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

462 Matthew XII. 31-33.
ready existing, are 1 Cor. x. 11 ; Heb. vi. 5, ix. 26, in wliicK the
ovvrtXeia rCJv aluvojv (== reXrj twv aluivov) as the transition from the
alcov ovTog to the /jeAAwv, is conceived as being present. This must
be accounted fgr in the same manner as in the PaacXeia rov 6eaD, regarding
which, the same usus loquendi prevails. As, with the per-
son of Christ, and the foundation of the church, the kingdom of
God was present in its germ, so in this slumbered the world to come
as now present ; just as, according to John, eternal life exists for
the believer, not only as future, but as already present to him.
(Compare the remarks on 1 John iii. 14.) Generally, however, the
alwv jtieAAwv is viewed as being yet future, and, accordingly, its appearance
takes place with the awriXeia rov aloJvog (rovrov), when
the Divine will be manifested as the ruling and conquering power,
and sin, as cast out. This period the apostles conceived of as very
near at hand, and, moreover, they did not distinguish in their con-
ception its separate and individual features—especially not the first
and the second resurrection—any more than those of the kingdom
of God {(iaaiXeia rov Qeov) The ^nalogy of the Old Testament
prophets, who, in their prophecies concerning the advent of the
Messiah, were not accustomed to distinguish between his twofold
coming, may explain this phenomenon. (Comp. further at Mattj;i,
xxiv. 1.) If then, in our passage, a remission is thought possible in
the world to come, that signification of the term predominates,
which excludes eternity, and the preceding general judgment. The
aii)v luXXuiv is here viewed as the world to come, which, at some fu-
ture period, shall reveal itself in the victory of good here on earth,
and sinners in the Sheol are assumed as belonging thereto. The
preaching of the Gospel to the unbelieving contemporaries of Noah
(1 Pet. iii. 18), involves such a forgiveness in the al(^v jweAAwv, for
all who are disposed to believe in it.
Yer. 33.—That which follows seems to countenance the opinion
that the Pharisees to whom Christ was speaking, had, by their very
speech (ver. 24), committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. The
words in Mark iii. 30 : " because they said, he hath an unclean spi-
rit," seem likewise to favour this view ; since, by these words, the
discourse on the sin against the Holy Ghost is connected with the
preceding blasphemous speech of the Pharisees. But, as already
stated, the preceding discourses of Jesus (ver. 25,jSeq.), especially
when compared with 1 Cor. ii. 8 ; Acts xiii. 27, 28 ; Luke xxiii. 34,
render this, in my opinion, very improbable. For, even admitting,
as we may well do, that the upxovreg, ruler's, mentioned there, are
different from those spoken of in our passage, yet, as they even cru-
cified the Lord of glory, they can surely have been hardly less guilty
than those who denied the divinity of his miracles. It is, however,
mentioned that they crucified him from ignorance (ayvoca), and how