An illustration for Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
Luke 12:10
Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-20
“And every one who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [εἰς τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα βλασφημήσαντι] will not be forgiven.”
In my view, people routinely act against the Spirit. They deny obvious truths, ignore moral impressions, repress intuitions, dismiss intimations of the divine, and so forth.
But that, I think, is not what this verse is talking about.
To blaspheme the Holy Ghost is more than merely ignoring the Spirit’s guidance.
It’s to consciously, deliberately, defiantly reject the Spirit.
We can hope that such people will be few.
I’ve always liked a line from Pope John Paul II, recently canonized. “Must a Christian believe in Hell?” he was once asked. “Yes,” he replied, “but we can hope that it will be empty.”
I confess to flirting with a hope for universal salvation. In the long run, anyway.
But, given human nature, I fear that there will be at least a handful of people who, even when they know that it will bring eternal destruction upon their heads, will still choose rebellious rejection of God’s gracious mercy. And, though sorrowful, he will respect their choice.
He’s done it before, say the scriptures. With Lucifer.
Posted from Carlsbad, California
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