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Mark

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Then Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him. 3 So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 So the Pharisees went out immediately and began plotting with the Herodians, as to how they could assassinate him. 7 Then Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. And from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan River, and around Tyre and Sidon a great multitude came to him when they heard about the things he had done. 9 Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd would not press toward him. 10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he sternly ordered them not to make him known. 13 Now Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed 12 so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 To Simon he gave the name Peter;⁠ 17 to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); 18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons!” 23 So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come.⁠ 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man.⁠ Then he can thoroughly plunder his house.⁠ 28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven,⁠ but is guilty of an eternal sin” 30 (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”). 31 Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came. Standing outside, they sent word to him, to summon him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 He answered them and said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”⁠ 34 And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!⁠ 35 For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Mark 3:29 and Matthew 12:32 and Gospel of Thomas 44

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Mark, Jesus says insults to the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. In Matthew, this holds in the present and future ages; in the Gospel of Thomas, earth and heaven replace those ages, using place rather than time to rule out forgiveness.

Passages

Mark 3:29

New Testament
27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. 28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin”
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

Matthew 12:32

New Testament
31 For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Gospel of Thomas 44

Nag Hammadi
43 His disciples said to him, “Who are you to say these things to us?” “You do not realize who I am from what I say to you. Yet you have become like the Jews: they love the tree but hate its fruit, or they love the fruit but hate the tree.” 44 Jesus said, “Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither on earth nor in heaven.” 45 Jesus said, “Grapes are not harvested from thorn trees, nor are figs gathered from thistles; for they do not produce fruit. Good people bring forth good from their treasure; bad people bring forth evil from their evil treasure in their heart and say evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart they bring forth evil.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... The saying in v. 10 has its counterpart in Matt 12:32, where that evangelist has added this “Q” saying to the form of the blasphemy-saying which he has derived from Mark 3:28 (in place of 3:29), thus making it part of the Beelzebul controversy (the context which he has inherited from “Mk”). Common to the “Q” saying in both Luke and Matthew is the mention of “the Son of Man,” whereas the saying in Mark 3:28 speaks of “sins and blasphemies” which will be forgiven “the sons of men”; and this becomes in Matthew merely “men” [...]. [...] Luke is responsible for the introductory pas hos, “As for anyone,” and for the abbreviation of the saying, i.e. his elimination of the reference to the Jewish ages, “either in this world or in the next” (in his concern for his predominantly Gentile readers). Luke is also influenced in his redaction by the form of the saying preserved in Mark 3:28-29, which makes use of the vb. blasphemein, “revile, blaspheme.” [...] Yet another form of this saying is found in Gos. of Thom. § 44: “Whoever reviles the Father will be forgiven, and whoever reviles the Son will be forgiven; but whoever reviles the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either on earth or in heaven.” This form is clearly of later vintage, being dependent on the emerging belief in the Trinity and transforming the Jewish expression “this world and the world to come” to a form dependent on Matt 28:18 (cf. Luke 12:56; Col 1:20). The Lucan form of this saying further lacks the explanation of the “unforgivable sin,” which is found in Mark 3:29, also omitted by Matthew in favor of the added “Q” saying. ...”
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X–XXIV (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 962–963.

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Mark 3:29 and Matthew 12:32 and Gospel of Thomas 44

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