Category: Trinitarian Commentary

Tonight, we’re continuing through the gospel of Matthew trying to understand the Trinitarian doctrine that we see in the New Testament. Our passage tonight will be in Matthew 25. I’m really not wanting to get into Matthew 24 simply because I don’t want this to become about eschatology. I have my positions, of course, but that is not the purpose of this blog. With that, let’s go to the text.

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 ³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 ⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

 ⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

 ⁴⁴“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

 ⁴⁵“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

 ⁴⁶“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Let’s keep something in mind that I got a reminder of tonight. The gospel narratives are all about Christ. We can get caught up here in the questions of salvation and how we should treat our neighbor. Of course, those are important and the gospels do have something to say about that, but Jesus is the main character and we should see what the gospels are saying about him.

Notice that Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. This is a name coming from Daniel. It’s referring to him as the one who is an exalted figure that has the right to rule. He is the Messiah that is bringing in the new age.

Note also that this goes right along with his other titles in this passage of king and Lord. We can be sure he’s speaking of the same person for he refers to the way that one relates to the Father while describing the situations going on.

I’d like to you to consider that Jesus is talking about entrance into the kingdom. Notice what he bases it on though. He bases it on his identity. Doing good to the people of Christ is doing good to Christ. Doing ill to them is doing ill to Christ. This is an exalted view of himself.

That is, unless he’s who he claims to be.

He doesn’t point to faithfulness to YHWH. He points to faithfulness to him. It’s not about how you respond to the Mosaic Law. It’s about how you respond to him. Jesus, in essence, sees himself as the focal point of the covenant and is saying “It’s all about how you respond to me.” Your eternal destiny relies on what you do with this man and how you respond to him.

What do we do with him? Consider him egotistical? It hardly sounds the character of Jesus, but you all know how you would respond if I made the claims. That goes especially for those of you who know me! If Billy Graham made these claims, we’d denounce him. It doesn’t matter who it is. No one today would make these claims and be accepted at large. (I say that because there are always nuts who makes these kinds of claims and some people follow them.) The point is that even those who are not Christians today generally do not see Jesus as egotistical. 

Are we going to say he is who he says he is and act accordingly? If his words are true, you’d better hope that’s what you do.

And if his words are true, you’d better hope you’re on his side as well. We come to the trilemma of Lewis with this. He is either a lunatic, the very devil out of Hell, or the Lord he claimed to be. It is up to you to decide.

We’re continuing our look going through the New Testament looking at Trinitarian passages and seeing the understanding of Christ especially along with how his contemporaries saw him. Tonight, our passage will be taken from Matthew 23.

First off, before quoting the passage, I urge Christians to read through Matthew 23 and tell me where you see Jesus meek and mild in this chapter. We’ve made it sound like Jesus was this nice guy who went around Israel with a kind word to everyone. No. Keep in mind also Jesus is the one who talks to the people and tells them about the wickedness of their leaders and then lets the leaders have it for all that they have done.

Let’s look at the relevant portion for tonight:

 33“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

It should be enough to consider that Jesus says that he is the one who will send the prophets to them. However, the Lukan parallel in chapter 11 of his gospel shows an interesting look at this account.

48So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. 49Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ 50Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,

Before someone raises up the question, I’d like to remind my readers that this is a blog devoted to Mere Christianity. Many of my readers will know I have my own eschatological views, but I have no desire to touch eschatology in my blog provided it does not get into heretical eschatology, such as the neohymaneanism heresy. If you want to know the eschatological ramifications of this passage, look elsewhere.

One point I have been making throughout this series is to see Jesus as the wisdom of God. If you want to see the parallel passage to compare to Matthew 23, it would be Luke 11. Many of the same points raised there are raised here as well. However, when it comes to sending the prophets, it’s not Jesus saying “I” but saying “God in his Wisdom.” If you remember when we went through the passage on the doubt of John the Baptist, we saw again that Luke refers to Jesus as Wisdom.

Why bring this up? Because when we get into the epistles and see the outworking of doctrine based on the new revelation of Christ, this will come up again and again, most notably when we comment on 1 Cor. 1:24. Of course, that is in the future, but this needs to be brought up for now. Jesus is the one sending prophets, which is the role of God, and God is doing it through Jesus with Jesus being his Wisdom.

We shall continue tomorrow going through Matthew.

When I was going through the Old Testament book of Psalms, some of you might have wondered why I didn’t cover Psalm 110. Tonight, you find out why. It, like a few other passages, is a passage I wanted to save until I got to the New Testament. Now there is an aspect of this passage that will be saved until we get further into the New Testament, namely the book of Hebrews. The passage that Jesus quotes in tonight’s reading comes out of Psalm 110 and becomes the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament.

Speaking of the passage being covered tonight, ours is located in Matthew 22:

1While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” 
      “The son of David,” they replied. 43He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 
 44” ‘The Lord said to my Lord: 
      “Sit at my right hand 
   until I put your enemies 
      under your feet.” ‘ 45If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Jesus has just answered a series of questions from his opponents. By the way, let’s keep this in mind. Jesus was a debater. He knew how to argue and he knew how to reason. While we will only cover one aspect of it in the future, in the next chapter, Jesus totally destroys our idea of him as Jesus meek and mild.

Jesus has answered all of the opposition and now he is going to turn the tables. He starts by asking a question that would be obvious. After all, these people were the experts on the Law. They knew it backwards and forwards and it is quite likely that some of them had it memorized. (And by it, I mean the whole Old Testament. There was even a rabbinic rule that you could not comment on a passage until you had memorized it.)

He wants to know whose son the Messiah will be. He is told that he will be the son of David, which is an obvious answer. However, at this point, Christ catches them on that obvious answer. After all, David was the king and was the highest authority in the land only subject to YHWH and what does David say about the Messiah?

‘The Lord said to my Lord: 
      “Sit at my right hand 
   until I put your enemies 
      under your feet.”

We do see two persons here which fits in just fine with a Trinitarian model, and this gets to the point Christ wishes to make. David says that this son of his is his Lord. How can he be a mere human being and yet at the same time be of a higher position than David is? His opponents have no answer.

Trinitarians do! Jesus is Lord by virtue of his deity. (I am aware of the Acts 2:36 passage my arian opponents and rest assured when we get there, we will see how that fits in.) Jesus is not just human after all. He is divine as well.

Tomorrow, we shall see what more we can find in Matthew on the Trinity and the self-understanding of Christ.

Today in our look through Matthew, we’re going to backtrack and go back to Matthew 11 and bring out another text. For those who are interested, we will be looking at verse 25-27 of this chapter of the gospel. The text is as follows:

25At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. 27“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

To begin with, I don’t think Jesus is at all against wisdom and learning. What he seems to be against is those who think they know it all already and thus have no desire to listen to this wandering rabbinic teacher. We have to remember that this took place after the condemnation of unrepentant cities in the face of the evidence of the apostles which would have included miraculous evidence.

However, there is a striking juxtaposition here that takes place that I have noted in an earlier blog. We see Jesus as being a humble figure often, but we have to realize that the statements that he made would have been seen as arrogant had they come from anyone else. Because they come from Jesus, I fear we don’t often notice them. It is an odd position isn’t it? We who follow Jesus so much don’t notice what he says because he says it.

We need to look at the context of Judaism and see how this would have looked before the cross and the resurrection. We have this teacher who’s doing great signs and what has he said? He’s talked about the Father which is one thing as it’s likely he used the term “abba” which a Jew would not use for God, but look at what he says in verse 27.

First, no one knows the Son except the Father. Already we are seeing a unique relationship that exists between the Father and the Son. It is after this though that Jesus says that no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. 

Now picture you as a Jew hearing this and you want to know how to know God. Jesus tells you. You know the Father through him. This would certainly be a most unbelievable claim. How is it that you, a man, claim to be the only one through whom we may know the Father? 

What we have is further clues towards a Trinitarian picture. The Son is the one who makes knowledge of the Father known because of his unique relationship to the Father. Naturally, this will need to be fleshed out some more and we will certainly do so. It is time we as Christians stopped glancing over these passages as we read the Bible, and really began looking at what they said.

And let’s notice the oddity again. Jesus has made this claim and in verse 29, we have him telling us that he is humble. One of the constantly amazing things about Jesus is that he seems to put these two statements together and it’s hard to see a contradiction. It has been said rightly that if Jesus did not exist, we would have a hard time creating a Jesus. There is no other figure in literature like him.

Tomorrow, we shall continue going through the gospel and see what else we find.

We’re going to return to going through Matthew again. What we’re doing for those who might be reading for the first time is going through the New Testament to see the understanding of Christ therein and with that come to a deeper knowledge of the Trinity.

We’re going to be looking at the Transfiguration tonight. It takes place in Matthew 17:

1After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

 5While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

 6When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.7But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.”8When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

 9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

 10The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

 11Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

We have to remember that this takes place after Peter’s great confession of faith which was followed by Jesus speaking of the suffering he would go through and how he would die to bring about the plan of God. Many of us especially remember Peter’s great blunder at that point.

Peter and James and John are the only ones that get to come along for this one. They go to a mountain and there’s a lot of debate about which mountain that is, but for our purposes, it really doesn’t concern us. What matters is what happened.

On the mountain, Jesus is transfigured, the word means transformed. He takes on a white far whiter than any before. Before him then appear Moses and Elijah. For the Jew, Moses was the great giver of the Law. Elijah was the great prophet. I believe there’s some pictures being drawn with the Law and the Prophets pointing to Christ.

Peter decides to speak up again. (If anything needs to be said amongst the apostles, you can always count on Peter to say it.) He recommends that they set up three shelters. One for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. (Where were the apostles going to be?) Luke is blunt saying “He did not know what he was saying.” (Two chapters in a row. Not looking good for Peter.)

What we have next is a cloud overshadowing them, much like the Shekinah glory, and a voice saying “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” A parallel is being drawn back to what happened at the baptism of Jesus. The disciples would need that reassurance especially in light of the suffering that was predicted.

When Christ comes, we get another eschatological clue here to what he’s saying. He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. They believed the Messiah was to come and if such was the case, what of Elijah? Jesus points out to them that Elijah did come and they did not recognize him and did to him as they wished. The Son of Man will suffer as well. At that, they realize he is speaking about John the Baptist.

So at this point, we have affirmation of the unique relationship of the Son to the Father, the promise of the resurrection, and the fulfillment of prophecy in the understanding of Jesus. We shall see more of his understanding tomorrow.

We’re going through the New Testament looking at the understanding of Jesus therein.  Tonight, we are at Matthew 16. This is one of the most spoken of passages on the identity of Christ. Now I know the big debate with this passage on the subject of Peter and how this ties in to the Catholic/Protestant debate. We’re not going to be debating that issue. I am interested in Mere Christianity and in promoting that which all of us who say Jesus is Lord agree with.

13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

 15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

 17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Mark’s version in chapter 8 of his gospel is shorter.

 27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

 29“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 
      Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

 30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

The ninth chapter of Luke also includes the account.

 18Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” 19They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”

 20“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 
      Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

 21Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.

Matthew’s is the one we’re focusing on for Matthew takes in the most. Matthew gives him two titles. The first is the Christ, which is the first time in Matthew’s gospel that someone identifies Jesus with that title. The same happens in Mark. In Luke, he is seen as the Christ in the temple as an infant and a demon recognizes him as Christ, but no one calls him that until Peter.

Matthew speaks of him as the Son of God. These two go together. The Messiah is the very Son of God. Matthew could be pointing us back to Matthew 14:33.

Now are we going to say we have complete Trinitarian thought here? No. We are seeing a deeper understanding and it’s still a topic of discussion of how much the disciples knew and when they knew it. Peter’s confession of faith is an important indicator that this was starting to go on.

Perchance as we go along further, we will find more clues to help us out.

We’re continuing our look through the New Testament at passages highly relevant to the Trinity and especially the understanding of Christ. Tonight, we’ll be in Matthew 14.

22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

 27But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

 28“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

 29“Come,” he said.

   Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

 31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

 32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Of special interest will be the Markan parallel in Mark 6.

45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. 47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out,50because they all saw him and were terrified.

   Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

Mark 6 is brought up because when Matthew describes the incident, it could be he had this passage from Job 9 in mind.

8 He alone stretches out the heavens 
       and treads on the waves of the sea.

Many times though when a passage is referenced in the New Testament, it has not just in mind the Old Testament reference but the surrounding context as well. What does that have to do with Mark? Mark says that Jesus was about to pass by them. Let’s look at Job 9:11 with that in mind.

 11 When he passes me, I cannot see him; 
       when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.

The same word is used in this case. It is likely then that this is in mind. Keep in mind that this is referring to YHWH.

Jesus also says “It is I,” in many of our translations but it is literally ego eimi. Now that could simply be “I am,” the way many would say it to describe their condition. If I back then said “I am cold,” it would not be seen as a reference to deity. However, that Jesus says it alone and knowing the way Matthew has been portraying Jesus, he could be expecting his readers to draw something more out of it.

Finally, when we get to Matthew 14:33, we see the conclusion that Jesus is worshipped. Mark has them in awe which is Mark’s style. Mark is a writer of fear and trembling wanting to leave his readers in awe, which makes the traditional ending of his gospel in Mark 16:8 fitting. 

This is more than just showing respect. This is a recognition of who Jesus is in light of a miraculous event. We might wonder, “then how could the disciples be so foolish after coming to a knowledge of who Jesus is?!”

Maybe instead of asking that about them, we should ask it about ourselves.

First off, my thanks goes out to T-Shirt Ninja for his compliment to the latest blog. It’s good to know that he’s appreciated and I’m pleased that he liked my blog also on looking at the Problem of Evil from the dentist’s chair. (Which I must experience AGAIN on the 11th. Joy joy joy.)

Tonight, we’re continuing our look at Trinitarian references in the gospels and we’re at Matthew 12. We’ve got two verses to look to tonight. 

41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.

I’d like to note something first off in this. The demeanor Jesus has as he says these things is incredible. I would like to consider myself to be a good apologist and one of my heroes in the field has been Ravi Zacharias. I also do have others such as Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, Greg Koukl, Gary Habermas, etc.

I’d like you to consider though if I showed up at a conference that I had been invited to speak at as a new entry in the field and stood up and said, “You all just heard an excellent talk by Ravi Zacharias. Well let me tell you that someone greater than Ravi is here!” and then I pointed at myself. You would be thinking “Do I really need to listen to this arrogant guy up here?” Even if it was true, which I’m not saying it is, you wouldn’t want to listen!

The same would happen if I stood up and said such for any of the other names. Even if you didn’t think they were that good, you’d know that by and large they are considered to be and you would quickly mark me as someone arrogant and not worth listening to.

Yet somehow, when Jesus makes these statements, he’s not usually seen as arrogant. If you asked people to describe Jesus, arrogant is not a word they would normally use.

These statements though of Jesus’s are quite similar to what I had put in my own mouth, but it is the demeanor of Jesus and how he is that makes us think that not only are they not arrogant, but they could very well be true! Look at the first one.

He speaks of Jonah who spoke to the Ninevites, a prophet who spoke to a wicked nation, and those people repented. Jesus is speaking to a nation that has hardened its hearts to YHWH and they are not responding and Jesus is saying “One greater than the prophet is here.” Jonah was a man called of God with a message and Jesus, speaking in a time when there has been 400 years of silence is claiming to be greater than a prophet in the Old Testament.

The next one is even more astounding. Solomon was a great king in Israel’s history noted for his wisdom and knowledge and bringing Israel to a time of unique wealth and prosperity. It was this king that the queen of Sheba journeyed to meet just to hear of his wisdom. 

One greater than Solomon is here in Jesus.

Solomon had God’s Wisdom. Jesus IS that Wisdom though. It is not just a possession but it is his very nature. We should think of the shock these statements would have brought to the hearers. On Jesus, they seem almost casual. It should astound us about him. If we ever thought about it, we would truly see what the guards said in John 7. “No one ever spoke like this man!”

The big question also though is, “Is what he said true?” I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’s trilemma. He is either God, a lunatic, or the very devil of Hell. No simply good teacher would say these kinds of things. Yet Jesus did. A lunatic might say these kinds of things, but do we really consider Jesus a lunatic?

The question is which are you going to see him as? God, a lunatic, or the worst blasphemer that ever lived?

The choice is yours.

We’re returning to our regular schedule now going through the gospel of Matthew and looking for Trinitarian references. Tonight, we’re in chapter 12. 

22Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

 25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

 29“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.

 30“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

A parallel is in Luke 11:

 14Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. 15But some of them said, “By Beelzebub,^[g] the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. 17Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebub. 19Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

The challenge from the Pharisees is that Jesus can drive out the demons because he’s in league with them. Jesus’s reply though shows that that couldn’t be the case.  If Satan fights against himself, then there’s no wayhis kingdom can stand. 

Also, if Jesus drives them out, then by what power do the Pharisees drive them out? Jesus claims though to do it by the Spirit of God indicating that the Kingdom has come. Luke has an interesting term here. He says “The finger of God.” Readers should remember that the finger of God was what the magicians attributed the plague of insects to in Exodus 8:19. It was the creating of life from non-life,  something that is only God’s prerogative. Luke is saying that same force is at work in Jesus.

Matthew’s emphasis is the Kingdom and what we see in Matthew is a foretaste of what that kingdom will be. Jesus heals the sick for there will be no sick there. Jesus casts out demons because Satan will have no presence there. This is a high view of Jesus for he believes that this kingdom has come in his own person. 

Let’s also notice something. Jesus says blasphemy against him will be forgiven, but not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This should strike our modalist friends. If these two were the same person, then it would seem the penalty would be the same. 

Now let’s also comfort some troubled Christians.

Some of you might be troubled, as I once was, that you have committed this sin. I’d like to point out some things.

First off, Jesus did not say this sin had been committed, though I think it was awfully close!

Second off, I think this was a unique situation as this was dealing with the incarnate Son of God and thus, I think this sin is that which is done in the face of extraextraordinary evidence.

Third, this sin is not a one-time deal. This is a lifetime sin and it is a lifetime of rebelling against God and what has been revealed. The reason it is unforgivable is that you do not believe in the one who is able to forgive you. 

Rest assured, if you fear you’ve committed this sin, you haven’t. The concern that you might have shows your deep love for God and no one who has a deep love for God could be guilty of an unforgivable sin.

Tomorrow, we shall continue through Matthew’s gospel.

We’re going through the New Testament and looking for Trinitarian passages and hitting a few highlights. Right now, we’re in the gospel of Matthew and looking at Jesus as he was seen by those around him and how he saw himself. Tonight, our passage comes from Matthew 12.

 1At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Mark 2 has a similar passage

 23One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

 27Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

And so does Luke 6:

1One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 3Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?4He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12 is the most interesting one though.  Jesus explains how David and his men ate the bread that was according to the law, meant only for the priest. However, there was a greater good that was to be met by giving the bread to David. 

Jesus also says that the priests break the Sabbath on the Sabbath but are without blame. The reference from Hosea tells us that God is more interested in the condition of the heart than in the outward motions of the law.

Two points are also brought out in this exchange.

First, Jesus speaks of the temple and says that one greater than the temple is here. Don’t skip that over. The temple was where the presence of God dwelt with his people and Jesus is talking about that temple and says one greater than that is here.

This is the presence of God dwelling bodily.

He also says that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. We must keep this in mind. The Lord of the Sabbath is one who has power over the Sabbath, but who instituted the Sabbath? Why it was God of course, and here is Jesus claiming to be Lord of the Sabbath.

Dare we not miss the implication to be drawn from that.

Jesus has the authority over the Law of Moses. He can speak about it because he was the one who gave it. It is the supreme irony that the Moses are accusing the disciples of breaking the Law to the one who gave them the Law to begin with.

Tomorrow, we shall see more of Jesus’s interactions with the Pharisees.