Do you have a Bible question? Please send it to us at info@lawofliberty.com and we will post the answer on this page.
Why do you place so much emphasis on the church and on baptism rather than on Christ?
Perhaps the question would be better worded as, “Why do we not have a Christ club?” A lot of religions out there are nothing more than “Christ clubs.” They concentrate all of their doctrine around the life and teachings of Christ. I am not downgrading the teaching or Christ, but there is a lot more to the New Testament. A very common problem which drags people into false doctrine is not taking into account every place in the scriptures where it discusses a topic. Several denominations will have a tendency to downplay doctrines on the church and baptism, while bringing to the front just the doctrines of Christ. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” If we are going to understand the Bible, we need to examine and evaluate all of the doctrines and their complete context.
Please explain Matthew 12:31.
This is always an interesting question to discuss. Few people seem to really understand the nature of “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” The context of Matthew 12 allows us to determine the meaning of this phrase. The incident began in vs. 22 when Jesus healed a demon-possessed man. In vs. 24, the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. Jesus explained in vss. 25-30 how He could not have cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub.
In vs. 31, Jesus made His claim that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. In the preceding verse, the Pharisees had already committed this crime. They had attributed the works of the Holy Spirit by whose power Jesus worked His miracles to the devil (vs. 28). That sin was without excuse and would not be forgiven in their age or in the coming one (vs. 32). These two ages referred to the Mosaical age and the gospel age.
In vs. 32, Jesus explained why this sin was so severe. Speaking a word against the Son of Man because of unbelief or ignorance was pardonable, but trying to represent as Satanic the Spirit’s work in our redemption was unforgivable. It was unforgivable because if someone rejected Jesus, they still had the words of the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin. If they rejected the Spirit’s words, there was nothing else left to show them their error. Thus, the sin was unforgivable.
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