Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

460 Matthew XII. 31, 32.
fenders of a restoration of all things (d-rTOKardoTaatg twv TravTowV—and
they have been found at all times, and are, at the present time,
more than at any former period, though it may often have its founda-
tion in a vitiated moral state, yet has no doubt a deep root in noble
minds—is the expression of a heartfelt desire for a perfect harmony
in the creation. But, viewing it from a merely exegetical
point of view, we must confess that no passage of the New Testament
affords a clear and positive testimony for the fulfilment of this
longing. The scriptural terms used to denote the resolving of the
discord arising from sin into a harmony dcpsoig, KaraXXayq^ diroXv-
rpcjocg, remission, reconciliation, ransom— all denote a being fettered
by the evil ; hence a mixture of good and evil is found in human
nature after the fall. Hence, the terms above mentioned can, ac-
cording to the doctrine of Scripture, never be applied to the spirits
of the kingdom of darkness, nor to men who, by persevering and
continued resistance to the drawings of grace, have become
the subjects of that kingdom. Should it be urged that evil, as
a thing created and temporary, must share also the general des-
tiny of what is temporary, viz., cessation and annihilation, and that
the ageS' (alCiveg) of the course of this world, though they may bring
lasting punishment to the wicked, must yet at last themselves come
to an end ; there is indeed a text of Scripture pointing to this passing
away of time itself with all temporary phenomena, into the
abyss of eternity when time shall be no longer, viz., the mysterious
words in 1 Cor. xv. 28 (on which compare the <strong>commentary</strong>). But
the mysterious character of the passage itself, along with the circum-
stance that no mention is made in it of evil and its dissolution,
authorises scarcely more than conjectural inferences regarding the
eternity of punishment ; the words of our Redeemer, in Matth. xii.
32, remain as an awful testimony to the fearful character of sin, and
its consequences.* But along with this they are also a consolation,
in that even they promise the possibility of forgiveness of sins committed
against the Father and Son, hence of sins of a very heinous
character. For the addition : ovts: ev tw fitXXovn aliovi, nor in the
world to come, is certainly not overstrained, if we infer that all other
sins can be forgiven in the world to come, always supposing, of
course, as has been already remarked, repentance and faith. (Comp.
* H* we were to interpret our passage from 1 Cor. xv. 28, in such a manner as to
make it affirm that the sin against the Holy Ghost will be forgiven, neither in this a«wi',
nor in the al6v to come, but that after that ai6v, age or world, forgiveness might be ob-
tained, this would evidently contradict the meaning of the wiiter. For in Matth. xii. 32.
the "shall not be forgiven" is, in a decided manner, contrasted with the "shall be for-
given:" the addition, ovk h tovtcj tu aiuvi, ovre iv rtj fieTilovri, not in this ivorld, nor in
that to come, is only employed completely to exhaust the not; hence to strengthen, not to
weaken it. Matthew by no means imagines that, subsequently to the aiiJv fiilltDv, there
is still to come another period of the world's existence; it is, on the contrary, completed
in the aluv oiror and fiiXXuv.
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