@CrowCross and the rest:
What follows may be more readily understood here than at other sites that don't hold to the doctrines of grace and other Reformed particulars because my understanding makes use of these teachings.
20
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Lk 11:20.
10
And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. Lk 12:9–10.
28
Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Mk 3:27–29.
28
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
29
Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
31
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32
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.
33
Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
34
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
36
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Mt 12:27–37.
Since the Garden God declared/ordained there would be two groups of people in the world: the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Once out of the Garden and children being born these two groups became evident: those obedient to God and those disobedient to God with each falling squarely into these two seed-groups (obedient-woman and disobedient-serpent.)
Now, we can point out in the Old Testament many Christophanies such as the three men on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah or the Angel of the LORD intervening into human history, but for the most part it is God the Father who is most prominent in Hebrew history.
In Luke 11:20 and Matthew 12:28 Jesus declares Himself as being the king[-dom] of God in His ability to cast out "devils" with a finger for the king[-dom] of God is "within you."
21
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Lk 17:21.
And that king[-dom] of God at some future date is "Christ in you", the Third Person of the Trinity.
In the fulness of time Jesus, the Son of God made His entrance into the world and once His Ministry was complete and finished, He said He was going to send the Comforter into the world. This happened only when Jesus ascended and ten days later the Holy Spirit would begin His Ministry in the world. This day was the Jewish Feast of Harvest ca. 32 A.D., also known as Pentecost. For nearly 2000 years the Holy Spirit has been in the world and applying in time to God's chosen people (seed of the woman) the salvation bought by the Son. In the salvation of God's elect people all three members of the Trinity have been directly involved in taking out a people to Himself (Jn. 17:6.)
From the Garden going forward those that have been obedient to God have been "kept" as Saul declares in Galatians 3:23.
23 But
before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal. 3:23.
As you can see Saul is referencing the Hebrews that have been "kept" for they are the people who are under the Law (of Moses.) Before that the covenant that enables the Mosaic covenant began with Abram the Hebrew when God made covenant with Abram the Hebrew and also to extend to his seed, a people identified as the children of Israel. Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament bible called the Pentateuch. After Moses God used others to document the people and events of the Hebrew people that became the Psalms and the Prophets through history God sent to the Hebrew people. Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Jesus came to implement the Plan of God which began with the creation of Adam and the woman concluding with the last Adam, Jesus Christ. "It is finished!" Christ cried from His cross. The Plan was His Father's and the Son implemented that plan.
Since Pentecost the Holy Spirit has been in the world applying to God's elect the salvation bought by the Son. This plan of salvation in time includes a Samaritan-type people who are Abraham's seed and also of mixed heritage with non-Hebrew Gentile ancestry. This mixed heritage of Jew-Gentile ancestry was accomplished two times before the advent of the Son (Assyrian, Babylonian conquests and exiles), and twice after the ascension of the Son (Roman, German conquest and migration 1930s, respectively)
One of Jesus' teaching was as follows:
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But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. Matthew 15:18.
And Proverbs:
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23.
And again, Jesus:
37
For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Mt 12:37.
In the Old Testament the "heart" meant the whole being of a man for two reasons. One is that it beat (pumped blood)
and seemingly was alive; the second, is that we experience our emotions in the center of our torso in the heart area. Then, in the New Testament the "heart" carried over erroneously in that when heart is spoken of in the epistles and gospels that it took on a meaning it was never meant to mean, such as that the heart thinks or that Jesus lives in our proverbial heart which is not true.
Matthew 12:37 means to me that by your speech will we know whether you are saved or not. Our words show the world if we are justified and saved, or if we are not saved and condemned. One or the other. It is final. It doesn't mean - as in the discussion of being born sheep as opposed to goats - it doesn't mean we begin unsaved and condemned, become saved, and now we are justified. It doesn't work that way in time because it doesn't work that way in eternity. A name in the book of life of the lamb slain means we are born unsaved in time but elect before God, come to an appointed time in our lives and become saved, and our speech shows our heart/life whether we are justified or condemned for God does not make mistakes. He is the One who creates a tree, men cannot. And He is the One that "
make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit." Mt 12:33.
It has all been decided in God and in eternity your justification or your condemnation.
The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin. However, it is not a sin of the tongue but of the heart/life.
The Ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world today is to apply to God's elect at the appointed time the salvation bought by the Son. This is His Ministry. He is Holy. It is the presence of a people in His Presence that are unsaved and condemned and are an offense to Him. Their heart/lives have never been atoned but He must suffer their presence before Him in the world all over the world.
Take notice:
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Jn 16:8.
There are two things here. Sin and righteousness, and both have been judged, not that they will be judged, but that both have been judged and dealt with at the cross. Both have been judged by God. How can God 'reprove' judgment? That doesn't make sense. But it does if this judgment is upon both sin and upon righteousness.
The sin that can never be forgiven is the one that has condemned the person because he/she is not elect, not named in the book of life of the lamb slain. Their unatoned presence before the Presence of the HOLY Spirit is an offense to Him and there's nothing He can do about it. He is in the world today to apply the salvation bought by the Son to God's elect in time.
The same thing the Son endured. His Holiness was affronted being the Holy Son in a sin-filled world walking among this people who've never known this as intimately as He did by coming to our sin-infested world.
The unforgivable sin is the presence of non-elect people in the Presence of the Holy Spirit. It's not a sin of the tongue, but of the heart/life of a people non-elect in the world as the Holy Spirit performs His Ministry to God's holy elect.
