Sin of a Lifetime
“but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” Mark 3:29 NASB
Never – What a lot of grief this verse has caused! Scary. Condemning. Hopelessness. Just some of the reactions to Yeshua’s warning. But maybe we are reading these words through our own cultural glasses. Maybe we need to think about the culture and context of his statement before we feel as though we are truly lost. Rabbi Sacks’ discussion of sanctifying the name of God implies an alternative to the usual fearful conclusion. He notes that desecrating the name of YHVH is not the act itself but rather the aspersion cast on God’s reputation. Quoting the Mishneh Torah Teshuvah: “There are transgressions that are forgiven immediately, and others pardoned only after a time . . . All this applies only if at the time of the transgression one did not desecrate God’s name. If he did, then even though he repents, and the Day of Atonement comes and he is still penitent, and he suffers afflictions, his atonement is not completely until he dies,” he concludes “‘Profaning God’s name’ is a wrong that cannot be righted in one’s lifetime, because what has been harmed is not just the victim, not the perpetrator, but the very standing of God in that eyes of the world.”[1]
This rabbinic comment was circulating during the time of Yeshua. Isn’t it possible that Yeshua’s remark is a reflection of this view? While the Mishneh Torah Teshuvah deals with the upholding the sanctity of the divine name, is that any different than a comment about the Rauch Hakodesh? Isn’t the Spirit of God (referred to as the Holy Spirit) just as sacred as the name of God? If this Torah commentary offers any insight into the meaning of Yeshua’s warning, perhaps it is that our behaviors are never truly private. They have public consequences and communal implications. What God sees, others feel. Therefore, if my actions do not uphold the holiness of God, if they diminish His public reputation by direct or indirect means, then the sin that I commit is not something that I can undo by confession. By the time repentance occurs, the poison to God’s name has already spread far and wide. It cannot be retrieved or erased. Atonement becomes impossible because God Himself has been slighted in the eyes of others.
The Mishneh Torah Teshuvah allows the possibility of atonement by the death of the perpetrator. Yeshua’s remark seems even more severe. Can such guilt truly be an eternal sin? The Greek text uses the word aion, often translated “eternal.” But the word actually means a long duration of time or the time of this world, i.e., the present “age.” It is translated “eternal” only because it is often associated with God’s existence, but in other uses it does not necessarily mean what we think of as eternal. It can mean precisely what Mishneh Torah Teshuvah suggests; that is, that this sin lasts until death. Of course, this does not make the warning any less severe. It only removes the mistaken idea that such a sin will never find atonement. It shifts the meaning to an essentially Hebraic view that this sin lasts a lifetime.
Topical Index: blasphemy, Holy Spirit, eternal, aion, Mark 3:29
[1] Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World, p. 64.
Interesting. It provokes a few off-topic questions because I hadn’t thought about this hitherto: Is the Ruach H’Kodesh component of the Trinity also something less than the Father? Assuming your considered opinion is yes, then is Yeshua a peer, higher, or lower, and on what do you base that reasoning? Also, where do you reason blaspheming the Father or the Son fit into this?
But your question sets up a false dichotomy. In Jewish thinking, the Ruach Ha’Kodesh is not a PERSON and so is not subject to questions like rank, etc. The ruach ha’kodesh is the description of the Father’s active involvement with the world of men. In other words, it is the personification of YHVH as seen in action, much like Wisdom is treated in Proverbs.
And why is not Yeshua the personification of the Father as heard (and seen) in Word?
In Philippians 1:19 in the KJV the Ruach H’Kodesh is referred to specifically as the “Spirit of Jesus Christ” and Acts 1:2 recalls that “He (referring to Yeshua) through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles”.
In 2Corinthians 3 17 the verse says “Now the Lord is that Spirit…” Whether “Lord” in that verse refers to the Father or to Yeshua, that word “is” looks like a direct parallel of “Lord” and “Spirit” to me.
I seem to find in the New Testament the same merry mixing of terms of endearment (sorry, I am not making light of His Names; they all ARE terms of endearment to me) when it comes to Who is What as I find in the Old. The Names seem to follow function there, too, just like in the Old. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. Now why doesn’t the verse stop before that last statement and make Skip’s job easy? There’s some more merry mixing in regards to the function of Creation. If the Old contains many Names of The One, why can’t the New?
To me, when I have seen Yeshua I HAVE seen the Father, just as He says. To me, Yeshua is just another manifestation of the One. I don’t separate Them in my mind at all. To me, THAT would be sin. I don’t count the Manifestations, because if I did, I don’t think I could ever stop; how many Names does He have to us? As far as that is concerned, that is the same as asking how many functions He has for us, and that, of course, is endless. Better just not to start COUNTING at all. I count to One.
Good and long-overdue discussion. Please continue.
Laurita, there is a podcast titled: “Christian Monotheism” that addresses all of the real and perceived issues raised by non-trinitarian Messianism/Christianity.
When Skip began raising this issue it was revolutionary to me and my immediate reaction was to just reject it out of hand. I didn’t do that because so much of what I have been raised to assume as true has turned out to be untrue. So, I set out to investigate it for myself.
After having listened to many of the teachings in that podcast and reading material on the website by the same name I now see that there is a solid case for a non-trinitarian point of view.
Is there evidence that there is still a resurrection for such a person, if they truly were repentant?
Yes, there is Alicia! And it applies to everyone – even those who are NOT repentant in this age. Our God is a God of mercy and justice beyond compare!
The record in Matthew’s gospel gives additional info that is helpful to our understanding in this: “whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.. Both Mark and Luke omit Yahshua’s: “or in the age to come”.
To me that addition by Matthew reveals that this so called”unpardonable will be dealt with at the Great White Throne Judgment and NOT in this age or during the upcoming Millennial age. There is clearly another age that is post Millennium (I have reason to believe that there may be 2 ages that will come post Millennium) In any case, Yahshua is making the point here, that those who mock the Holy Spirit will not participate in the blessed resurrection of first fruits on Yom Teruah. They will miss out on the Millennium. The Word is clear that God does not take lightly anyone who tampers in a profane way with any of His Holy things and that includes His Holy Spirit, His Shabbats, etc., Remember the example of the sons of Aaron – Nadab and Abiu, how God wiped them out for their profanity?
In a precious piece of Scripture that Paul was inspired to record for us in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us that EVERYONE who does not participate in the first fruit resurrection will be resurrected at the Great White Throne resurrection at the end of the millennium. This second resurrection contains two groups that Yahshua called “sheep and goats”. The sheep will inherit eternity at that point and the goats will go into the “lake of fire”. This fire is NOT a fire of torment without end or a fire of annihilation as Ha Satan would have you believe. It is a refiner’s fire (see Malachi chapter 3)
“For he (Yahshua) is like a refiners fire and like fuller’s soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver till they present RIGHT offerings to YHVH.”
Actually the Book of Malachi is an indictment of Levitical priests for their corruption and profanity of God’s Holy Things for which they deserved death according to Torah!. Yet Paul tells us emphatically in Romans chapters 9 – 11 that ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED! So these corrupt priests will be saved too as well as everyone else who has committed the “unpardonable” sin! This is not “cheap grace” as the enemies of Universal Reconciliation allege! Can we trust our great God and His Son to whom He has committed Judgment to DO JUSTICE and administer appropriate judgments on people for their crimes against God and Mankind? Of course we can! Books are being kept in heaven. Yahshua will not wink at any sin or play the partiality game. Torah seems to indicate that there will be a lot of restitution and repatriation to be done over a long long period of time. Remember all sin is a debt to God and in the great Law of Jubilee God will eventually forgive all in His Great Restoration of ALL THINGS.
Let me end by quoting that Scripture from 1 Corinthians 15:20,
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 “For God[a] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection under him,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.” (1Cor 15:20-20)
Alicia, can you “see” that God is eventually going to be”everything to everyone”? This is the life that is life indeed. All other notions are a lie!
Yahshua’s work at Golgotha was only the beginning of His assignment from the Father to restore all that was last in Adam. Coming up in a few days at the Feast of Yom Teruah we will, in anticipation, celebrate His projected next step! Be sure to have a glass of wine with some friends and tell them of the great things that the Father and Son are doing and about to do.
Hag Sameach!
John, you have written a lovely explanation. I have never “seen” 1 Cor. 15:20-29 placed in the context of words that caused me to recognize it as a chiasm, which is the image that comes to mind now.
Also, the refiner’s fire. I think if we ever fully understood this possibility, we would not dismiss “unbelievers” so readily. He is HOLY, and His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than ours.
The Unveiling
~ But the Advocate-The Helper-The Comforter-The Ruach HaKodesh- The Holy Spirit-The Breath of God-The Paraklētos- The Paraclete- (One called alongside) whom the Father will send in My Name, (He) will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you ~ (John 14.26)
~ Then I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The One sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a Name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the Name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a Name written, King of kings and LORD of lords.
~ I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me, (the One) whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only Son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn ~
BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE. . . BUT BEWARE!
As the Scriptures in Mark 3:20-30 recount:
Many people of Jesus day could not believe His miraculous
works were from the hand of God.
Rather, they believed and protested that He and His works
were from demons.
Jesus, being uniquely Who He was, corrected their dark
thinking and warned them about the seriousness of continuing
to hold onto their false beliefs. In doing so He said they would
be blaspheming the Holy Spirit and thus placing themselves
outside the redeeming grace of God. Woe!
In reading through the above, I consider my past Hebrew Roots associations. I conclude that some of the most painful and gut-wrenching encounters came through the recognition of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I was not entirely without fault At the time I was weighed down by sin and more susceptible to deception, and my gullibility was used against me. I tolerated the sin that transpired. Those who preyed on that blindness did so to feed the need to appear spiritual. The end was to find oneself in joint occupation of a ditch. Had I had my wits about me, I wouldn’t have fallen for such foolishness.
Though forgiveness is extended for the sin, that forgiveness doesn’t excuse the perpetrator of their blasphemy. The violation of trust is unforgivable.
I have seen the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit occur many times, most frequently within a gathering of so-called, like minded believers. When the environment is not genuine, honest and humble, it enables the subtle lies, deceit and treachery of the adversary. Honor to the Spirit of the Lord doesn’t happen. A utilitarian religion manifests that professes a polite society, religious idolatry. The essence of the gathering is a complex promotion of expedient practices.
The truth, however brutal or coarse as it may appear, brings healing. Though not immediately apparent, honest people will recognize it and respond accordingly. The testament of one’s heart is the courage to confess one’s sin.
Perhaps that is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the realization of perpetuating a lie, the guilt of eternal sin.
Acts 26: 16-18 seems to indicate that there is forgiveness available for those from the dominion of Satan who turn from darkness. I wonder if Yeshua might be teaching that life for that person won’t ever be as if that sin never happened. They (and others) may have to wander in a desert rather than enter the promised land of what could have been in their lives. How long did the choice to have a child their way change the world of Abraham and Sarah? That choice will likely continue to cause chaos until death itself ceases. I think forgiveness is a lot like gravity. It’s one of those things that people think they understand but actually is inexplicable.
This is he first thing to come to mind when I read Mark 3:29
Ex. 23:20-21 “Behold, I send an angel before you to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Have regard for him, and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for My name is in him.
“The Greek text uses the word aion, often translated “eternal.” But the word actually means a long duration of time or the time of this world, i.e., the present “age.” It is translated “eternal” only because it is often associated with God’s existence, but in other uses it does not necessarily mean what we think of as eternal.”
Implications for hell and ‘eternal life’?
Implications: first, eternal is a temporal concept. I do not believe the biblical text supports the idea of timelessness.
second, if eternal means temporal duration, then the real question is “How long?” For the Kingdom, the answer is “forever.” That is the biblical claim. His Kingdom will last forever, i.e, it will have no temporal end.
third, as for “hell,” ah, I’m not so sure.
I agree with you, Skip. But I think the notion that the Kingdom is “forever” bears a little elaboration. It seems to me that Paul tells us that Yahshua’s Kingdom will come to an end. In 1 Cor. 15 Paul tells us that Yahshua will “deliver the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power”. What happens after that, best I can tell is we enter the period of the “new heavens and new earth” (Revelation 21)!
I would have loved if Paul or John had been inspired by the Spirit to give us more detail on this. This backs me up, Skip, to your pondering of the temporal duration of “hell”. In Torah we see that God’s Justice is restitutionary in nature so we can safely assume that the Stalin and the Hitler and Pol Pot types will be a long time in Yahshua’s “dog house”. I have no idea how they can pay back for their crimes but I have confidence that Judge Yahshua will know what to do! But it seems to me that all this will have to happen before the New Heavens and New earth are established, and God will be”all in all”? Looking at the patterns in the Tanak Dr Jones speculates that it will be a 50,000 year Jubilee before the last stragglers are released but Jones told me emphatically that he is speculating. Interesting thought, just the same.
Yes indeed, John!
Running with “eternal” rather than “age” or “age lasting” was perhaps William Tyndale’s greatest Bible translation error. He unfortunately passed on to Protestantism the old Catholic dogma of torture without end in this thing called “hell”. What a tragic misrepresentation of our loving Father! Of course, most Protestant preachers had much affection for the this notion of a torturing hell, as it gave them considerable more power to put the “fear of God” into their congregations. . But there have always been conscientious teachers through the centuries who have pointed out the truth that our God is a restorer not a destroyer or a torturer. His judgments are ultimately always corrective! Unfaithful Israel is the prime example of that. Despite all their sins, Paul tells us in Romans 9-11 that “ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED’. Everyone who is not a first fruit will be resurrected in the second resurrection at time of the Great White Throne Judgment. Paul said so in 1 Cor15 – “ALL shall be made alive”. All means all! Yet many preachers such as Spurgeon had to concoct that Paul meant “some of all” to satisfy inquiring congregants :-((
If you or anyone else wants to read further on topic of Universal Reconciliation, I have found the work of Dr.stephen E Jones to be the best out there at this time. I think Dr Jones books are still available to read for free on line at http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net. If not they are available to purchase too. Jones has written three or four books on this crucially important subject matter.
Shalom
This makes so much more sense. Thank you Skip for the insight!
Most appropriate topic for Yom Teruah. This should be fair shofar warning to all who liberally claim “this is from the ‘Holy Spirit’, who told me this and this…”, and those who prophesy “by the ‘Holy Spirit’, and NOT everyone discerned it is not!
YHWH and the Ruach HaKodesh is One and the same.
The ‘prophecy’ divination stuff really scares me, too, Ester. Such carelessness when you are so close to the Third Commandment makes me break out in a sweat.
The New Age, also, now thinks they can break off the Holy Spirit for themselves but they don’t seem to have any use for the Father, and the Son they consider a mystical buddy that shows how just ANYBODY can be a christ.
I consider the New Age a textbook case of the awful results of thinking that God is something you can COUNT, and therefore SEPARATE. Because we are creatures of time, we think of counting in linear terms. First one, then two, and that each of those are somehow fundamentally different than three. I believe that is a fateful mistake to try to do to Someone Who is not to be found in any time, much less space. If there ever was a case to be made against trinitarian thinking, this disaster surely is it.