From: mpeever@uvphys.phys (Mark Peever)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Lost Salvation
Date: 20 Nov 92 06:16:34 GMT
Reply-To: mpeever@uvphys.phys
Organization: UVic, Physics & Astronomy, Victoria, BC

>>Can I have the Book Chapter and verse to back up the statement, "It is
>>impossible for an Elect Son of God to blaspheme the Holy Spirit".  YOU 
>>WILL NOT FIND IT!
>>
>>Tony

>I think that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was just what it says in the 
>text.  The Pharisees called the Holy Spirit through whom Jesus cast out 
>demons an unclean spirit.
>
You are exactly right here, there can be no doubt about what He meant by
this.
> 
>My deliverance from this terrible doubt came about through a better 
>understanding of repentance and faith.  It seems clear to me now 
>that no one can repent and believe in Christ apart from the working
>of God.  "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent
>me draw him" (John 6:44), and "him that cometh to me I will in no wise 
>cast out" (John 6:37).  If me or my friend had actually committed an
>unpardonable sin, then the Father would not have drawn us to repentance
>and faith in Christ.  We can conclude this because we know that Jesus
>will not cast out anyone who comes to Him.  He would have to cast us
>out if we were guilty of an unpardonable sin.
>
Exactly! I shan't add anything, because you have said it so well already. 
> 
>Mark 3:29 says, "he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
>never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation; because they 
>said, He hath an unclean spirit."  It would seem that one who "hath never 
>forgiveness" is eternally damned, not in danger of eternal damnation.  I 
>interpret the passage to mean that while the Pharisees did call the spirit
>in Christ unclean, it is possible that they did not actually blaspheme the 
>Holy Spirit.  They were in danger of doing so, but they may not have 
>recognized that it was the Holy Spirit who was in Christ.  

Maybe we should take closer look at the context of the passage. In this 
passage, the Lord is telling the people that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
is, in fact, the unpardonable sin. There is really no way to get around it.
The question is really in two parts:
 i) what exactly does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit

 ii)why is it so dangerous?

The first question is really the crux of the whole argument in this bit of
Scripture. When the Lord said these dire words, He was speaking in response
to the accusation brought against Him that He did miracles by the power
of demons.(Mark 3:22)
	"And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem
	said,'He has Beelzebub' and,'By the prince of the
	demons he casts out demons" [Darby Translation]
So from the context, it would seem to be that what is condemned here is
the accusation that the work of the Lord, while He was on the earth, was
perpetrated by the powers of darkness. I must agree wholly with John on this
point.
 This leads to the serious question of whether this type of blasphemy is even
possible in this present age. Certainly, the Lord Jesus Christ is no longer on
the Earth, and so the circumstances under which the pronouncement was made
are no longer applicable. This, I would suggest, is the reason that no
such similar condemnation is repeated in the Epistles. To echo John's 
argument, the scribes were not told that they were to burn in hell, but that
they were on the way. This leads us to the second question. The reason that
the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is so dangerous, is that without faith
in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our behalf, there is no 
chance of salvation:
	 "For God did not send His Son into the World
	to condemn the world, but that the world through
	Him might be saved. For He that believeth on Him 
	shall not be condemned, but he that believeth not
	is condemned already, because he hath not believed
	on the name of the only-begotten Son of God"
					[John 3:17-18]
I John 4:1-6 tells us we know whether someone is saved by what they say
about the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, salvation DEPENDS on acknowledging
the Lord for who He is. This is not possible when we say He did not come
from God, therefore, when we lie about Christ, we cannot be saved, not
because of the sin of the lie, but because we CANNOT repent, as long as
we continue in the lie. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is unpardonable,
not because of the Blasphemy, but because it puts us into a position from
which we cannot repent.
 So can a Christian blaspheme the Holy Spirit? No! Firstly, there is the
question of whether it is even possible during our present time.
Secondly, as believers, we have already acknowledged Christ as God, and
we now have the Holy Spirit living in us, and He will not allow us to 
blaspheme against the Lord Jesus Christ.
	"Hereby ye know the Spirit of God: every spirit which
	confesses Jesus Christ come in the flesh is of God;
	and every spirit which does not confess Jesus Christ
	come in the flesh is not of God...
	... Ye are of God, children, and have overcome the
	them, because greater is He that is in you than he
	that is in the world" 
			I John 4:2-3,4 [Darby Translation]

thus, we are told that as believers, we have the Holy Spirit, and He
makes Himself known in that He always gives Christ His rightful place,
and so it is not possible for a saved child of God to blaspheme against
the Lord Jesus Christ, nor against the Holy Spirit, which is His source
of power and authority.

>Is it impossible for an Elect Son of God to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?  
>The answer to that depends on your theology.  My belief is that if Judas 
>was able to perform miracles and if the once enlightened of Hebrews Chap. 6 
>can fall away and never repent again, then it would seem that just about any 
>one who in all other respects appears to be a Christian could one day 
>blaspheme the Holy Spirit. 

Be careful here. The Lord Himself referred to Judas as a special case,
he was the "Son of perdition" and had to be lost to fulfil the will of the
Father (John 17:12). In this respect, he is very like Pharoah of old, in that
he had a purpose to fulfill, and God used him to his own glory. In fact,
Judas is one of the only two people that we are told ended up in hell, the
other was the rich man who persecuted Lazarus. If you remember, when the Lord
was annointed by the adoring woman, Judas said that it would have been better
to sell the ointment and feed the poor; an idea which the Scriptures say were
because he was a thief (John 12:6). This does not sound to me like the comment 
that the Holy Spirit would inspire about one who really followed the Lord. I 
think that the inference here is clearly that Judas was never in fact saved, 
but was always rebellious in his heart towards the Lord. 
 The fact that he did miracles is entirely inconclusive. We can see many 
examples where the Lord did good through the actions of evil men. The most 
obvious of which was when Moses struck the rock in his anger, after being 
commanded to speak to it. The Lord honoured His promise to provide water for 
the people, even though Moses disobeyed, but Moses was punished for his crime
by not being allowed to enter the promised land. The success of the Lord's 
purpose is not destroyed because of our disobedience, and Judas' case was 
no exception. 

Therefore, I believe that we can in no way lose our salvation, no matter what
we do. We are saved of God, and that is not something that we can ever undo.


  Mark Peever               MPEEVER@UVPHYS.PHYS.UVIC.CA
  Victoria,B.C
  Canada

	"The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart 
	from evil is understanding"   
				Job 28:28