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Link said:

In reply to Covenant In Blood
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Jesus said that a house divided cannot stand, and that if He was casting out demons by the prince of demons, by whom were the sons of the Pharisees casting out demons? The Pharisees were well aware that Satan does not cast out Satan. Blasphemy of the Spirit involves an awareness that the Spirit is at work, and maliciously attributing His work to Satan.

And is this supposed to prove that the Pharisees believed in Jesus, or that He were casting out demons by the Spirit of God? Why would Jesus have to tell them this if this were already in their minds? Jesus exposed a flaw in their reasoning, showing that they were wrong. It was Christ who made this argument, and not the Pharisees, and there is nothing in the text to indicate that the Pharisees had thought of it before Christ said it.

He didn't have to tell them anything. Do you think His telling them was a kind-hearted warning that they might be near to committing this sin? Certainly not! He was rather exposing their evil hypocrisy and charging them with the unforgiveable sin.

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Not in the least, because it involves just what the offense spoken of is! The offense involves an awareness of Who is doing the work.

This is hopeful eisegesis, and not something that comes from the text. Let us look at the verse in question:

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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.

Jesus said that ‘whosoever’ spoke a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him. He did not qualify His statement by making an exception for those who did so in ignorance, or those who lived in the first century. Nor did he say that this teaching only applied to those who saw the miracles He Himself performed. Instead of limiting this principle, he expands it, declaring that such a person will not be forgiven in this world or in the world to come.

Tell me, what does it mean to "speak a word against the Holy Spirit"? Because that is where my argument has been focused. Nor have I said anything about it being applied only to those who saw the miracles being performed. What I said is that to be able to blaspheme the Spirit involves the knowledge that He is and that He is indeed at work! Since He is not at work in modern-day Pentecostal/Charismatic prophecy/tongues/etc., I'm not concerned that I've blasphemed Him.

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If we take Christ’s word as true, we must acknowledge that whoever speaks a word against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this world or in the world to come? This is an uncomfortable, possibly even scary teaching.

Which is precisely why Pentecostals and Charismatics love to abuse cessationists with it! It's a trump card. As long as they claim that their "gifts" are from the Spirit, they can accuse us of the unforgiveable sin. Whereby they also find it very easy to silence opposition to a great variety of false teaching by encouraging "open hearts" which are not so hardened as to be near to blaspheming the Spirit! If we have committed the unforgiveable sin by attributing the modern-day manifestations of the sign gifts to over-active imaginations and devilish lies, you have no reason any longer to continue with us here. However, if we indeed have the Spirit, we need have no fear of blaspheming Him.

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Here is the earliest interpretation of the verse I can find, from around the turn of the first century, speaking of prophets in those days:

11:10 And any prophet speaking in the Spirit ye shall not try neither discern;
11:11 for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven.

(I do not agree with way this is worded, btw, but it illustrates that those chronologically close to Christ took His teaching literally on this issue. This document purports to be the teaching of the 12 apostles.)

I take the teaching literally, too, so I'd appreciate it if you quit with your false dichotomy. Not that the Didache is a great aid to you; that section touches on false prophets who speak in the Spirit, and specifically commands disobedience to one who asks—"in the Spirit," no less—for money.

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Christ said what He did on this issue. What should we believe, the words of Christ, or complicated theological arguments that say He did not really mean what He said?

I think we should believe the Scripture before any man who claims to be a prophet.

Kyle

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.