The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” 23 Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. 28 Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” 30 For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The scribes come from Jerusalem to where Jesus is teaching in Galilee. They make a serious charge: they say Jesus is “possessed by Beelzebul,” and that “by the prince of demons he drives out demons” (v. 22). In other words, they do not deny that something real is happening. They recognize power at work in Jesus. But they explain it in the worst possible way. Instead of attributing His authority over demons to God, they attribute it to Satan.
Jesus does not let the accusation stand. Mark says He “summoned them” and answered “in parables,” meaning in comparisons that expose the illogic of their claim (v. 23). Jesus begins with a direct question: “How can Satan drive out Satan?” (v. 23). If Satan is the source of Jesus’ exorcisms, then Satan would be fighting himself. Jesus then states the same point in three parallel lines. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. A house divided against itself cannot stand. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, “that is the end of him” (vv. 24-26). Mark’s point is straightforward: Jesus does not belong to Satan’s realm, because His works are defeats for Satan, not expressions of Satan’s power.
Jesus then shifts to a second image that moves from “division” to “invasion.” “No one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man” (v. 27). Only then can he plunder the house. The image implies conflict, not cooperation. If Satan is the “strong man,” then Jesus is the stronger one who enters, binds, and plunders—meaning He frees people from the oppression that held them. In this sense, the exorcisms are not Satan at work; they are signs that Satan’s hold is being broken, and that captives are being released.
Then Jesus speaks the lines that can unsettle readers if they are not read in context. “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them” (v. 28). The scope is intentionally broad. Mark wants the reader to hear first that God’s mercy is real and expansive.
Immediately after that, Jesus gives the warning: “Whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin” (v. 29). Mark then explains why Jesus says this: “For they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit’” (v. 30). The warning is not about a random slip of speech or a passing doubt. It is tied to what the scribes are doing here. They are looking at the work of God in front of them—Jesus driving out demons, freeing people—and they are calling that work satanic. This is why the Bible note describes it as an “everlasting sin”: it attributes to Satan what is actually the work of the Holy Spirit, namely, the defeat of demons.
This also helps explain why this sin is described as “never” forgiven. It is not because God is unable to forgive. It is because the person has closed himself to the truth and therefore to the mercy that would forgive him. When someone refuses to recognize God’s saving action as good, he is in no position to ask for forgiveness or to receive it. So the warning is both serious and precise: it is a warning against hardened, culpable rejection of God’s saving action by calling it evil.
In this short passage, Mark shows two truths at once. Jesus is not aligned with evil; He is the one who overcomes it. And God’s mercy is wider than we often expect—“all sins and all blasphemies” can be forgiven—yet a person can still refuse mercy by refusing the truth about God’s work. Jesus warns the scribes because their accusation is not merely mistaken. It is a willful refusal to accept what God is doing through Him.
Lord Jesus, give us clear minds and honest hearts. Keep us from calling evil what is good, or good what is evil. Teach us to recognize Your work, to repent when we are wrong, and to receive the mercy You are always ready to give. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Gospel of Mark, pp. 71-72.
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), pp. 604-605 (para. 23).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Mark, pp. 173-174.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), p. 986.
- The New Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, p. 1250.
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