Hi i'm very interested in the ideas of T.U.L.I.P as well as disliking it haha..
my question is this : whats the point of Jesus warning people they can't be forgiven for blaspheming the Holy Spirit?
1)you believe in the perseverance of the saint so its obvious you cant commit it
2)if ur not elect and you commit it ur still going to the same places i.e hell
so why the dire warning? its clear Jesus is saying you have a choice to commit it or not..hense you have freewill
aj
On 1), if you don't believe in perseverance of the saints it's obvious you'd believe in perseverance of the blasphemers in sin. No one could be drawn to repentance from this blasphemy, according to this view, right?
On 2), that's true, but isn't it also true that everyone deserves this same judgement? So what's the difference at this level? There's no danger whether you're a Calvinist or not. In fact people will go to Hell who don't think they've committed this sin. But in this interpretation it's the only sin that gets you there.
So I don't think this verse is properly interpreted to be a personal warning to the Pharisees. They've already made the statement. It's to someone else, and it's a different kind of warning than, "Don't do this or you'll lose salvation." I'll get to what it really is as we go along, though.
There's more going on here than just salvific navel-examination. God warns evil people of their impending doom. He does. He warns them. His point in doing so? He's a good God, and even good judges don't pronounce condemnation in secret and assassinate evil ones in private. No, they pronounce condemnation in public. They set out laws whereby it's clearly seen who is evil. And then He pronounces judgement and imposes a sentence.
In fact God offers righteousness on a vastly different basis from the way we humans offer it. We offer righteousness through human satisfaction of human laws, and retribution for breaking laws (Ez 18:21-32). But God offers it through repentance from sin.
In this way God's putting His own attributes on display for us. We look on outward appearance, and so God descends to outward appearance to communicate with us. God shows He is a patient God with those intended for destruction (Rom 9:22-23), but He is also a just God, Who is offended by evil.
So why would Calvinists and actually even many Protestant believers have problems with your view that this is a warning not to do this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Well, if by
some action people blaspheme against the Spirit and become unable to receive eternal life, what good is the warning, anyway? Those who have committed the action are already lost. Those who haven't committed the action may indeed commit it in their hearts at the very moment Jesus mentions it (from Rom 7:14ff, sinfulness awakens the moment we conceive of it). So making the assertion is self-fulfilling prophecy. Thinking you can avoid this sin by the warning is Pelagian, not simply non-Calvinistic.
And it's pretty obvious from the context, isn't it? The warning itself is not toward those who are exercising blasphemy against the Spirit! They're already lost. At best the warning is toward those who are listening to those blaspheming. "If you go with these guys' denunciation, don't continue thinking you're in God's good graces. This is the Spirit of God, and He doesn't allow people to vainly attack Him in this way. What's the third commandment? Consider a moment what they're saying." But if this is what Jesus is inviting people to do, He's saying something different from, "Don't commit this sin." He's saying, "Assess your leaders' actions properly. Realize what season of evil has come upon the nation of Judea. And fear for your land." So it's
not strictly speaking a warning of, "Make sure you're saved." It's a warning that the nation the hearers live in is under judgement; that evil belies the pious platitudes and pleadings the leaders put on display.
The warning is there -- but it's not some salvific formula. Because anyone who's failed this warning can't patch it up and go on to be saved.
what would i do with that statement then? would i say oh ok good to know or just go oh dont worry thats just a statement..of course i would say wowee never going to blaspheme the Holy Spirit everrrrrr ,so im making a choice of my free will not to commit that
