It implies that there is forgiveness after death.

The pertinent part of this Scripture is “[b:t16lmkgx]will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.[/b:t16lmkgx]” The implication is if there are sins that will NOT be forgiven “in the age to come”, then there are sins which WILL be forgiven “in the age to come”, ala purgatory. It would seem superfluous of Jesus to add “neither in this world, or the world to come” if it held no meaning past what he’d already said – he’d already said once in the previous verse and once in the present verse that sins against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven.

Well, I’m sure other people have thought about it through the centuries and didn’t just go “walla, purgatory!”

It depends on whether you are taking the verse all by itself or whether you are taking it in the greater context of Scriptural and Traditional and Patristic evidence.

“In the Gospel Our Lord says, “Finish your journey while you still have the light.” And in the words of the Prophet He declares, “In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee.” St. Paul’s comment on this is: “And here is the time of pardon; the day of salvation has come already.” Solomon, too, says, “Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the nether world where you are going.” And David adds, “For his mercy endures forever.” From these quotations it is clear that each one will be presented to the Judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet there must be some cleansing fire before judgment, because of some minor faults that may remain to be purged away. Does not Christ, the Truth, say that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit he shall not be forgiven “either in this world or in the world to come”? From this statement we learn that some sins can be forgiven in this world and some in the world to come. For, if forgiveness is refused for a particular sin, we conclude logically that it is granted for others. This must apply, as I said, to slight transgressions, such as persistent idle talking, immoderate laughter, or blame in the care of property, which can scarcely be administered without fault even by those who know the faults to be avoided, or errors due to ignorance in matters of no great importance. All these faults are troublesome for the soul after death if they are not forgiven while one is still alive. For when St. Paul says that Christ is the foundation, he adds: “But on this foundation different men will build in gold, silver, precious stones, wood grass, or straw…and fire will test the quality of each man’s workmanship. He will receive a reward, if the building he had added on stands firm, if it is burnt up, he will be the loser, and yet he himself will be saved, though only as men are saved as passing by fire.” Although this may be taken to signify the fire of suffering we experience in this life, it may also refer to the cleansing fire of the world to come, and, if one accepts it in this sense, one must weigh St. Paul’s words carefully. When he says that men are saved by passing through fire, he is not referring to men who build on this foundation in iron, bronze, or lead, that is, in mortal sins which are indestructible by fire. He specifies those who build on this foundation in wood grass, and straw, that is, in venial or trivial sins which fire consumes easily'” (Dialogues IV: 41).

[quote:2i379emw]How do we know for sure, without any ambiguty, that purgatory is what he’s talking about? With all due respect, this, ‘ala purgatory’ conclusion just isn’t working for me.[/quote:2i379emw]

I wasn’t meaning that the doctrine of purgatory is fully proved or justified by the Scripture in question, Mat 12:32 – just that the principles associated with what Christ was saying are congruent with the doctrine of purgatory so far as forgiveness of sins pre/post earlthly life go. As others have said here, purgatory doesn’t rise or fall on any one Scriptural proof text, rather on the whole of the Scriptural evidence, as well as the testimony of time, aka Tradition.

There are many senses that Scriptures are interpreted according to, such as the literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical (check out the Catechism[/url:2i379emw] concerning these). I don’t think Jesus was speaking directly about purgatory in Mat 12:32, but I dont’ think he need be doing so for it to be pertinent to the topic of purgatory. The end of the gospel of Mathew reads “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” – I think Jesus’ immediate concern was the order he was giving to the deciples to go out and baptize folks and teaching them, but the verse is also used for proof of the doctrine of the Trinity. I wouldn’t read Mathew 12:32 or 28:19 and say “shazam, purgatory!” or “viola, Trinity!”, but those doctrines are certainly to be found in principle (not necessarily [i:2i379emw]fully[/i:2i379emw] explained) in said verses, as well as a number of others.

[color=darkblue:16s4lwbf]I had the luxury to ask this very question to Tim Staples in person.
He said[/color:16s4lwbf] [b:16s4lwbf][color=red:16s4lwbf]”Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is to reject God’s grace non-stop”[/color:16s4lwbf][/b:16s4lwbf]. [color=darkblue:16s4lwbf]Anyone who is not in Grace has no life in him. So it is true that this sin is unforgivable.[/color:16s4lwbf]

[quote:1n5lzqhk]Who is Tim Staples?[/quote:1n5lzqhk]

http://www.catholic.com/seminars/staples.asp

Here is where I can’t participate. Sacred Tradition for Catholics is from teh point of origin in Scripture and is continued through the Church making the Churches interpretation as primary as the Scripture (thanks to the recent “infallability of the Pope”). Most Protestants believe that Scripture alone is primary, and that Sacred Tradition (this is for Protestants) = the decisions of the early Church (Apostles, Nicenet, etc. creeds and docrines). Sacred Tradition in the Protestant sense is still over-ruled by Scripture if it is found in error, but because it is Sacred Tradition, they were guided by the Holy Spirit (hopefully, or we’re all going to hell!) therefore we trust the doctrines of the Trinity, for example.

Minor differences, let’s not forget what we share in common, but I represent different views on Sacred Tradition.