THE HOLY SPIRIT
and other spirits 

PART I.—THE HOLY SPIRIT

Sin Against the Holy Spirit

  All sin is against or contrary to the Holy Spirit; but this term is generally used to designate the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or the sin which is unpardonable. Many honest souls have been harassed for years with the thought that they had committed the unpardonable sin, when there was no truth in it; and had they known it, the very fact that they were convicted was a positive proof that they were not guilty of what they were accused. Satan often employs this means of discouraging souls and hindering them from finding peace, and getting a settled experience. While there are very few who commit the unpardonable sin, it is possible, and some do commit it. We will first notice the

  UNPARDONABLE SIN UNDER THE OLD TESTAMENT.— "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses." Heb. 10:28. "Died without mercy," that is, they were not pardoned. There were several sins under the old Testament which were unpardonable; and when it would be proven by two or three witnesses, the guilty party "died without mercy" was stoned to death, or cut off from among the people. For this reason Paul calls the law of Moses a "ministration of death" (2 Cor. 3:7), or "the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:2. This meant that when a man sinned, and it would be proven, the inevitable end was death, which was known as "the curse of the law." All the sins mentioned in the ten commandments, or decalogue, and many others in the law of Moses, were considered unpardonable, and punishable by death. Hence under the law of Moses the unpardonable sin was frequently committed. This sin is known in the Old Testament by several different names, such as, "Sinning with a high hand," "Presumptuous sin, " "Sinning willfully, " etc., etc.

  UNPARDONABLE SIN IN THE NEWTESTAMENT.—The first place in the New Testament we have mention made of an unpardonable sin is in Matthew the twelfth chapter, where Jesus was speaking to the scoffing Pharisees. We have a record of the same in Mark and Luke also. "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but [104] the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Matt. 12:31, 32.

  Here, and here only, is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit mentioned—that is, here and in the parallel passages in Mark and Luke. In this passage, as in all Scripture, the context goes far to help us in understanding the meaning of the writer. Jesus had been casting out devils, and the Pharisees accused Him of casting them out by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. When Jesus had heard their accusation or read their thoughts, He spoke to them the foregoing words, and warned them about blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

  The question might naturally arise here as to what called forth this declaration from Jesus. Mark in recording the same thing clearly answers the question. "Because they: said, He hath an unclean spirit." Mark 3:30. These wicked Pharisees spoke not only against Jesus, but more expressly against the power by which He cast out devils, and Jesus said that He cast out devils by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28), hence they spoke blasphemously about the Holy Spirit. Jesus hearing this, or rather knowing their thoughts, told them of their awful doom.

  This, and this only, is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit; that is, speaking blasphemously of His work, mission, operations, or person. Yet the roads that lead to the unpardonable sin are many, or at least they are more than this one. Men may apostatize so far that their case is hopeless, and their doom is sealed. They may go beyond the reach of mercy and reach an irretrievable state. They may fall so far away that it would be impossible to renew them to repentance. They may reject the truth and take pleasure in unrighteousness till God will send them a strong delusion and their case is hopeless. All these are sure roads to the unpardonable state.

  We will next notice those to whom God has sent a strong delusion "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:10 12. Those who will not receive a love for the truth when they have heard it, but go on in unrighteousness till the Holy Spirit is grieved forever away, can never be forgiven. This may be done by blaspheming the Holy [105] Spirit, or by repeatedly turning Him away and refusing to admit when He knocks at the door of the heart. Those who sternly refuse to get saved when they know the truth, stand in awful danger.

  We read in the Bible of a certain class of people who refused to know God; "and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." Rom. 1:28. They were disobedient and even disliked to retain God in their knowledge; "wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts." Rom. 1:24. When a man refuses to retain God in his knowledge—refuses and rejects the Holy Spirit and receives not a love for the truth, God "gives him up"— "gives him over to a reprobate mind," and sends him a "strong delusion" that he may believe a lie and be damned. From this most deplorable state there is no escape. Past offered mercies are gone forever and lost in the chaos of past eternity. Present mercy is not offered, and nothing but hell and damnation can be expected in eternity. This is certainly of all states the most wretched.

  "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Heb. 6:4 6. "If they shall fall away." The significance of the whole text is founded on this clause. To "fall away" does not mean, as some suppose, merely to fall from the grace of God, or backslide. To "fall away" as Paul uses it here means to totally apostatize and fall beyond the reach of mercy; to reject the gospel system and put its Author to an open shame, by denying Him to be the Son of God.

  Three things especially should be taken into consideration in trying to understand the Bible, or any other writing. They are: (1) Who is writing, (2) who is written to, and (3) under what circumstances the passage is written. If we consider that in the foregoing text Paul was writing to the Jews, and that at that time many of them had "fallen away" from the gospel and had denied that Jesus was the Christ, we can better grasp the import of his language.

  That Paul is here aiming at total apostasy is further proved by the words, "They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, [106] and put him to an open shame." That is, they say by their actions and doctrine that His crucifixion was just, and had they been there they would have helped to condemn Him. They publicly declare, after having known by a positive experience that He was the Christ, that He was a malefactor and died as a man, guilty of crime; thus making of Him a public example and "putting him to an open shame."

  The simple act of backsliding is not an unpardonable sin but for the scoffing apostate and the hardened reprobate, who rejects the gospel system and Jesus Christ, its author, there is no place of repentance. And he who utterly "falls away," away from the gospel plan, and the reach of the Holy Spirit, can never hope for life. "For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:7, 8. Those upon whom the showers of grace descend and they bring forth fruit, receive blessing from God: but those who have become so worth less and have fallen so far away that they bear only thorns and briers, are "nigh unto cursing."

  Note the strong analogy here between a worthless piece of earth, or field, and the apostate soul. That is, when a field after much cultivation, brings forth nothing but thorns and briers it is given up as worthless and unimprovable. So a soul, when it has been often watered with the dew of life and carefully cultivated, if in spite of all it becomes utterly worthless, it is then considered unpardonable. It is then near unto cursing, and to its final end, which is burning.

  There is yet another phase of the unpardonable sin which we wish to notice, known in the Bible as "The sin unto death." "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death." 1 John 5:16, 17. All sin in one sense is unto death; but the death here referred to is doubtless the second death, or the "lake of fire." Rev. 20:14. Paul gives us to understand that all who are in sin are dead (Eph. 2:1; 1 Tim. 5:6); but the death here mentioned by John is one from which there is no escape. Those who sin and yet do not fall beyond the possibility of life, may receive life through prayer and faith; but the "sin unto death," for the forgiveness of which we are not to pray, is sin which [107]           

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