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Category Archives: Holy Spirit

What is the Blaspheming of the Holy Spirit?

02 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by Prime Theologian in Biblical Interpretation, Blaspheme, Holy Spirit

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Blaspheme, Difficult Questions, Holy Spirit, interpretation

There are three ways I’ve heard this can be answered. First, the Blaspheming of the Spirit could be something only those witnessing Jesus’ earthly ministry are capable of committing. The incarnation is the unique presentation of God through Jesus, and, as such, is unrepeatable; further, the Holy Spirit led Jesus, worked in Jesus, and testified to men through and in Jesus’ earthly healing ministry. Those witnessing Jesus’ life during this time were in an incredible position of benefit because they could see the presentation of the Father in the Son and also see the work of the Spirit with Jesus while the Spirit Himself was trying to persuade those witnessing these mighty works. We are not in the same position as those who originally saw Jesus’ works while He was incarnated; they had immediate access with their very eyes, but we have mediate access through the testimony of the apostles.

Second, the Blaspheming of the Spirit could be disbelieving in Jesus, period, no matter when you live. There is a principle in theology that is based on Scripture: God is known only through God. Hence, only the Father is known through the Spirit, or only the Father is known through the Son in the Spirit. The point is that Scripture is united in the affirmation that it takes God to know God. Since the principle ministry of the Spirit is to testify to the divinity, message, and work of Jesus (the Son), to blaspheme the Spirit is to deny the only access one has to being restored to God. There is no other access to salvation but by one Man and in one Spirit. To blaspheme means to disrespect or to profane, that is, to discredit what is sacred of its sanctity; but it is the Spirit’s holiness/sanctity that makes Him capable of uniting humanity to God because only God is holy. Therefore, to blaspheme the Spirit is, to one’s own mind, to deny the Spirit the very dignity (being holy) that is central to the Spirit’s work of uniting someone to God. To blaspheme the Spirit is to rob Him of the very quality that could unite us to God: because God can only be known through God, that is, the Holy One can only be known through the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, the original blaspheming of the Spirit was the accusation that what the Spirit was doing in Jesus in terms of the miracles was actually being done by demons. Since the Spirit can do miracles today, if we attribute those miracles to demons, then we are in danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This is perhaps the most frightening of the three because Scripture teaches that demons can do miracles and because the recent charismatic movement’s focus on miracles, which has been criticized by many non-charismatic Christians: John MacAuthur comes to mind immediately. This option is also one that many more could commit even if supposedly saved.

I have not quite landed on an option yet, but I have been giving serious thought about the third because of the threat it could pose my soul.

Dr. Scalise

The Holy Spirit’s regenerative work includes the formation of the Church

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Prime Theologian in Biblical Interpretation, Difficult Texts, Holy Spirit, Illumination

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2 Corinthians 2:12–14, Biblical Intepretation, Illumination, Regeneration, Spirit

Illumination is the Holy Spirit’s work of regenerating us. First, He speaks to us in various ways and through any number of avenues to guide us towards the light of Christ. When faith arises in us, we believe, and this illuminative work by the Spirit climaxes at a definitive point where He regenerates us, refashioning our hearts and making Jesus Christ shine wondrously in our eyes. Illumination, for the purposes here, is the activity of the Spirit in transforming persons into a new character, lifestyle, and goal that centers on magnifying, glorifying, and mimicking Jesus the Christ. Although theologians often speak of illumination as the Spirit’s work of making Jesus Christ and Scripture understandable, it might be better to say that the Spirit’s work makes Jesus Christ and Scripture acceptable. The Spirit’s illuminative work is always about a change of mind and heart, which is expressed in good-works. Illumination is about lifestyle change, not only a change in understanding. Let’s look at 1 Cor. 2:12 – 14: “Now we did not receive the spirit from the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we should know [experientially] the things which were freely given to us by God, which things we are even speaking, not in words produced from human wisdom but taught from the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to spiritual persons. But the natural man does not welcome (or “accept”) things from the Spirit of God: For it is stupid to him and he is not able to know because they are spiritually evaluated” (1 Cor. 2:12 – 14; trans. mine). In brackets, I’ve placed  “experientially” because the Greek verb, “oida,” can focus on “knowing” something through practice, and, I contend, the context more than suggests that here. These verses do not support some strange mysticism, as though what God gives freely is not understandable. The point, from what I can tell from the Greek, is about where the knowledge comes from, not the mysteriousness of it. Knowledge can be merely human or it can be given from “above,” i.e., from God. St. Paul points out that it is not some strange mysterious knowledge, but is plainly communicable: “which things we are even speaking . . . ” The natural man, or unspiritual man, cannot accept or welcome so as to practice what God gives because the knowledge required to know whether it should be accepted or not is not derived from merely human life. The natural man will just find spiritual things dumb. To further complicate things, no one has a full knowledge of something until they experience or practice that knowledge. We might know things we have not experienced in part, but never to the same richness a person who has experienced it possesses. The unspiritual man cannot experientially know what he already thinks is stupid; it is the practice or the experience of the “yes” to the Spirit of God that opens the doors to “accept” and practice the knowledge formerly thought to be stupid. There is a change in understanding, but it is always tied to the acceptance and experience of that understanding. To merely understand with my mind is not enough to claim knowledge on that matter; just ask any snowboarder, skier, surfer, soccer player, football player, or anyone who has experiential knowledge of a game. I played soccer for two decades; experiential knowledge is radically different from watching soccer from the sidelines. Now that we have handles this, what does the Spirit’s illumination do to one’s attitude about the Church?

Illumination, then, always leads to people coming together around the life and character of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I use the word “Church,” I am not envisioning the local church per se while not denying that this may be a legitimate expression of the Church. The Church is a lifestyle. Its lifeblood is the illumination the Spirit does and continues to do. Each individual contributes to the Church (1 Cor. 12:12), and the illumination the Spirit does initiates a believer’s love for Jesus Christ, but it does not stop there. The phrase, “in the Spirit,” used frequently across the pages of Scripture is used to describe the existence of the saints (Rom. 8:9, 1 Cor. 12:3, Phil. 2:1, Col. 1:8, 1 Pet. 3:18). Being in the Spirit minimally means being attuned to the concerns of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25). We want to practice what we are now accepting in our thinking and so trying to actualize it in our lives. The Spirit in indwelling individuals and the community, not one or the other. Illumination is about loving Jesus Christ, but to love Him is to love those in Him. We cannot say we love God but hate other believers. To say such is to deny one’s inclusion in the body of Christ, as 1 John argues in a number of places (1 John 2:9, 4:20). Illumination is about, therefore, coming to know Jesus Christ, that regenerative moment we say “yes” to God, and about growing in greater intimacy with other believers. We are illuminated all along the way when we are with God, for God is light.

Dr. Scalise

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