Mark 3:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he called them to him and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?

NIV: So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

NASB: And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables: 'How can Satan cast out Satan?

CSB: So he summoned them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

NLT: Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. 'How can Satan cast out Satan?' he asked.

KJV: And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan

NKJV: So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?

Matthew 12:24–25 indicates that the scribes from Jerusalem are present in the crowd. Like their local counterparts, they use an oblique attack (Mark 2:16). Their goal is to convince the people to stop following Jesus, claiming He performs miracles under Satan's authority. Jesus uses a parable to show how faulty their reasoning is.

"Parable" is from the Greek root word parabole. It refers to something placed next to something else as a comparison. All of Jesus' teachings in Mark 2 use parable to some degree (Mark 2:16–17, 19–22) even when the included story is true (Mark 2:25–26) or His very act of healing becomes the metaphor for forgiveness of sins (Mark 2:5–12). Mark 4:34 says that Jesus' public teaching is all in parables, but He explains the deeper message to His disciples in private.

The scribes infer that lesser demons have possessed people in a way that somehow displeases Satan, and Satan uses Jesus to cast them out. Or that the entire incident is just a show meant to fool the people. Jesus explains that everything the demons do is under Satan's direction, and to cast out a lesser demon is to cast out Satan.

The Bible doesn't go into great detail about Satan and the other demons. We know that when Satan rebelled against God, one-third of the angels followed him into exile (Revelation 12:3–9). The demons have some kind of a hierarchy—the greater ones are called princes (Daniel 10). But the Bible doesn't tell us why or how demons possess people. Everything they do is for Satan's evil purpose, however, and to cast them out would work against his plan.

Mark 3:22–30 continues as the Pharisees from Galilee show their disapproval of Jesus (Mark 3:6). Here, in the fourth story about people's reaction to Jesus, scribes from Jerusalem join in. They have heard that Jesus healed a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute (Matthew 12:22–23). The scribes quickly judge that Jesus is performing miracles through the power of Satan. This stubborn belief, in the face of logic, leads Jesus to condemn their blasphemy and warn that if they continue along this vein, they will be damned forever. Matthew 12:22–32 and Luke 11:14–23 also record this confrontation; in Luke 12:10 Jesus talks similarly about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

The bulk of chapter 3 deals with how different people react to Jesus' teaching and His assumption of authority. The Pharisees' confusion transitions into plotting. The crowds that continually follow Jesus for healing become more frenetic and dangerous. Jesus' own family, afraid for His sanity, try to pull Him away. But true followers also show themselves. Twelve join together to become a core group, while a slightly bigger crowd, more interested in Jesus' teaching than miracles, earn the honor of being called His true family.

Mark chapter 3 continues in the same pattern as chapter 2, describing various teaching and healing encounters from the life of Jesus. These events are used to explain Jesus' overall message and demonstrate His power. They also serve to show how different people react to His teachings. Chapter 4 will focus more on Jesus' parables.

The Gospel of Mark emphasizes both Jesus' servanthood and His role as the promised Messiah: the Son of God. This is done through a concise, action-packed style. Mark provides relatively few details, instead focusing on actions and simple statements. This relates to the Gospel's authorship, which is believed to be based on the memories of the apostle Peter. These include many of Jesus' miracles, in contrast to other Gospels which include many more of Jesus' teachings and parables. Mark also makes frequent mention of Jesus' ministry being misunderstood by others.