A House Divided
22 Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him; and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house. 30 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in that which is to come.
The charge of demonic power answered four ways — and the one sin named as unforgivable, in its own context.
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”
The crowd's reaction is a question — can this be the son of David? Matthew 12:23 — and the Pharisees' answer is designed to close it. They do not deny the exorcism; the power is conceded and the source is reassigned. It is the same accusation made in one line earlier Matthew 9:34, now answered at length.
25 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
The first answer is that the charge is incoherent. Whatever else the powers of darkness are, they are not engaged in dismantling their own work.
If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
The second is that the standard is not being applied evenly. Jewish exorcists operated and were not accused of collaboration, so the charge is reserved for him alone — which makes it an argument about the person rather than about the practice.
But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you.
The third states what the alternative would mean, and it is the claim the chapter exists for. The exorcisms are not merely merciful; they are the kingdom arriving in territory that was held.
Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.
The fourth is a picture of what is actually happening. Every deliverance is a robbery of an occupied house, and it is possible because the owner has already been tied up. The binding is not described and is assumed — which places the decisive event somewhere behind the visible ministry.
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.
The warning has troubled sincere people for two thousand years, and its context controls it. The scale of what is forgivable is stated first and it is total — every sin and blasphemy, including speaking against the Son of Man himself. That is an extraordinary allowance, and it means the exception is not a class of especially bad words.
What is being described is what these men have just done: looking at the Spirit's unmistakable work and calling it the devil's, in order to avoid its implication. That is not a slip of the tongue but a settled decision about the evidence, and it cannot be forgiven for the reason a man with his eyes shut cannot be shown a light. Forgiveness is refused because the faculty by which it would be sought has been deliberately disabled.
And the pastoral consequence follows: anyone troubled by the fear of having committed it has, by that very anxiety, demonstrated the opposite. The men in this passage were not worried.
held with reason What this mark means