NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part IV

Verse 31: So I tell you, people can be forgiven for every sinful thing they do and for every bad thing they say against God. But anyone who curses the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Early church preacher Chrysostom gives us an exposition on how this saying of Jesus may have been understood by His Jewish audience. He writes: “What is Jesus saying at this point? He is saying, ‘You have spoken many things against me. You have called me a deceiver and an adversary of God. These things I forgive you upon your repentance. There will be no penalty exacted. But blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven, not even to those who repent.’ But how could this be right? For even this was forgiven upon repentance. Many at least of those who said these words believed afterward, and all was forgiven them. What is it then that Christ was implying? That this sin is above all things inexcusable. Why so? Because they might have been ignorant of Jesus and who he might be, but of the Spirit they could not be ignorant due to their own previous experience. For the prophets had spoken by the Spirit. The Old Testament as a whole had an exalted understanding of the Holy Spirit. What he says, then, is this: ‘So be it—you may be offended at me, because of the humanity I have assumed. But you cannot say the same of the Holy Spirit. You cannot claim not to know the Spirit. Therefore your blasphemy has no excuse, and you will suffer the consequences both here and hereafter.’”¹

In case they did not get the point, Jesus reiterates it again:

Verse 32: You can even speak against the Son of Man and be forgiven. But anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven—not now or in the future.

The Jewish concept of blasphemy was tied to an incident in the Old Testament. It involved saying evil or profane things about God. So the essence of such blasphemy consisted of the irreverent purpose in using the words, and did not necessarily include the performance of any desecrating act. The Jewish law is based on the case of a blasphemer whose mother was an Israelite and his father was an Egyptian who made the exodus out of Egypt with the children of Israel.² He used God’s name YHWH – which is pronounced, “Yud-Heh-Wav-Heh” or Yahweh) as a curse word, so he was sentenced to be taken outside the camp and everyone who heard him do this was to lay their hands on his head as a sign of their witness, and then all the congregation should stone him. The judgment in his case was formulated in such a way as to become law.³ So it was not only the way he used God’s name, but the intent for which he used it.

Jewish Rabbis have also interpreted this blasphemy punishment in light of the Ten Commandments. They taught: “Come and hear: Rabbi Judah said: For everything from ‘Thou shalt not take [the name of the Lord thy God in vain]’⁴ and down to repentance procures atonement, for everything from ‘Thou shalt take’ and up to penitence procures suspension [of punishment] and the Day of Atonement procures atonement.”⁵ One Jewish commentator likened blasphemy to boring a hole in what was heretofore an unsealed chest, thereby making what was once untouchable now accessible. In other words, by denying a single element of our faith in God, a person totally abandons that faith to speculation and ridicule.⁶

So when Jesus spoke of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it may have been quite easy for His Jewish listeners to equate this with taking the name of the Lord God in vain. But when it came to the Holy Spirit, Christ had a new revelation. The implications and allusions in this section are numerous. However, we must not forget what Christ is unapologetic about and leave these verses in that context. The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub. Jesus in turn tells them that it is rather by the power of the Holy Spirit. So it is throughout the entire text, as well as in this pertinent part of His dissertation that this warning is given.

Consequently, it is quite clear that blaspheme against the Holy Spirit can be verbal and written, though not restricted just to these forms of communication. As we have mentioned, the Greek word for “blasphemy” here is rendered as “slander,” and “abusive language,” and elsewhere in throughout N.T. It basically means, for one to knowingly accuse the Holy Spirit of doing things that are counter to all that God and Christ stand for and hold sacred. The reason it is unforgivable, is not necessarily because it is so vile and evil, but because it makes it impossible for the Holy Spirit to convince and convict. To put it another way, if you are offered the only medicine that can cure your terminal illness and you reject and demean it, your chances of being cured and recover are destroyed. The same with the Holy Spirit and your opportunity to believe, receive, and be saved.

However, Jesus says that this type of spiritual suicide does not apply to His relationship with the unbeliever. We can understand this now, because after our Lord was arrested, tried, and nailed on the cross, fewer worse things could have been said about Him. Yet, in His own words He said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” The Jews themselves taught about forgivable and unforgivable sins. Their own rabbis said: “All Israel [even those who were executed by the court for their transgressions] have a portion in the World to Come, for it is written: ‘Your people are all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I be glorified.’⁷ But the following have no portion in the World to Come: He who says that resurrection is not a Torah doctrine, the Torah is not from Heaven, and anyone who denigrates Torah and Torah scholars.”⁸

Other Rabbis later commented on this teaching about the resurrection, and asked: “Why such severity? — A Tanna taught: Since he denied the resurrection of the dead, therefore he shall not share in that resurrection, for in all the measures of punishment or reward taken by the Holy One, blessed be He, the Divine act befits the human deed”.⁹ In other words, all punishment fits the crime. As a matter of fact, one Rabbi shared what had been passed on to him: “There are six things, the fruit of which man eats in this world, while the principal remains for him for the world to come, viz.: Hospitality to wayfarers, visiting the sick, meditation in prayer, early attendance at the house of study, rearing one’s sons to the study of the Torah, and judging one’s neighbor in the scale of merit”.¹⁰ Also, Rabbi Nathan speaks about the value of studying God’s Word. He says: “There is not a single precept in the Torah, even the lightest, whose reward is not enjoyed in this world; and as to its reward in the future world I know not how great it is”.¹¹

Taking all this together, we can see why speaking rudely and disparagingly against who the Holy Spirit is and what He came in the world to do after our Lord’s ascension is so critical. No one can come to the Father unless the Holy Spirit draws them to Christ and Christ becomes the door for them to enter through into eternal fellowship with the Father. In one of his sermons, Augustine speaks about perfect love as the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which sins are cast out, and the people of God gathered together in unity. The unclean spirit of man struggles against this gift. Toward the end Augustine says: “This refusal to repent has absolutely no forgiveness, neither in this age nor in the age to come, because repentance obtains forgiveness in this world in preparation for the next.”¹² In other words, forgiveness of sins is to open the door to eternal life, but if the Divine Agent sent by God to facilitate such forgiveness is pushed away, denied, or even cursed at, then forgiveness is impossible.

There is an interesting Jewish story connected with this teaching that you may find interesting, that speaks of what we might call today “personal evangelism,” but under circumstances we may frown on if the context were repeated today. It goes as follows:

Once a man, who was very scrupulous about taking care of his coat upon which were sewn 613 threads that symbolized the 613 commandments in the Torah, heard of a certain harlot in one of the towns by the sea who accepted four hundred gold denarii for her hire. He sent her four hundred gold denarii and appointed a day to be with her. When the day arrived he came and waited at her door, and her maid came and told her, ‘That man who sent you four hundred gold denarii is here and waiting at the door;’ to which she replied ‘Let him come in.’ When he came in she prepared for him seven beds, six of silver and one of gold [arranged in the form of stairs]; and between each bed there were steps of silver, but the last were of gold. She then went up to the top bed and lay down upon it naked. He too went up after her in his desire to sit naked with her, when all of a sudden the four fringes of his garment struck him across the face; whereupon he slipped and ended up sitting on the ground. She also slipped off and sat upon the ground and said, ‘I swear upon Rome that I will not leave you alone until you tell me what blemish you saw in me. ‘I swear by the Temple, he replied, ‘never have I seen a woman as beautiful as you are; but there is one precept which the Lord our God has commanded us, with regard to it the expression ‘I am the Lord your God,¹³ is written twice signifying, I am He who will exact punishment in the future, and I am He who will give reward in the future. Now a precept struck me in the face as four witnesses testifying against me.’ She said, ‘I will not leave you until you tell me your name, the name of your town, the name of your teacher, the name of your school in which you study the Torah.’ He wrote all this down and handed it to her. There upon she went out and divided her estate into three parts; one third for government taxes, one third to be distributed among the poor, and one third she took with her in her hand; the bed clothes, however, she retained. She then came to the House of Study of Rabbi Hiyya, and said to him, ‘Master, give me instructions on how I can become a proselyte’ [meaning she was a Gentile]. ‘My daughter’, he replied; ‘perhaps you have set your eyes on one of the disciples?’ She there upon took out the script and handed it to him. ‘Go’, said he ‘and enjoy your acquisition.’ Those very bed-clothes which she had spread for him for an illicit purpose she now spread out for him lawfully as his wife. This is the reward of the precept in this world; and as for its reward in the future world I know not how great it will be.¹⁴

In this story the Jews were given an illustration of how the truth of God’s word will go with them, even into the quagmire of sin to remind them both of what is right and of God’s love. I’m sure that Jesus statement about forgivable and unforgivable sins did not leave His listeners shaking their heads, since it was already part of their theology. But how it applied to Him and the new covenant necessitated that the Master draw a further illustration for them.

Verse 33: If you want good fruit, you must make the tree good. If your tree is not good, it will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces.

On the surface, this statement by Jesus is not all that profound or unusual, but it was not intended to be. He was painting a simple target for the next dart He was about to throw so they could see that it would hit in the middle of the bull’s eye. If they were willing to accept what conventional wisdom in the nature of growing an orchard, why could they then not accept His divine wisdom in the nature of man? Even though the product may be different, the principle is the same.

Early church preacher Chrysostom sees another application in what Jesus says here. He expounds: “Truly the distinction between trees is shown by their fruit. It is not that the fruit is known by the tree, for one need only to examine the fruit alone to find what kind of tree it is. But what if it is argued that the tree is inconsistent with the fruit? Nonetheless the fruit is what makes the tree known. His implication: It would be more consistent if you either found fault with my deeds or praised them, so that I could meet these charges openly. But having no fault to find with my works, the fruit, you pass the opposite judgment upon the tree, me. You call me a demoniac, which, as anyone can see, is self-evidently reckless. For a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.”¹⁵

In this case, our Lord’s words must be taken in the sense that the tree itself is not bad, it’s just that it was allowed to become bad and that is proven by the fruit it produces. In other words, all humans are born in innocence, but it is how they are raised and nurtured that will be evidenced by the fruit they bear. If people were born either good or bad, as we noticed in an earlier reference, then salvation would be of no value. Adam and Eve were created in innocence and purity, but they became bad through the work of the serpent. He is still at it today on every descendant of Adam that is born into this world.

Theologian Augustine gives us another interpretation to consider. He says: “Jesus is referring to those who think they are able, yet they are incapable of speaking good things or doing good works. This the Lord Jesus says they cannot do. For a person must first be changed in order for his works to be changed. But if a person remains in an evil state, that one cannot do good works. If he abides in what is good, he will not be found producing evil works.”¹⁶