Church Fathers Commentary Mark 3:23-30

"And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan hath rise up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 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. Verily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin: because they said, He hath an unclean spirit." — Mark 3:23-30 (ASV)

Pseudo-Chrysostom: After detailing the blasphemy of the scribes, our Lord shows that what they said was impossible, confirming His proof with an example.¹

Therefore, it says, And having called them together to Him, He said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? It is as if He had said: A kingdom divided against itself by civil war will be destroyed, which is exemplified in both a house and a city. Therefore, if Satan's kingdom is divided against itself, so that Satan expels Satan from people, then the destruction of the kingdom of the devils is near.

But their kingdom consists of keeping people under their dominion. If, therefore, they are driven away from people, it amounts to nothing less than the dissolution of their kingdom. But if they still hold power over people, it is clear that the kingdom of evil is still standing, and Satan is not divided against himself.

Glossa Ordinaria: And because He has already shown by an example that a devil cannot cast out a devil, He now shows how one can be expelled, saying, No man can enter into a strong man's house, etc.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The meaning of the example is this: The devil is the strong man, and his goods are the people he possesses. Therefore, unless someone first conquers the devil, how can he take away his goods—that is, the people he has possessed?

So I, who plunder his goods by freeing people from his possession, must first defeat and vanquish the devils, for I am their enemy. How then can you say that I have Beelzebub and that I, being a friend of the devils, cast them out?

The Venerable Bede: The Lord has also bound the strong man, that is, the devil. This means He has restrained him from seducing the elect and has entered his house, the world. He has plundered his house and his goods—that is, people—because He has snatched them from the snares of the devil and united them to His Church.²

Alternatively, He has plundered his house because He has assigned the four parts of the world, over which the ancient enemy held sway, to the Apostles and their successors, so that they may convert the people to the way of life.

The Lord then shows that they committed a great sin by proclaiming that what they knew to be from God was actually from the devil, when He adds, Verily, I say unto you, All sins are forgiven, etc. Indeed, not all sins and blasphemies are forgiven for all people, but only for those who have undergone sufficient repentance for their sins in this life. Thus, Novatus is incorrectⁱ, for he denied that any pardon should be granted to penitents who had lapsed during times of martyrdom. Nor is Origen correct, who asserts that after the general judgment and the passing of ages, all sinners will receive pardon for their sins. This error is condemned by the Lord's following words, when He adds, But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, etc.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: He says, indeed, that blasphemy concerning Himself was pardonable, because at the time He appeared to be a despised man of the lowliest birth. However, contempt against God has no forgiveness. Now, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against God, for the work of the Holy Spirit is the kingdom of God. For this reason, He says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. However, instead of what is added here, But will be in danger of eternal damnation, another Evangelist says, Neither in this world, nor in the world to come. This is understood to mean both the judgment according to the Law and the judgment to come.³

For the Law orders one who blasphemes God to be put to death, and in the judgment of the new law, he has no forgiveness. However, one who is baptized is taken out of this world's judgment, but the Jews were ignorant of the forgiveness that takes place in baptism.ⁱ

Therefore, the one who attributes to the devil the miracles and the casting out of demons that belong to the Holy Spirit alone has no opportunity left for the forgiveness of his blasphemy. Nor does it appear that such a blasphemy is forgiven, since it is against the Holy Spirit. For this reason, He adds, explaining it, Because they said, He has an unclean spirit.

Theophylact of Ohrid: We must understand, however, that they will not obtain pardon unless they repent. But since it was Christ's humanity that offended them, some excuse was allowed them, and they obtained some measure of forgiveness, even if they did not repent.

Pseudo-Jerome: Alternatively, this means that a person who understood who Christ was, yet declared that He was the prince of the devils, will not be worthy to achieve a repentance that can be accepted.

The Venerable Bede: However, neither are those who do not believe the Holy Spirit is God guilty of an unpardonable blasphemy, because they were persuaded to this by human ignorance, not by devilish malice.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, impenitence itself is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that has no forgiveness. For a person with an impenitent heart speaks a word against the Holy Spirit—the forgiver of sins—either in his thought or with his tongue.⁴

But He adds the reason, Because they said, He has an unclean spirit, to show that He said this in response to their claim that He cast out a devil by Beelzebub. He does not say this because there is a type of blasphemy that can never be forgiven—since even this could be forgiven through proper repentance. Rather, the reason the Lord spoke this sentence after mentioning the unclean spirit (who, as our Lord shows, was divided against himself) was to highlight a contrast: the Holy Spirit makes those He gathers undivided by forgiving the sins that had divided them from God. This gift of forgiveness is resisted by no one except the person who has the hardness of an impenitent heart.

For in another place, the Jews said of the Lord that He had a devil (John 7:20), yet He said nothing there about blasphemy against the Spirit. The reason is that, in that instance, they did not accuse Him of having an unclean spirit in such a way that their own words would prove that spirit to be divided against itself—as Beelzebub was shown to be here, when they claimed he was the one casting out demons.ⁱ

1. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
2. in Marc., 1, 17
3. Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.
4. Serm., 71, 12, 22