The ‘ultimate’ sacrifice?
According to belief the sacrifice that Jesus allegedly made on the cross at calvary is the ultimate sacrifice that absolves all sins. So for example we read the following declaration from a Christian based website,
“The life of the sinner was under the sentence of death until Christ by the shedding of His blood in the death on the cross released and cleansed us of all sin (Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Rev. 1:5; 5:9). Christ bore the divine penalty and God is now free to forgive all sin and declare the believing sinner just in His sight (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).”
Does the sacrifice of Jesus truly absolve all sins according to the Bible(s)? Well, let’s look at the following verses that clearly contradict this position.
“And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but to him that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.” (Luke 12:10)
The above verse shows tha if anyone blasphemes the Holy Ghost he will NOT be forgiven. In fact, another verse that is pretty much related to that is even more explicit.
“But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mak 3:29)
The word used in the verse is ??? which means never as is rendered above. It further says that the person who commits such a sin is guilty of an eternal sin. The word is a?????? which literally means everlasting as correctly translated in the Dhuay-Rheims version. But, of course eternal is also correct. The point is that anyone who commits such a sin will be guilty forever and it will never be forgiven. These verses utterly undermine the notion that the ‘blood’ of Jesus renders all sins forgiven. The blood of Jesus is overpowered by this sin. This sin triumphs over Jesus’ so called ‘ultimate sacrifice’. Perhaps we need another sacrifice?
On the other side of the coin the verses totally undermine the Trinity in that they designate the Holy Spirit a special position that is not shared at all by the other two persons in the ‘godhead’ i.e. the Father and Jesus. In fact, the verse in Luke says that if you say anything against the ‘Son of Man’ who is Jesus the second person in the Trinity you will be forgiven. In Mark 3:28 it says that “all blasphemies of men will be forgiven them”.
The key word in that verse is “all” and then the next verse identifies an exception with the Holy Spirit. This means that Mark 3:28 to 29 tell us that blasphemy against both the Father and the Son is okay, but, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not. What this leads to is the total destruction of the concept of the Trinity which suggests that all three persons are ‘co-equal’. When the verses place such an emphasis on the Holy Spirit the other two are lowered in distinction.
What this means is that the Holy Spirit is more important than both the Father and the Son so much so that if you blaspheme it you will NEVER be forgiven. The Trinity formula then should be changed to in nomine spiritus sancti, et petris, et fili or in the name ‘the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son’ as opposed to the standard established formula the ‘Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’ with the most important(according to the verses discussed) in the last position. It should occupy the first position!
I sincerely hope however that this article will not bring about the creation of a new form of Trinity and a new batch of Trinitarians.