Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 12:27

"And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges." — Matthew 12:27 (ASV)

By whom do your children cast them out? The “children” of the Pharisees are their disciples—in this case, specifically those who practiced exorcism, like the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13). The belief in demonic possession was naturally accompanied by the claim of power to cast out the demon, a claim made by those who could control the disordered mind of the possessed person.

We need not assume that such power was always a pretense or that it rested only on spells and incantations. Earnestness, prayer, fasting, and faith are always powerful for intensifying the will, before which a frenzied soul bows in submission or yields in confidence. These qualities may well have been found among the better and more sincere Pharisees.

Indeed, for our Lord’s question to be logically valid, it requires the admission that the “children” of His accusers did really cast out demons, and that they did not do so by the power of Beelzebub.