Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 12:32

"And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come." — Matthew 12:32 (ASV)

Neither in this world, neither in the world to come — The distinction was not quite the same for our Lord’s Jewish listeners as it is for us. For them, "this world"—or perhaps better, this age—was the time before the coming of the Messiah. "The age to come" was the era that would follow it (Luke 18:30).

Our Lord thus stood on the boundary between the two ages: the age of the Law and the Prophets, and the age of the Kingdom of Heaven. He declares that while all personal offenses against Himself as the Son of Man (that is, the Messiah) are forgivable, this hostility toward goodness itself excludes one from forgiveness in both ages.

In practice, however, the state of things since Christ's first coming has been one of slow and continuous growth, not a rapid and complete change. There has not been an "age to come" like the one the Jewish people dreamed of. We still wait for its manifestation and think of ourselves as living in this world, in this age, with the "world to come" lying in the distant future or, for each individual soul, beyond the grave.

It should be noted that our Lord’s words clearly imply that some sins await their full forgiveness—the complete cancellation of the past—until that "age to come" which will witness the great and final Advent. Does this imply that repentance, and therefore pardon, may come in the state that follows death? We do not know and are asking questions we cannot answer. However, these words at least prevent a harsh, dogmatic answer in the negative.

If only one sin is excluded from forgiveness in that "coming age," then other sins cannot be on the same level. Consequently, the darkness behind the veil is lit up with at least a gleam of hope.