But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. They might say, 'It was nothing; we meant no evil; we merely threw out a supposition, as one way of accounting for the miracle we witnessed; if it will not stand, let it go; why make so much of it, and bear down with such severity for it?' Jesus replies, 'It was not nothing, and at the great day will not be treated as nothing: Words, as the index of the heart, however idle they may seem, will be taken account of, whether good or bad, in estimating character in the day of judgment.'
Remarks:
(1) Instead of wondering that our Lord should have been thought "beside Himself," by those who were totally unable to sympathize with, or even to comprehend, His exalted views, His compassionate feelings, His gracious errand, and the preciousness of the time allotted for the execution of it, this is precisely what we might have expected from those who "judged after the flesh." Nor is it any wonder, if those who tread the most in His steps are similarly misunderstood and misrepresented. (See the note at 2 Corinthians 5:13.)
(2) When we see the vast organized unseen kingdom of evil, though full of contradiction and division within itself, so tremendously harmonious in its opposition to truth and righteousness, what a consolation is it to know that "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8), subvert his kingdom, and utterly bruise the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15)!
(3) Let scoffers at Christianity tremble. For, if they tread underfoot the Son of God, and do despite unto the Spirit of grace, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins," and nothing more to be done by the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:26-29); and having poured contempt upon the uttermost provisions of Heaven for their restoration to eternal life, they shut themselves up by their own act and deed, and, with their eyes open, to irremediable ruin. But
(4) How distressing is it, the other hand, to find tender consciences making themselves miserable with the apprehension that the guilt of the unpardonable sin lies upon them? If this arise, as in many cases it does, from a morbid state of the nervous system, acting on a religious temperament, the remedy lies beyond the limits of this Exposition. But if it be the fruit of inaccurate conceptions of Bible teaching, surely a dispassionate consideration of Matthew 12:31-32 of the present section, as above expounded, ought to dissipate such apprehensions. And if the language of 1 John 5:16-17, should seem still to present some difficulty (see on those verses) - let not the plain sense of the great general statements of Scripture be stripped of their value by the supposed meaning of some isolated and obscure passage; but, in spite of all such obscurities, let the trembling sinner assure himself of this, that "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," and that "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin."
The occasion of this section was manifestly the same with that of the preceding.