Questions And Answers (Part 3)

Irene and Lorton have asked many questions as they followed the daily readings and Bro Leon and Sis Joan Shuker, South Africa, have kindly commented upon them so that we can all benefit from their interesting answers.

What is the unforgivable sin or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

As with many questions, Scripture itself provides answers if we study the context carefully. The two expressions both come from the mouth of Jesus and occur in Matthew (12: 31, 32), where Jesus says, “And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven...anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or the age to come”. In Mark 3: 28, 29, he says: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin”. Mark then helpfully adds, “He (Jesus) said this because, they were saying, “He has an evil spirit” (v 30). Thus Jesus’ pronouncement relates to the incident which Matthew and Mark have just recorded.

Going back in the chapter (Matt 12), we find that Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, had just healed a dumb and blind man. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law attributed Jesus’ power (the Holy Spirit) to cure the effects of sin, to demons (Beelzebub – Lord of the flies; one commentator suggests ‘Lord of dung’!). These men looked on the obvious working of the power of God and not only refused to acknowledge it but called it evil. They had, what one writer called, “a malignant determination to shut their eyes to all evidence”.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ miracles was (and still is) to bring all people to conviction of sin and repentance and make them receptive to his redemptive work. It follows, therefore, that those who deliberately reject the overtures of God’s Spirit move themselves from the only force which can lead them to forgiveness and salvation. They render themselves ‘unforgivable’! Furthermore, the more determined they are to resist God and the longer they refuse to move from that state, the more likely they are to stay in it permanently – it can become a settled state. Those who reject theovertures of God’s Spirit will be unforgivable and unforgiven in this life and in the world to come.

The passage is essentially a most serious warning from the Lord. Whether it applied to all the Pharisees and religious rulers, we don’t know. We do know, however, that, according to Acts, many priests were later obedient to the Faith (6:7) and also that there were Pharisees in the early church (15: 5). One fact does seem certain: earnest and faithful brethren and sisters who fear they might have unwittingly blasphemed against the Holy Spirit are the least likely to have done so!

Jesus tells us to go and speak to an offending brother privately (Matthew 18: 15). So why did Paul rebuke Peter publicly in Galatians 2: 11 – 14?

The Jews traditionally believed that God’s salvation belonged exclusively to their race and found it difficult to accept the Gentiles. But God had made a point of teaching Peter, through his experience with Cornelius (Acts 10), that “God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life” (Acts 11: 18). Peter had learned this lesson thoroughly, explaining and defending his preaching to Gentiles Acts 11:1–18; and 15: 6–11.

Now suddenly, (Galatians 2: 11–13) Peter separates himself from fellowship with his Gentile brethren and sisters because he is afraid of what his Jewish brethren from Jerusalem will think. What a terrible example to set before the believers. Consider Peter’s standing in the early church: an apostle who had spent three years with the Lord Himself and was a witness of His sufferings; one of the leading figures in the church – see how high profile he is at Pentecost; one who had persuaded other brethren of the rightness of fellowship with Gentile believers; an elder and a senior brother in every respect. God puts great responsibility on those who lead his people because the example they set has a powerful effect on others.

In 1 Timothy 5: 17–19, Paul explains how elders should be treated: those who discharge their responsibilities and lead the church well should be given double honour. “Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that others may take warning” (v 20). Peter should have known better and had the courage to do the right thing as an elder in the church. I believe Paul did the right thing to administer a public rebuke.

It would seem that Peter accepted this rebuke in a godly spirit for there is no record of animosity between them as evidenced by Peter’s warm and affectionate reference in his second epistle (2 Peter 3:15) to ‘our dear brother Paul’.

MATTHEW 8 : 34…” they pleaded with him to leave…” Sad that they thought only in financial terms.

Yes, we quite agree – it was sad that they were only concerned with their lost livelihood. But this is just as big a problem in our day as in the Lord’s! One interesting point about this story is that the Jews were forbidden to eat unclean animals (it was God’s way of teaching them that He was the one who determined what was clean or unclean, righteous or sinful, acceptable or unacceptable) and pigs were listed in the Law of Moses as unclean and therefore forbidden animals – see Leviticus 11:7,8. So no Jew should have been keeping pigs…

Why couldn’t the demons just be destroyed?

The demon-possessed men must have been what we would call mentally deranged. ‘Demon possessed’ was the way of describing such disorders in the first century. All Jesus’ healing of mental and physical illnesses is described by Matthew in chapter 8:17 as “infirmities and diseases”, quoting the OT (no demons mentioned there – only illnesses). The two men were convinced they were inhabited by many demons. Jesus could have just cured them but I believe he wanted to help the men to believe in him and so acceded to their request to “send the demons into the pigs”, giving them dramatic proof that he had that power.

MATTHEW 9: 14 & 15. John’s disciples? Then they will fast?

John the Baptist also had disciples. He was the one appointed by God to be the forerunner of Jesus to prepare the Jews to receive their Messiah. He is described as the greatest of the prophets. It was common for great religious teachers to have disciples – to pass on their learning to the ‘next generation’ as it were. Some of Jesus’ disciples were originally John’s – see John 1:35, 42

Fasting – though never commanded by God in the OT, was considered a sign of mourning and self-neglect. So Jesus says that it would be totally inappropriate for his disciples to fast whilst he is with them. When he had gone to heaven, then they would have plenty of opportunities for (involuntary) self-neglect and mourning. There is no virtue in fasting unless it is self neglect for the sake of others! – see Isaiah 58.

Verses 35 – 38:

Jesus had compassion, as he went through Israel, on the common people, neglected and misled by the religious rulers, so much so that they were like ‘sheep (not particularly intelligent animals, always need a leader and carer) without a shepherd. But he could see that there was great potential in them to respond in repentance and service to God and so tells his disciples to ask God to send workers to help the people and realize a harvest for God.

MATTHEW 10: 5. Why were the disciples not to go among the Gentiles or enter any towns of the Samaritans.

Like any good leader and organizer, Jesus knew that the focus of activity was of utmost importance. With a limited work force – the 12 – he wanted them to concentrate on a particular area rather than spread their energies too thinly. His first concern was to call the people of Israel back to God, and he told the 12 to concentrate on that. However, throughout the Gospels, though he did not go specifically to the Gentiles at that time, he always welcomed them – see John 4: 4 – 43 for example – and preached to them and healed them. The task of spreading the Gospel was given to the early church as we have been reading in Acts!

V 19 – 23: Very powerful, but please tell us more.

Jesus was warning his disciples that, because of him, they could not expect to have trouble-free lives and to be prepared for persecution and even arrest because of their allegiance to him. However, v 19, 20, he reassures them that the power of God will be with them so that when they are interrogated and tried God will give them the right words to say – see also Mark 13: 11 and Luke 21: 14, 15.

V 21 – 23, continue the theme of persecution for the Lord’s sake. Jesus warns them that faith in him will sometimes split families and believers might be betrayed by their own close relatives, to death, but the believer has to stand firm to the end. However if there is a way of escape, they should take it by removing themselves from danger.