Blaspheming the Holy Ghost!

Mar 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: Mar 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

Many refer to this passage as the unpardonable sin text due to Jesus’ statement that he that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost has no forgiveness and is in danger of eternal damnation. The wording seems clear and the implication is chilling. However, Jesus did promise us that He would send the Comforter after His resurrection. As promised, the Holy Ghost came into the world and the following verses tell us of His ministry:


Jhn 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Jhn 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; Jhn 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Jhn 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

So we see the Holy Spirit reproving, convicting or convincing the world of sin…

Convicting or convincing the world of righteousness…

Convicting or convincing the world of judgment…

And, all of these things did happen just as Jesus said they would.

Notice the object of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is the world -- not just the elect in the world, or did I miss that somewhere? So if the Holy Spirit is convicting the world of sin and convincing the world of judgment and righteousness, then those in the world will be held accountable for their understanding of these things. As my pastor correctly stated recently in a sermon on Acts 17, ‘If God commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto ALL men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead...’ then I have to believe if He commands men to repent, then they have the capacity to do so!

Amen and Amen to my pastor’s exegesis on this text! I might also add that in verses 26 and 27 of this chapter, Paul clearly states that all men have the ability to seek the Lord! And I thought only the elect could do that…

With regard to the unpardonable sin, if one thinks a bit about this they discover that blaspheming God’s work of revealing more convincing light to the individual results in one's blaspheming God’s plan and work through His son Jesus at Calvary. We know those who don’t blaspheme the Spirit and do seek God and repent and believe the gospel become the Elect; so I guess we must deal with the non-Elect. These verses teach us that people do willfully reject and blaspheme the convincing work of the Spirit. Therefore, man must truly have a choice in this issue of repentance and faith in God.

Why?

Because, if God has chosen some to eternal damnation as the Extreme or Hyper Calvinist teaches, then this doctrine would be irrelevant – because under the fatalist teaching of Extreme Calvinism, those chosen for Hell are predestined to go there no matter what they do. On the other hand, a man that seeks God, yeah feels after Him, and finds Him, though He (God) be not far from every one of us according to the Scripture; then the man who repents and believes the gospel will be saved.

If man has the capacity or ability to repent as commanded by God, and I believe he does; then man has the ability to blaspheme the Holy Spirit as well when he rejects the gospel!

Truly, man is responsible and Jesus tells us:

repent ye, and believe the gospel!

In Him,

Eye