Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 5 Study # 3
December 3, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(126)
1901 ASV
27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong [
man], and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong [
man]; and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin:
30 because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
- I. Jesus' Abrupt Change of Direction In His Argument: "alla".
- A. For whatever reason, the Textus Receptus omits this "adversative conjunction"; no indication of the omission in either the textual apparatus or the textual commentary.
- B. Without this "adversative" inserted into Jesus' argument, there is a degree of ambiguity as to why He suddenly switches from the inane accusation that Satan has risen up to cast himself out to the "spoiling" of the house of the strong man.
- 1. Jesus is still responding to the accusation that He is exercising the power of Satan.
- a. He has already pointed out the impossibility of the accuracy of this accusation by declaring the "obvious": if Satan has risen against himself, he has engaged in completely self-defeating actions and "has an end". This "has an end" is separated from the improbability of arising against himself by another alla which, also, injects a strong contrastive idea: Satan would not deliberately do a self-defeating thing because that would strongly contrast with his intention to take the Kingdom away from God. This does not erase the fact that his opposition to God's rule over His own creation is self-defeating; it simply establishes the fact that even Satan understands that he cannot deliberately divide himself and his kingdom without reaping "self-defeat": an end.
- b. Thus, Jesus is setting up the second of two "reasons" for the foolishness of the accusation: 1) Satan would not deliberately send Him to cast out himself; nor 2) would he willingly open his "house" and "goods" to his opponent.
- C. The "at issue" problem is the identity of the "strong man", and Jesus' use of this strong adversative conjunction clarifies this "problem".
- II. Who Is The "Strong Man"?
- A. The use of the definite article indicates that Jesus has a particular "strong man" in mind.
- B. Mark's use of "strong man" is restricted to only two texts.
- 1. John the Baptizer "Jesus" (1:7) is the Stronger One Whose capacities far exceeded his own.
- 2. This text before us is the only other use of the "nominative adjective" (definite article plus the adjective; iscuros) translated "strong man" to be found in Mark.
- C. Luke's record is a tad more "detailed" for in it Jesus speaks of both "the strong man" and "a stronger than him" along with the prior comment that if He was casting out demons by "the finger of God", then "the Kingdom of God has come upon you". In other words, Luke strongly indicates that Satan is the "strong man" and Jesus is "the stronger man" (Luke 11:20-22). With this, Mark clearly agrees in that "the strong man" in our text is "bound" by someone who, clearly, must be "stronger".
- D. The accusation of the scribes is that Jesus is spoiling the house of Satan by casting out demons by the power of Satan, which, as we have seen, makes no sense. But, if we take the fact that Jesus has already told these "scribes" that He is The Son of The Man Who has the authority on earth to "forgive sins" as a "lead" in our thought, then He is saying that He is Satan's adversary Who intends to "despoil his house". Thus, what Luke declares (there is a "stronger" man), Mark also directly implies (one must be "stronger" if he is able to "bind" the "strong" one).
- III. The "Harbinger of Doom".
- A. If Jesus is He Who "binds" the "strong man", the gong of the harbinger of doom begins to sound: the scribes are on the "wrong side" of this conflict. The scribes are the "strong man's strength"; the demons are simply the executors of that strength because they can only dominate when "faith in the Truth" does not exist. In other words, the scribes are the promoters of the Satanic doctrines which have taken the place of "Truth" in the synagogues, and in all Judaea and Galilee so that the demons have an open invitation -- through unbelief (as belief in a false concept) -- to enter and wreak their destructions upon the "lost sheep" of the "house of Israel" (Matthew 10:6 and 15:24).
- 1. In this scenario, the "goods" of the "house" are people. The "demons" (in the accusation; 3:22), are "possessing" people, and Jesus' exorcisms both deliver the "overwhelmed" (as "strong ones" who are "bound" by stronger ones and have had their "houses" "plundered") and put the "plunderers" back into the "status" of "those who have no goods" (a condition that the demons begged Jesus to not fully exercise; 1:24 and 5:12 in conjunction with Matthew 8:29).
- 2. The focus in the larger picture of this paragraph is upon "exorcisms", not "healings". This is an indication that the scribes from Jerusalem realize the greater strength is that of the "relational" Kingdom, not the physical/material one. "Healings" are impressive, but "exorcisms" are exponentially more significant. The "ability", or lack thereof, ("...ou dunatai...") is grammatically tied, not to "enter" (as the Authorized Version translates it, "No man can enter..."), but to "spoil" (a more precise translation is, "No one is able, having entered into the house of the strong man, to spoil ((Aorist Infinitive)) his goods...").
- a. The "back story" here is this "fact": in the "kingdom" which Satan seeks to establish over the Kingdom of the Real Strong Man, it is creatures of "power" that are required to enable the conquest.
- b. Satan knows that he cannot wrest the "Kingdom" from God on his own; he must have cooperating allies who are willing to add their "power" to his.
- 1) With the creation of "creatures of capacities to act" comes this bottom-line reality: God grants a "dispensation of personal power" to every functional creature by virtue of creation alone. Without "power" nothing created has any ability to add to, or take from, "kingdom aspirations".
- 2) Thus, Satan's first step in the pursuit of the throne of God was to seek "angelic" alliances, and his second step was to seek "human" alliances. His thinking must be along the lines of "if I can bring enough 'creatures of power' into harmony with my goal, I can achieve my objective". Thus, even with Jesus, he attempted to obtain His cooperation by "promising" Him "all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" if He would do one thing: worship him (i.e., let him be the only one above Him).
- B. Since the scribes have "settled" the "official decision" that Jesus is "Satan-embodied", that gong of doom rings again, and louder: No one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will be forgiven...ever.
