Asking the wrong question, part 1

In Matthew 12, Jesus proclaims one of the most worrisome and perplexing doctrines in the entire Bible when He says, “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

Anyone who has ever read this passage immediately asks two very obvious questions: What, exactly, is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and have I committed it?” After all, if there is an unforgivable sin, it’s understandably natural to want to be sure you haven’t done it.

In answering the question of what it is, people have offered a variety of creative suggestions. Perhaps it’s denying a miracle was done by God. Perhaps it’s declaring your hatred for the Holy Spirit. Or perhaps it’s denying the Trinity. These and other suggestions are very clever. But what if they are all predicated on a mistaken assumption?

The most glaring feature of this passage is its failure to specify the sin, an omission so obvious that it must be taken as deliberate. If we’re honest, most of us read this passage and get angry at Matthew for not his colossal flub in first telling us there is such a sin and then forgetting to tell us what it is. But if the entire Bible is inspired by God, then the omissions are as much a part of the message as the inclusions.

If the Bible tells us what it tells us for a reason, then we can safely assume it just as certainly refuses to tell us what it refuses to tell us for a reason as well. God surely knew we would eagerly ask what this sin is, but He chose not to say. And rather than assume His silence was an editorial oversight, we should instead interpret it as a clear message that we’re asking the wrong question.

Tomorrow, we’ll see which one we should be asking.