There are
three answers to the only question: Who do you say Jesus is?
- Liar.
This is the accusation they raise here, that Jesus is in league with the
father of lies, Satan.
- Lunatic.
In their time, this would be demon possession. He is an unwitting or
unwilling pawn of Satan.
- Lord.
He is who He says He is: God in the flesh.
The
first two are dealt with by this argument. Jesus simply points out that Satan
does not oppose Satan. Ultimately, the fraud is exposed – or the light shines
through. Here, in meekness, Christ confronts his adversaries. His claim is
not made in arrogance but in humility – which neither the liar nor the lunatic
would do.
Easy
to accuse, hard to prove
In
our own time we have added a new wrinkle to the argument: conspiracy
theories. Of course, the proof a great conspiracy is that there is no proof
for it; it’s all been hidden so well. Knowing that, the conspiracy depends
upon a selective memory for facts. Start with your theory; select the facts to
“prove” it; declare all other relevant facts to be lies and distortion by the
evil priesthood of the church. For example:
- The Da Vinci Code. Pieces of this have been around for quite a
while. Note that the work is advertised as a work of fiction,
while presenting itself as being based on the facts. (Satan is alive and
well.)
- Gnosticism.
Of course, the “true facts” have to come from somewhere. The Gnostics
were the early church’s Da Vinci code. They professed to having received
“secret revelations” from God.
- Mormonism (and a bunch of other so called prophets). These profess in our own time
to be additional revelations from God – which are being persecuted by the
Pharisees of the church. “We’re the only ones who have the real truth.”
It
is fitting that this section starts with the healing of a man blind and mute.
Satan wants to control what you see and hear; as we shall see, this is the back
door to the things you treasure. That treasure Satan wants to claim as his
own.
The
Unforgivable Sin
"He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not
gather with Me scatters. "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it
shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not
be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
(Mat 12:30-32 NASB)
“…in
all Holy Scripture there is not perhaps so great or so difficult a question as
this.” (Augustine).
What
is it, really?
The
truth of the matter seems evanescent. Christ mentions it; John the Apostle;
Paul too – but it seems we have only a limited insight on it. But perhaps we
can narrow it down a bit:
- First,
it is clearly not a “sin of the flesh.” It must be a sin of the spirit,
for it is against the Holy Spirit, who is not corporeal.
- Second,
we know from history of the early church that virtually all the heresies
which arose attacked the Trinity in some fashion. Since we have mystic
union by the Holy Spirit, who indwells all Christians, any attack on the
Trinity (and thus the divine appointment of the Church) must be this sin.
Or so the early church fathers concluded.
- Note,
too, that the phrase is “who speaks a word” against Christ (logos). But
it is “speaks against” the Holy Spirit. This carries with it the verb
tense of continuous present tense. From this we can conclude it takes
some time to commit the unforgivable sin.
My
own view is in line with these ideas. Forgiveness is a process. First you
must hear the Word; then you must repent. If you refuse to repent, you are
calling the Spirit a liar, for the task of the Spirit is to convict the world
of sin and judgment to come.
Can
hell hold heaven hostage?
One
might ask, why should there be an unforgivable sin? After all, God is a loving
God, forgiveness is part of His nature of love. Why, then, would God proclaim
a certain sin to be unforgivable? Consider the opposite position: a man could
spend his life in sin, telling God that He’ll just have to put up with it and
forgive it – it’s God’s hobby, you know. Indeed, he could make himself to be
his own hostage; if God doesn’t forgive, I’ll do something even worse. This is
the state in which man has no conviction of judgment to come; if this can be
forgiven, then what was the purpose in Christ’s death? This position denies
sin and repentance; how then can such a person be saved?
Interestingly,
there are schisms in the church over this matter. The most famous is that of
one Novation. His sect arose after the end of the great Diocletian
persecution. Many weak Christians simply gave in to the demand of Diocletian
that he be recognized as a god. When the persecution was over, many who had
seen their family members dipped in tar, crucified in the morning and lit as a
torch in the evening were unwilling to accept the repentance of those who gave
in to the pressure. Novation called this the unforgivable sin. His schism
died out as those who had been through the persecution died out.
The
modern church errs in the other direction. She denies that the unforgivable
sin exists. There are now “alternate paths” to God, according to mainstream
churches. There is no sense of this in the Scripture – but this is what
defines the mainstream church. As the Episcopalians did when they began
ordaining homosexual priests, they announced that they were guided by the Holy
Spirit in doing so. This is, in my opinion, a further fracturing of the Church
Christ loves.
Fundamental
unity of the church
One
of the common characteristics of Christians is that they believe in the unity
of the church. “He who is not with me is against me.” There’s a line in the
sand to cross, not a fence to straddle. For those who cross that line, Christ
prays that we should all be one. Indeed, the instruction is rather clear:
Therefore
I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There
is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope
of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all
who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was
given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
(Eph 4:1-7 NASB)
The
church is the body of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You are either in, or out. If you refuse conviction of sin, and therefore
decline repentance, you are out. As long as you do this, you are unforgivable
– because you do not ask forgiveness.
By
their fruits
"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree
bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. "You brood
of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks
out of that which fills the heart. "The
good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is
evil. "But I tell you that every careless
word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of
judgment. "For by your words you will be
justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
(Mat 12:33-37 NASB)
Make
the tree
Notice,
please, that Christ’s words to the Pharisees start with, “make the tree.” It
is clear, therefore, that this is something we have a choice in. We cannot
choose to be/not be a tree (human); we can choose which kind of tree.
It
also means that we have the power to do this, for Christ does not command that
which cannot be done. (He often commands that which cannot be done unaided by
the Spirit.)
This
section is addressed to the Pharisees. They are those who live by their works,
not their faith. Christ therefore appeals to their own conception of good
works. He pleads with all to repent and be forgiven, but the plea comes in
many different ways.
Out
of his treasure
In
another place Christ refers to this as “out of his storehouse.” Note the key
word, treasure. He is not talking about the things you have, but the things
you treasure. It is a question of the will.
There
are those who treasure things evil. It may be a string of adulteries; a
fascination with the toys of this world or, worse yet, pride. There are those
who treasure things which are good.
Is
this important? The Day of Judgment is one day closer today; it’s coming is
sure. Then where will your treasure be?
Every
careless word
Note
that the phrase is “every careless word.” The justice of God will be very fine
on the Day. The admonition applies to all of us. And if this is so, what does
this say about our not-so-careless words?
The
principle of the yardstick is still with us: by what you speak you will be
judged. God is simply using the yardstick you us – and proclaim to all others.