Matthew 12:25-32 25Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29Or how is someone able to enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking because he is the sovereign king. He could have known their thoughts by their words, much as we can tell what people are thinking without them explicitly saying something. But verse 25 suggests Jesus’ supernatural ability. With simple logic, he argues against their claim that he casts out demons by Beelzebul. He uses a simple chiastic ABA’ pattern of argumentation. In the first A, he states that a divided kingdom that fights itself in civil war will fall. The Pharisees should see the simple logic and that their thinking was wrong.
At the center of the argument in verses 27-28 in B, Jesus applies the illustration to his own ministry. He uses two opposite situations. In verse 27, he puts the Pharisees on trial. It appears that the followers of the Pharisees attempted to cast out demons, so by what power did they do that? Surely they would not condemn their own disciples whom they had taught.
And then in verse 28, he applies all of the illustrations and logic to his own ministry. This verse is at the center of this section and the main point. It should be obvious that evil does not fight against evil. Satan would not cast out his own demons. Satan has his own kingdom and seeks residency in people’s hearts and minds through deceit. Jesus’s logic should have made it clear to the Pharisees that his ministry was of God, and that he casts out demons by the Spirit of God. His ministry was Spirit-empowered and guided. The Pharisees should have seen God’s kingdom at work in Jesus.
Returning to another illustration in verse 29 with A’, Jesus uses a rhetorical question about breaking into someone’s house. No one would be able to get into the house of a strong man without first getting the strong man out of the way. The strong man will put up resistance and make it impossible to get in. Satan would resist anyone who tried to cast out demons. Essentially, the Pharisees were siding with Satan and not God’s kingdom. This is a powerful condemnation of what they were doing against Jesus.
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