Mark 3:20-30
New American Standard Bible
20 And He *came [a](A)home, and the (B)crowd *gathered again, (C)to such an extent that they could not even eat [b]a meal. 21 And when (D)His own [c]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “(E)He has lost His senses.” 22 The scribes who came down (F)from Jerusalem were saying, “He [d]is possessed by [e](G)Beelzebul,” and “(H)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 23 (I)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in (J)parables: “How can (K)Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if (L)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but [f]he is finished! 27 (M)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
28 “(N)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; 29 but (O)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
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Mark 3:20-30
The Message
Satan Fighting Satan?
20-21 Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was believing his own press.
22-27 The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working black magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power. Jesus confronted their slander with a story: “Does it make sense to send a devil to catch a devil, to use Satan to get rid of Satan? A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn’t be any Satan left. Do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man, and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out.
28-30 “Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson