An Unforgivable Blasphemy | Matthew 12:31-32

Scripture

• Matthew 12:31–32

About this sermon

Introduction: If you ask any faithful shepherd about his list of “most common questions received,” one of those questions will be “what does it mean to commit the unpardonable sin?” What is especially weighty about that question is that it often comes from people who are afraid that they have committed it. Someone is troubled, they are afraid, they are despondent, and sometimes convinced that they have committed the unpardonable sin. What this reminds us of is that we do not approach this text, or any text of Scripture, to merely satisfy curiosity. This is not a theological question that we toss around for entertainment. This is about souls. And as our Lord’s words indicate, this is about ETERNITY. Jesus didn’t issue strong warnings where there were no real dangers. What is the blasphemy against the Spirit of God? What is the sin that will not be forgiven, either in this age, or in the age to come? Can someone who desires to be saved, lose their opportunity to be saved by committing it? Can this sin be committed casually? How would we know if we have committed it? We think about these things and seek to answer these questions today. • WHAT THIS BLASPHEMY IS The first issue we need to address is whether we can gain an understanding of the sin that Jesus is warning about? When we look at this text, and the others that address this sin, what do we learn about it. • IT IS SPEECH THAT EVIDENCES BLASPHEMOUS EVIL IN THE HEART βλασφημία, … speech that denigrates or defames, reviling, denigration, disrespect, slander ⓐ gener., of any kind of speech that is defamatory or abusive, w. other vices Mk 7:22; Eph 4:31; Col 3:8. πᾶσα β. all abusive speech Hm 8:3; cp. Mt 12:31a. Pl. (Jos., Vi. 245) Mt 15:19; 1 Ti 6:4. ⓑ specif., against humans and transcendent entities α. humans (Cleanthes [IV–III b.c.] 1 p. 135, 21 [in Diog. L. 7, 17, 3]; Polyb. 11, 5, 8; Jos., Ant. 3, 307, Vi. 260) β. ἔκ τινος slander of (i.e. emanating from) someone Rv 2:9; cp. IEph 10:2. β. the devil κρίσιν βλασφημίας a reviling judgment Jd 9 (but s. Field [Notes 244], who favors ‘accusation of [the devil for] blasphemy’). γ. God and what is God’s (Comp. II 153f [Menand., Fgm. 715 Kock] ἡ εἰς τὸ θεῖον β.; Ezk 35:12; 1 Macc 2:6; 2 Macc 8:4; 10:35; 15:24; Philo, Leg. ad Gai. 368) Mt 26:65 (OLinton, NTS 7, ’61, 258–62); Mk 2:7 v.l.; 14:64; Lk 5:21 (pl.); J 10:33; Rv 13:5 (pl.); 2 Cl 13:3; D 3:6; β. πρὸς τὸν θεόν (Iambl., Vi. Pyth. 32, 216; cp. εἰς τὸν πατέρα Hippol., Ref. 9, 12, 19) Rv 13:6. βλασφημίας ἐπιφέρεσθαι τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου 1 Cl 47:7; προσέθηκαν κατὰ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου βλασφημίαν Hs 6, 2, 3; β., ὅσα ἐὰν βλασφημήσωσιν Mk 3:28, s. βλασφημέω bβ; ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος (obj. gen.) β. Mt 12:31b, s. βλασφημέω bδ. ὀνόματα βλασφημίας (gen. of qual.) Rv 13:1; 17:3. ῥήματα βλασφημίας Ac 6:11 v.l.—The passages in β and γ generate an emotive aspect associated with denigration of a prestigious entity (cp. Origen’s rejoinder to Celsus: C. Celsum 8, 38 with reff. to Ex 22:27; Ro 12:14; 1 Cor 6:10). Hence the caution about denigrating the devil. Impious denigration of deity is esp. heinous and many translations reflect this emotive value in the loanword ‘blasphemy’. But Greco-Roman and Semitic minds would first of all, as Ac 19:37 and Rom 2:24 indicate, think in terms of disrespect shown or harm done to a deity’s reputation, a fact obscured by the rendering ‘blasphemy’, which has to some extent in Eng. gone its own emotive way semantically and has in effect become a religious technical term, which is not the case with βλασφημέω. On the range of expressions for denigration of God s. ESanders, Jewish Law fr. Jesus to the Mishnah ’90, 57–67.—DELG s.v. βλασφημέω. M-M. TW. The SPEECH THAT IS BLASPHEMOUS is not blasphemous because there are certain “magic words” that should not be uttered. The words that are blasphemous are blasphemous because you’re saying something that you believe, and what you believe is blasphemous. The words express an attitude. Whoever “speaks” (will speak, shall speak (subjunctive mood)). Mark 3:28–30 (ESV) 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” “FOR THEY WERE SAYING He has an unclean spirit.” What Jesus is warning about in these verses has to do with what the Pharisees were SAYING (“therefore” vs.31). So, we are talking about words, but the words are important only because they reflect the HEART. In fact, the verses that we will look at tonight make that clear (vs.33-37). • IT IS SPEECH THAT EVIDENCES A UNIQUE KIND OF EVIL IN THE HEART This SPECIFIC SIN is a sin of blasphemy, but it is a unique kind of blasphemy.