...fully serviced, quality furnished apartments for a comfortable stay with the finest hosts in Newcastle.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Puzzling verses in a masive chunk of Scripture...



The gospel of Luke is a wonderfully rich narrative. I have chosen to preach next weekend on Luke 11:14-12:12. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and the hostility towards him is on the rise. In this chunk of Scripture Jesus doesn't hold back. He has super Jesus like insight into their hearts and proceeds to pulverize the Pharisees and the crowds with his truthful rhetoric.

Near the end of this section of Scripture are these words in Luke 12:8-12...

8"And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."


Questions I have about these verses:

1. Is he speaking to the disciples or should we assume that his words now reaching the ears of the Pharisees?
2. What does it look like to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Are the Pharisees guilty of this? Surely, they are already guilty of blasphemous words against the Son of Man (cf. Luke 11:14-28). What else do they need to do to blaspheme agaist the Holy Spirit?
3. Is this a danger for the disciples; and do we see an example of both blaspheming the Son of Man, and blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the testimonies of Peter and Judas??

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home