[B-Greek] Does blasphemeo always carry the meaning of speaking?

Harold Holmyard hholmyard at ont.com
Fri Mar 2 21:06:16 EST 2007


Dear Carl,
> Does blasphemeo always carry the meaning of speaking?
> **
> *"And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be
> forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall
> not be forgiven. "*
> **
> In the first part it says *"speak a word against"* then in the 2nd half of
> the verse it uses *"blasphemy"*
> aren't these not the same thing? perhaps against is not the right word, I
> read a B-Greek post of someone who thought "for" would be more appropriate,
> but that is another debate altogether.
>   
The verb BLASFEMEO regularly refers to speech, but there may be some 
exceptional case where it involves an action -- I don't know. One of the 
meanings given, with respect to men, is to "injure the reputation of." 
In this verse you cite (Luke 12:10) it does imply speech, and the 
phrases "speak a word against" and "blaspheme against" can be viewed as 
synonymous. The significant difference is the person spoken against in 
each case. The preposition translated "against" is EIS, and it is also 
used in the second half of the sentence: "Whoever blasphemes against the 
Holy Spirit."

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


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