Lesson for May 19, 2021
The Life of Christ
The Unpardonable Sin
(Matthew 12:22-37; Mark 20-30)
Before we can understand the subject of the unpardonable sin, we must consider the context of the passages that contain the statement regarding it. There has been much false teaching regarding the unpardonable sin. Simply stated, the unpardonable sin is failure to respond to the ministry of God the Holy Spirit when He reveals the Gospel message to an individual. Thus, the unpardonable sin is the rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior.
Matthew 12:22-37 is where we find the scripture regarding the unpardonable sin. The passage begins with Jesus casting out demons and the man is healed. Those, other than the Pharisees, who observed this miracle were amazed, but the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. Of course, the truth was that Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ reply to these Pharisees is found in Matthew 12:25-37.
Remember that Jesus was a masterful teacher and thinker. He proved at the age of twelve and many times after, that He could outthink the Pharisees. Using a debaters’ technique, Jesus showed this group of religious leaders the error of their accusations. Jesus was trying to explain to the Pharisees the truth regarding the Messiah hoping to convince them to believe in Him.
The Pharisees, instead of believing in Jesus, desired to discredit Him and His message by attempting to show people that He was associated with Satan, perhaps even demon possessed. By doing this the Pharisees hoped to regain their own popularity and power over the common people. The Pharisees are described in this passage as fuming with anger. In Matthew 12:25, it says that Jesus knew their thoughts. The Greek word for thoughts is “enthumeises” and means an inward reasoning (generally evil surmising). The root word in Greek is “thumeo” and describes the smoking of incense. The Pharisees slowly fumed (smoked) over the success of Jesus, the miracles that He was able to perform and the fact that many followed Him.
Jesus told two parables that demonstrated the absurdity of the Pharisees’ accusation that He was demon possessed or associated with Satan. The first parable answers the accusation that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus begins with a statement of fact as if in a debate in Matthew 12:25, and then defends His position by using logic (something these intellectual Pharisees should have understood). In Matthew 12:26, Jesus asked the question “If Satan casts out Satan he is divided and how shall his house stand?” The question anticipated a negative answer – it can’t stand. In other words, why would a demon from Satan cast out another demon from Satan? If this occurred, Satan’s kingdom would be destroyed from within.
Christ then turned the tables on the Pharisees by asking a series of questions designed to get them to think about what they were saying. He suggested that perhaps the Jewish sons cast out demons by the same power. (Acts 19:13) Furthermore, Jesus made the statement that if He was, on the other hand, casting out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit then the Kingdom of God had come to them. Jesus suggested that if He was indeed from God as He claimed, then He would have the power to cast out demons by God’s power. The conclusion that must be drawn was that Jesus was obviously from God.
It is with this context in mind that we have the statement in Matthew 12:31-32 regarding the “unpardonable sin.” Jesus told these Pharisees that all sin can be forgiven except for one and that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for blasphemy is “blasphemia” and means evil speaking. Therefore, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is speaking evil of the illumination that He brings to a person regarding Jesus Christ and the Gospel message. By speaking evil in this case demonstrates a rejection of the truth that has been revealed – Jesus Christ and the Gospel. In keeping with the context, you are either with Christ by believing in Him or against Him by rejecting Him.
Continuing this line of thinking, Christ put everyone into one of two categories: good or evil. The metaphor was a tree that bears fruit. A good tree bears good fruit, and a corrupt tree bears corrupt fruit. What Jesus said was that you are either for Him or against Him. When it comes to salvation or even the Christian Way of Life there are no “fence riders.” A person cannot be partially saved and partially lost no more than a Christian can be partially filled with the Spirit and partially not.
Jesus went on to say that what a person says is a reflection of who he really is. If a person lacks the goodness that comes from knowing and following Jesus Christ, he does not have the capacity to bring forth good things. This does not mean that everything that an unbeliever says or does is evil. What Jesus was referring to is a relationship that changes the thinking of a person so that he is able to produce divine good. An unbeliever is the enemy of God because of his rejection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. A believer can also be the enemy of God by his failure to execute the plan of God for his life. You are either for Christ or against Him. (Philippians 3:18)
Jesus Christ has secured forever the strategic victory (the skillful planning and management in getting the better of the adversary) over Satan. At salvation, this victory places the believer in a place of maximum strength with the potential to win the tacticalvictory (the procedure for gaining advantage or success over the adversary) over Satan, the world system, and the sin nature. In order to execute the Christian Way of Life, and glorify God while we are on earth, a believer’s union with Christ guarantees him the opportunity to overcome the obstacles that are placed before him (or that he places before himself).
Jesus Casts Out Demons
(Mark 5:1-20)
Jesus and His disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee and came to Gadara where a
pork “black market” was taking place. As soon as Jesus stepped out of the boat, He was met by a man who was living among the tombs. This area of Gadara was filled with caves, which were used as burial sites. The man who met Jesus was obviously deranged (normal people don’t live among tombs). The man had an unclean spirit meaning he was demon-possessed, and therefore an unbeliever. A demon cannot indwell a believer. (I John 4:4)
This man also had abnormal strength as a result of the demon possession. There had been many attempts to subdue him without success. So great was this man’s physical strength, that when he had been chained, he was able to pull them apart and break them in pieces. This man also abused his own body by beating and cutting himself and screaming. He was a wild man!
By way of warning, as a believer you cannot be demon possessed, but you can come under the influence of demons or the doctrine of demons. By abandoning your spiritual life and turning your back on Bible doctrine, you can open yourself up to a great deal of demon influence. The farther you remove yourself from God by not learning, believing, and applying His Word the more susceptible you become to Satan’s cosmic system.
When this demon possessed man saw Jesus, he ran and fell down before him as if to worship Him. What we see in this passage is that the demon recognized Jesus as the Son of God and understood the power that He had to cast him out of this human being. There were multiple demons in this man, but only one spoke. When this demon began to beg Jesus to stop tormenting him, he was saying this because Jesus had already been commanding them to come out of this man. Finally, this demon acknowledged that an entire legion of demons was indwelling this man. A legion can be as many as twelve thousand.
This group of demons realized that Jesus was indeed going to cast them out and begged Him to send them into the herd of pigs. Remember that there was an illegal “black market” going on here. Jews were forbidden to eat pork. So, Jesus obliged the demons and sent them into the herd of pigs and the pigs ran violently into the sea and drowned. Once the word got back to the city, many came out to see what had happened and they found this once demon possessed man clothed, sitting down and in his right mind.
Demon possession or influence can cause all kinds of psychosis and psychotic behavior. Ephesians 4:16-17 talks about a vacuum in the soul. The word in the Bible is vanity. The Greek word for vanity is “mataiotes,” which means an emptiness or vacuum. It is this vacuum in the soul of an unbeliever (or a believer out of fellowship with God) that draws in demonic doctrine.
In Mark 5:16-17, the businessmen of the town urged Jesus to leave their area. The reason, of course, was that they were afraid that He would ruin their lucrative “black market” business. After this, the formerly demon possessed man asked to go with Jesus, but Jesus told him to go home to his own people and tell them of all that had been done for him. We can only assume that this man had become a believer, since he did exactly what Jesus asked him to do.