Monday, June 26, 2006
VENOM
V34. "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
The analogy Jesus draws is that these religious leaders have the same characteristics of a viper whose venom will result its victim eternal damnation. The religious concluded that Jesus was hostile to their mission; refused to see that their position was in error and violently opposed His Holy Spirit empowered work among them.
Calvin writes, “From all that has been said, we may conclude that those persons sin and blaspheme the Holy Spirit, who maliciously turn to dishonor the perfections of God, which have been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, in which His glory ought to be celebrated, and who, with Satan, their leader, are avowed enemies of the glory of God. We need not then wonder, if for such sacrilege there is no hope of pardon; for they must be desperate who turn the only medicine of salvation into a deadly venom.”
Religion, in its truest form, is a remedy for the sin of mankind. Its primary medicine is repentance. Repentance is the gift of God that removes one from the status of an enemy to a child of God who glorifies his Creator.
Returning to the parable of the trees we observe Jesus scathing anathema that He places on the religious leadership: “How can you, being evil, speak what is good? Good begets that which is good and evil begets that which is evil. Good trees bear good fruit and vipers beget broods of the same venomous kind. Their religion is venom proclaimed from their mouths and injected into the ears of their followers resulting in a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
The analogy Jesus draws is that these religious leaders have the same characteristics of a viper whose venom will result its victim eternal damnation. The religious concluded that Jesus was hostile to their mission; refused to see that their position was in error and violently opposed His Holy Spirit empowered work among them.
Calvin writes, “From all that has been said, we may conclude that those persons sin and blaspheme the Holy Spirit, who maliciously turn to dishonor the perfections of God, which have been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, in which His glory ought to be celebrated, and who, with Satan, their leader, are avowed enemies of the glory of God. We need not then wonder, if for such sacrilege there is no hope of pardon; for they must be desperate who turn the only medicine of salvation into a deadly venom.”
Religion, in its truest form, is a remedy for the sin of mankind. Its primary medicine is repentance. Repentance is the gift of God that removes one from the status of an enemy to a child of God who glorifies his Creator.
Returning to the parable of the trees we observe Jesus scathing anathema that He places on the religious leadership: “How can you, being evil, speak what is good? Good begets that which is good and evil begets that which is evil. Good trees bear good fruit and vipers beget broods of the same venomous kind. Their religion is venom proclaimed from their mouths and injected into the ears of their followers resulting in a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
# posted by Castusfumus : 4:37 PM
