Choosing the Twelve
So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? Mark 3:23 · Berean Standard Bible
Jesus called them over and replied with a simple question: 'How can Satan drive out Satan?'
Jesus didn't get defensive or emotional. He just asked a question that exposed the absurdity of their accusation. If Satan is fighting Satan, who wins?
Jesus responds calmly to the scribes' accusation with devastating logic.
It was such a simple, brilliant response. Think about it for two seconds and the accusation falls apart. Why would Satan destroy his own workers? Jesus let common sense do the heavy lifting.
Jesus summoned them and responded with parables (en parabolais), beginning with a rhetorical question: 'How can Satan drive out (ekballein) Satan?'—exposing the logical absurdity of their accusation.
Jesus chose to address the accusation through parables—illustrative analogies that would make the logical contradiction of their position self-evident to any fair-minded listener.
Jesus engages the scribes' accusation directly, using logical argumentation framed in parabolic form.
Jesus did not dismiss the scribes' accusation but engaged it on rational grounds, demonstrating that their theory was self-defeating: if Satan were casting out Satan, he would be destroying his own operation.
21When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”
22And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”
23So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
24If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand.
25If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand.
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