If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

 

 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against  himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

 

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.   Anyone who 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 of in the age to come."

 

- Matthew 12:22-32 

 

  While He spoke these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped Him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her and she will live."  So Jesus arose and followed him, and so did His disciples.  And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.  For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."  But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."  And the woman was made well from that hour.  When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing, He said to them, "Make room, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping."  And they ridiculed Him.  But when the crowd was put outside, He went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.  And the report of this went out into all that land.

 

  Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against  himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."  Beelzebub is a name which ridicules an actual title for a shrine to Baal.  Baal means "lord," and temples and worship sites were built to Baal of many kinds.  Baal-zebul is an ancient Canaanite and Philistine title generally meaning "Lord of the High Place" or "Exalted Lord."  Beelzebub, however, is a name used by the Jews to ridicule this god of the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  Its meaning is prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."   Here, Baal is referred to as ruler of the demons.  My study Bible comments that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.  

 

 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.   Anyone who 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 of in the age to come."  My study Bible explains that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit, blasphemy against pure goodness.  It says that the sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven as the Jews did not know much about Christ.  But blasphemy against the Spirit is blasphemy against divine activity which was already known from the Old Testament, and this will not be forgiven as it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  Moreover, it's important that we understand that in patristic commentary blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin" and neither does Jesus call it "unforgivable."  According to St. John Chrysostom, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgiven if a person were to repent of it.  My study Bible concludes that Jesus makes this declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and they are beyond repentance by their own choice.  

 

It's important to understand spiritual battle in terms of the demonic and the holy.  Ancient gods worshiped by pagan peoples were understood to be demons, and those locked in battle against God.  That is, the Lord, Yahweh of the Old Testament.  The mythologies of these ancient pagan gods have similar outlines, and all reflect successful rebellion of some type, of son against father.  One example we might be familiar with from Greek mythology was that of Zeus who rebelled against his father Kronos.  The same is true of the story of Baal.  But where pagan mythologies depict a successful overthrow, the story of the God of Israel is quite different.  For there, rebellion is the domain of the demons who have failed in their quest to overthrow God.   In the Gospels, we see this reflected in the power of Christ over the demons in many stories, for the demons who rebel are still engaged in battle in our world, but they focus their efforts on vulnerable human beings.  Christ who comes to save steps into the middle of the battleground as one of us.  So we need to understand today's story from the Gospel of St. Matthew with this background in mind, especially in order to understand what it means that the Pharisees claim that He casts out demons by the power of demons; indeed, by the power of "Beelzebub," lord of "the flies."  We might mention in this context a recent book by Fr. Stephen De Young, titled The Baal Book:  A Biography of the Devil (found here at Amazon.com), in which he depicts the evolution of our understanding of the devil through these myths of Baal from the ancient Near East.  The Pharisees, in their envy and resentment of Christ, call His work -- and in particular, His casting out of demons resulting in spectacular healings and signs of the Messiah -- the work of the devil, the "ruler of the demons."  They accuse Him, in effect, of sorcery.  But what He says to them is a stark warning in return:  they are blaspheming the work of God, the action of the Holy Spirit in the world, and calling it evil.  It's important to understand that the Pharisees are a group of people for whom studying the Scriptures is of primary importance; knowing and debating the meaning of even the minutiae of Scripture is what they dedicate themselves to doing.  So to take an action like this -- one in which the blind and mute both spoke and saw (a sign attributed to the coming of the Messiah in prophecy; see for example Isaiah 35:5-6) -- is actually quite beneath persons schooled in Scripture and its implications.  It is, as my study Bible says, a sign of hardened hearts, even beyond the capacity for repentance.  Thus Jesus' words regarding blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  Let us note that He explicitly does not defend Himself as Jesus, but is defending the Third Person of the Trinity, the Spirit.  Jesus' logic cuts through their envy and resentment of His appeal among the people, and of the authority with which He speaks.  How can Satan cast out Satan?  Jesus puts it into the context of a battle of kingdoms, and indeed it truly is.  Which side are the Pharisees defending in attacking the work of the Holy Spirit?  When we observe the world around us, can we, also begin to look objectively at what "fruits" are produced?  Do we see healing, or do we see harm?