Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 12:32

Matthew 12:32. Whosoever speaketh a word, i.e., in passing, not as the result of a determined state of hostility, against the Son of man, against Christ in the form of a servant, through ignorance of His real glory, it shall be forgiven him. Even this great sin can be pardoned.

But whosoever speaketh. The form indicates determined speaking, in the presence of light.

Against the Holy Ghost. Not the Divine nature of Christ, but the third Person of the Trinity, as the Agent working in the hearts of men, without whom neither forgiveness nor holiness is possible.

Neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. ‘World,' i.e.., æon or age; the present one before the final coming of Christ, the future one dating from that event, and lasting forever. The Jewish nation divided the two by the first coming of the Messiah. The meaning is: shall NEVER be forgiven. Views of this sin: 1. A particular sin, that of deliberately, persistently, and maliciously, in the presence of proper evidence, attributing the works of Christ (whether of physical healing or spiritual deliverance) to diabolical agency, instead of acknowledging the Holy Spirit as the Agent. (Comp. Mark 3:20-35.) The accusation of the Pharisees, in this instance, may have been such a sin. It is very different from ordinary and usual opposition to God and Christ, and also from ‘grieving' or ‘resisting the Holy Ghost' It cannot be a mere denial of the Divinity of Christ. Those who fear that they have committed the unpardonable sin, give good evidence that they have not done so. 2. A state of determined, wilful opposition, in the presence of light, to the power of the Holy Spirit, virtually a moral suicide, a killing of the conscience, so that the human spirit is absolutely insusceptible to the influences of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:33-35 favor this view, as also the correct reading in Mark 3:29: ‘guilty of eternal sin.' The outward manifestation of such a state will be ‘the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost' It is uncertain whether such a state is possible ‘in this world,' and we should beware of imputing it to any, but the impossibility of forgiveness is quite evident. The inference from this view is, that all sin must either be repented of and forgiven, or culminate (here and hereafter) in the unpardoned and unpardonable state. 3. Many evangelical German expositors think that the clause contains a hint of forgiveness in another world, i.e., that all sins will be forgiven, except those which terminate in this sin here or hereafter. This avoids a difficulty in regard to the future state of those to whom Christ has not been offered (infants, heathen, etc.), but neither this passage, nor the other difficult ones (1 Peter 3:19; Matthew 4:6), gives sufficient ground for announcing it as taught in the word of God. It is at best only an inference based on a doubtful interpretation of the first clause of Matthew 12:31, and the last clause of Matthew 12:32. The Scriptures are wisely silent on the whole question.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 12:32

Old Testament

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