Bible Study: Reprobates #2

In chapter 3 of the Gospel of Mark, we read,"The teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.” —Mark 3:22-30

In this passage, Jesus not only explains how someone can blaspheme the Holy Spirit, but also goes on and declares that this type of blasphemy will never be forgiven for it is an eternal sin. Unfortunately, there are many religious people today who tend to attribute the works of the Holy Spirit to demons. Charismatic and Pentecostal churches are constantly under attack today by certain religious groups and the miracles that take place in these congregations are attributed to demons. Whether these people are guilty of an eternal sin or not is God's job to judge, but from the above passage, we can conclude that what they do, at least appears to be a good example of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. There are also atheists who tend to participate in a challenge where they blaspheme the Holy Spirit in a YouTube video in order to buy a ticket to Hell; even though given the criteria and the explanation in this passage, what they do is ignorant and does not really appear to be a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, their willingness to blaspheme the Holy Spirit and go to Hell alarms the bell that they may have been given over to a reprobate mind.

When Jesus was on the Cross, one of the things that He said was, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. Could blasphemy against the Holy Spirit be forgiven because the person who has done it has done so ignorantly? I would say yes it's possible in my opinion. After all, we can't really compare the miracles that Jesus performed with 100% success rate to the miracles that are taking place today. Having said that, blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a serious sin as warned in scriptures, and it would not be a wise thing to attribute someone's miraculous testimony to Satan and demons, no matter how skeptic you are. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death, so if you're not sure whether someone's miraculous testimony is true or not, remain skeptic, and do not attribute it to demons, and ask yourself the question that Jesus asked, which is how can Satan drive out Satan!

Bible Study: Reprobates #1

One of  the most famous passages in the Bible that speaks of reprobates is Proverbs 1:22-33. Starting at verse 22, it says, “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

It sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Some might tell you that this passage is written in the Old Testament and it does not apply to the new covenant. They might even quote Romans 10:13 and say look, under the new covenant, whoever calls on the name of the Lord, will be saved; so this means that it's never too late! But Paul in Romans 10:13 is quoting from Joel 2:32 which is in the Old Testament and it doesn't say whenever, it says whoever. You see, salvation has always been by grace through faith, and as we read in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Malachi 3:6 tells us that God does not change and we know that God's patience is not infinite. The reprobate in Proverbs 1 is the person who has continually rejected God, and has refused to repent at God's rebuke and has grown harder and harder and has thought to himself that he will save repentance for when he's on his deathbed or close to death, thinking he can deceive God, and in this way sin without worrying about paying the price of sin.

The reprobate in Proverbs 1 seems to be someone who wants to abuse the spirit of grace. The reprobate in Proverbs 1 is someone who only remembers God during disasters and when everything is going well, he doesn't want to have anything to do with God. He's done this, not just once, or twice or three times but so much so that God's patience has run out. Pharaoh might be a good example. His heart had grown calloused and he was a wicked man; as a result, God hardened him in his rebellion and gave him over to his wicked desires. Exodus 9:16 tells us that God spared Pharaoh by raising him up in order that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth. In other words, when Pharaoh became a reprobate, God didn't immediately slain him, but allowed him to live a little longer in order to accomplish a purpose through him, which was to proclaim His name among all the earth. Also, notice that during the plagues, Pharaoh chose to harden himself on multiple occasions which gives us the impression that he still had a chance to repent.

Some people like to take Exodus 4:21 out of context and say that God hardened Pharaoh's heart and therefore it was God's fault, otherwise Pharaoh would've repented and obeyed God. But God says in the previous chapter, in Exodus 3:19, "For I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him." You see, the Bible doesn't have to tell us how many times God has rebuked Pharaoh through his conscience, the Holy Spirit, or other means. There is absolutely no place in the Bible where God arbitrarily hardens someone. Biblical hardening of heart is always a type of judgement which is known as judicial hardening. Having said that, it's noteworthy that not everyone who's hardened is a reprobate. For example, Paul in the book of Romans tells us that Israel has experienced a hardening in part—Romans 11:25. But he also asks a rhetorical question in verse 11, "Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?", and answers it, "Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious."