Thursday, November 20, 2014

154. Matthew 12:32

David Inglis, And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. [12:10] Epiphanius does not mention this verse, but Tertullian quotes it in his chapter 28: "Whosoever shall speak against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him." [12:10] [Qui dixerit in filium hominis, remittetur illi, qui autem dixerit in spiritum sanctum, non remittetur ei] Tertullian has “shall speak against” in two places, instead of “shall speak a word against” and “blasphemeth against.” This is similar to Bezae, which has: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him neither in this age, nor in that to come. [12:10] [et omnis qui dixerit uerbum in filium hominis dimittetur illi in spm autem sanctum non demittetur illi neque in saeculo hoc neque in futuro] The addition at the end of the verse in Bezae makes it very close to the parallel in Mt: 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. [Mt 12:32] With the exception noted above, it appears that Mcg had these verses essentially as we see them. Interestingly it appears here that v. 12:10 in Bezae is closest to the parallel in Mt, suggesting perhaps that this was the original form in Lk, with the final clause being omitted in Mcg, with ‘blasphemeth’ then finally replacing ‘speaking against.’ In v. 12:10 Jesus states that anyone who speaks “against the Son of man” will be forgiven, but blaspheming “against the Holy Ghost” will not. This is similar to Mk 3:28-29, but here Jesus says that “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness.” Mt then appears to conflate Mk and Lk, but although both Mk and Lk refer only to blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, Mt has both that blasphemy (Mt 12:31) and speaking (Mt 12:32) against the Holy Ghost will not be forgiven, with the latter being superfluous. However, this oddity is readily explainable if Mt is conflating Mk and Mcg, because in Mcg v. 12:10b has: “shall speak against the Holy Ghost.” Mt 12:31b (blaspheming) therefore comes from Mk 3:39a, while Mt 12:32b (speaking against) comes from Mcg. Lk then removes the redundant text in Mt, leaving just speaking against the Son of man, and blaspheming against the Holy Ghost in v. 12:10.


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