Matthew 12:36 But I say to you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. The Pharisees bad said, "This fellow doth not east out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." Christ meets this objection in two ways. I. He shows its UNREASONABLENESS. It is against experience that any power, good or bad, consciously seeks its own destruction. The powers of evil and of good are distinct, and each power is ready to defend itself. II. He condemns THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT WAS MADE, and brings out the serious nature of the sin it involved. Why did Christ warn them against this dangerous sin? Not because of any act unmistakably wicked and cruel, but because they called evil good, and good evil, confounding the two, and this from dislike to the truth when it reflected on themselves. There lay the danger; and there it lies still. The essence of sin is being out of sympathy with goodness. (A. Watson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.WEB: I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. |
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