Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2.pdf

<strong>Commentary</strong> on Matthew, Mark, Luke - Volume 2
other blasphemies shall be forgiven, except that one blasphemy which is directed against the Spirit.
If a man shall simply blaspheme against God, he is not declared to be beyond the hope of pardon;
but of those who have offered outrage to the Spirit, it is said that God will never forgive them. Why
is this, but because those only are blasphemers against the Spirit, who slander his gifts and power,
contrary to the conviction of their own mind? Such also is the import of the reason assigned by
Mark for the extreme severity of Christ’s threatening against the Pharisees; because they had said
that he had the unclean spirit; for in this manner they purposely and maliciously turned light into
darkness; and, indeed, it is in the manner of the giants, 129 as the phrase is, to make war against
God.
But here a question arises. Do men proceed to such a pitch of madness as not to hesitate,
knowingly and willfully, to rush against God? for this appears to be monstrous and incredible. I
reply: Such audacity does indeed proceed from mad blindness, in which, at the same time, malice
and virulent rage predominate. Nor is it without reason that Paul says, that though he was
a blasphemer, he obtained pardon, because he had done it ignorantly in his unbelief,
(1 Timothy 1:13;)
for this term draws a distinction between his sin and voluntary rebellion. This passage refutes
also the error of those who imagine that every sin which is voluntary, or which is committed in
opposition to the conscience, is unpardonable. On the contrary, Paul expressly limits that sin to the
First Table of the Law; 130 and our Lord not less plainly applies the word blasphemy to a single
description of sin, and at the same time shows, that it is of a kind which is directly opposed to the
glory of God. 131
From all that has been said, we may conclude that those persons sin and blaspheme against the
Holy Spirit, who maliciously turn to his dishonor the perfections of God, which have been revealed
to him by the Spirit, in which His glory ought to be celebrated, and who, with Satan, their leader,
are avowed enemies of the glory of God. We need not then wonder, if for such sacrilege there is
no hope of pardon; for they must be desperate who turn the only medicine of salvation into a deadly
venom. Some consider this to be too harsh, and betake themselves to the childish expedient, that
it is said to be unpardonable, because the pardon of it is rare and difficult to be obtained. But the
words of Christ are too precise to admit of so silly an evasion. It is excessively foolish to argue that
God will be cruel if he never pardon a sin, the atrocity of which ought to excite in us astonishment
129 “Et cela c’est desfier Dieu, et luy faire la guerre, comme les Geans des Poetes, ainsique porte le proverbe Latin;” — “and
that is to defy God, and make war with him, like the Giants of the Poets, as the Latin proverb bears.”
130 “Restreint nommement a la Premiere Table de la Loy ce peche contre l’Esprit;” — “expressly limits to the First Table of
the Law this sin against the Spirit.”
131 “Que c’est un peche qui battaille directement contre la gloire de Dieu;” — “that it is a sin which fights directly against the
glory of God.”
51
John Calvin