Blasphemy

To speak impiously or irreverently of God and sacred things, mid-14c., from Old French blasfemer “to blaspheme,” from Church Latin blasphemare, which in Late Latin also meant “revile, reproach,” hence blame, from Greek blasphemein “to speak lightly or amiss of sacred things, to slander,” from blasphemos “evil-speaking.”¹ “What does the word blasphemy mean? What does it come from? To speak blaptō… is to treat lightly, not with contempt, but not seriously. It is not to damn something to hell. It is not to say horrible and tremendous things, but to treat lightly. It’s much worse to treat the gospel as trivia and laugh it off… than it is to attack it savagely…. We get the impression that when a person speaks blasphemy, he has spoken terrible things. He has denounced and used vile language. That’s not it. Blasphemy is treating it lightly.”² It’s blasphemous to attribute to God what God did not authorize. It’s not merely bearing false witness; it’s also blasphemy. You hear blasphemy from the religious leaders who, speaking and pretending to act in the name of God, have no authority or permission from Him to do as they claim.³

“Anyone who would reveal [sacred] things [covenants, temple ordinances, etc.] has not understood them, and therefore has not given them away. You cannot reveal what you do not know. The constant concern for keeping Israel out of contact with the profane things of the world; the reason given is not so much a ritual concern for secrecy but a care to keep these sacred things from becoming hālāl [profane, defiled], that is, vulgar, popular, a subject of everyday discussion, in a word, trivia. This is what is meant by blasphemy which signified not some awful and horrible commitment to evil but simply taking holy things lightly. Blasphemy is light-mindedness. And what is wrong with being hālāl? What is evil in innocent everyday conversation? Even at its most innocuous the bringing up of such matters in public can only lead to their cheapening, but worst of all to all manner of misunderstanding, misrepresentation, disputation, contention, contamination, and corruption….When the Lord speaks of giving precious things to the dogs and pearls to the swine it is not with contempt for those creatures, but with the futility of such a thing for all concerned — the dogs (and the word kynarion (κυνάριον, Strong’s G2952) is a term of affection, a family pet or a lap-dog) would find no value in precious things, which would be thrown away into the dirt and trodden under foot.”⁴See also LIGHT-MINDEDNESS; SACRED INFORMATION.