Words That Matter

I cherish God’s Word. As Hebrews 4:12 declares, it truly is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.” And yes, it is alive, piercing, convicting, discerning, and instantly separating lies from truth and evil from good. Perhaps that line-in-the-sand kind of truth also makes several Bible passages truly frightening.

If that statement sounds a bit sacrilegious, please rest assured that my sentiment is anything but blasphemous. In fact, I can quote several scriptures, three in particular, off the top of my head that make me pause and instantly check myself. These verses require little theological study or prayer because they state some eternity-shaping, fear-filled facts.

For example, in Matthew 6:15, Jesus explicitly warned His followers, “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

Plainly spoken, my fellow Christians, if we don’t forgive, then God won’t forgive us. And the prospect of an eternity in hell is sobering for those who tend to harbor unforgiveness toward people who have done hurtful things.

So, the fear surrounding this Scripture and the subsequent attention given to it often comes from thoughts of self-preservation. I love how Dr. Ray Rooney, Jr., editor of The Stand online, so aptly addressed this “very narcissistic view of forgiveness” in an earlier blog called “She Didn’t Ask to Be Forgiven.”

According to Dr. Rooney, the real reason we should fear and address Matthew 6:15 is not just for the benefit we receive by forgiving people who don’t deserve it or even ask for it. The ultimate reason we forgive others is “the release and renewal that the forgiven get” and “simply because God wants us to and we can.”

Well … so much for that fear-inducing verse; problem solved through obedience to God.

But what about another passage also spoken by Jesus later in the Book of Matthew?

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 (Matthew 12:31-32).

Again, that’s a straightforward and very explicit statement. Speaking against Jesus is a forgivable offense, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven. As such, this Scripture is even more frightening to me than Matthew 6:15. Maybe that’s because we know that eventually we will be able to forgive those who trespass against us and receive forgiveness. But this Scripture from Matthew 12 is a one-and-done occurrence.

In other words, we need to get it right the first time, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, and then we need to keep getting it right. But the only problem with that statement is our understanding (or misunderstanding) of just what blasphemy against God’s Spirit entails.

In an educational article from Love Worth Finding Ministries (LWFM) that attempts to define this type of blasphemy, these verses from Matthew 12 are studied in conjunction with the corresponding Scriptures in Mark 3:28-29:

“Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

Three facts are revealed within LWFM’s helpful exposition of these parallel passages. Of course, the first two facts are easily discernible: “ALL sins are forgivable except for one,” and “the one unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”

But it’s the third revelation from LWFM that helped me the most, since it explains that true blasphemy against the Holy Spirit involves “the total rejection of the Holy Spirit’s promptings to receive Jesus as Savior over a lifetime.”

The article goes on to emphasize that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is ultimately “dying without accepting Jesus as Savior,” even though the precious Holy Spirit offered us ample opportunity to accept God’s free and undeserved gift of salvation.

Well … that explains Matthew 12 and Mark 3 in no uncertain terms, wiping away all excuses and all fear simultaneously.

But this reassuring revelation also brings to mind another epically fear-inducing biblical passage from Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; LEAVE ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

That is the most horrifying thought on earth, to presumptuously assume that we know the Lord, when, in truth, we never knew Jesus at all. Knowing about Him and knowing Him are two very different things, so it’s no wonder that last statement is written in capital letters. After all, knowing Him is not about a life of simply doing good works, but instead, it requires fully surrendering our own will to His. It does not take a theological scholar to understand that a lack of complete surrender to Jesus is the ultimate form of lawlessness.

Perhaps the best commentary I read about this verse came from Greg Morse, a staff writer at Desiring God (DG) online. Actually, this article, “‘I Never Knew You, Fatal Dreams of the Religious Lost,” is Morse’s own testimony of how God used this one scriptural passage to eternally save his life.

It is a thought-provoking, convicting story of Morse’s journey from being what he describes as one of “so many sermon-hearers, Bible-readers, and synagogue attenders of Jesus’s day: lost in a dream, traveling toward hell in church clothes.” It ends with Morse totally changed, surrendering to a complete “union with Jesus, and given a new heart to happily do the will of God with a new childlike aim: to please Him.”

But it’s the first words of this impactful DG article on Matthew 7:21-23 that hit me the hardest. To be completely honest, these words from Morse reminded me exactly why these verses from Matthew might just be the scariest words of the entire Bible.

So, I prayerfully leave Morse’s opening question for everyone to thoughtfully consider: “Is any lostness worse than remaining lost while believing you’re found?”