ACC ~ Mark 3 v19 - 27

OVERVIEW:

It was necessary within the economy of salvation that Satan be bound up with the same chains with which he had bound humanity (IRENAEUS, AUGUSTINE). Satan had willfully led humanity by deceit into bondage of the will (IRENAEUS). The God-man had to act fairly to bind up the will of the strong man. For this purpose Christ came to plunder the strong man’s goods—the devil’s hold upon the ungodly. The demonic purpose was not just to enter into the body or senses as such but to strike at the innermost volitional center of the self to make it yield to idolatry. Hence the one guilty of no sin loosed the grip of the devil upon sinners who were being held in bondage to sin. In this way the devil was conquered precisely at the point at which he seemed to be conquering (AUGUSTINE). In his struggle against demonic powers, even his family wondered if Jesus had gone berserk (JEROME). The indwelling Spirit brings into unity those who had been divided against themselves (AUGUSTINE).

3:21 | When His Family Heard It, They Went Out to Seize Him, for People Were Saying, “He Is Beside Himself”

HIS WORRIED KINFOLK

JEROME: In the gospel we read that even his kinsfolk desired to bind him as one of weak mind. His opponents also reviled him saying, “You are a Samaritan and have a devil.” [1] LETTER 108, TO EUSTOCHIUM. [2]

[1] Jn 8:48.

[2] Cetedoc 0620, 108.55.19.333.20; NPNF 2 6:205. Even his family thought Jesus may have gone berserk as he was attracting great numbers from far away to be cured.

3:23 | How Can Satan Cast Out Satan?

THE DEMONIC INTENT TO DOMINATE THE WILL

AUGUSTINE: Now as for the Lord’s saying: “Satan cannot drive out Satan,” [1] lest perhaps anyone using the name of some of the lowest powers when driving out a demon should think this opinion of the Lord’s to be false, let him understand the point of this saying: Satan does spare the body or the senses of the body, but he tempts the senses for the purpose of dominating the will of the man in question, in a triumph of greater import, through the error of impiety. Satan does not strike for the body as such, but rather for the innermost self in order to work in him in the manner described by the apostle: “according to the prince of the power of this air, who is now active in the sons of disobedience.” [2] For Satan was not troubling and tormenting the senses of their bodies, nor was he battering their bodies, but he was reigning in their wills, or better, in their covetousness. EIGHTY-THREE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS, QUESTION 79.2. [3]

[1] Mk 3:23.

[2] Eph 2:2.

[3] Cetedoc 0289, 79.54; FC 70:202*. Satan’s purpose is not just to enter into the body or senses as such, but to attach the innermost part of the self for the purpose of dominating the will to yield to idolatry.

3:25 | A House Divided Against Itself

THE SPIRIT UNITES THOSE DIVIDED AGAINST THEMSELVES

AUGUSTINE: Mention has been made of the unclean spirit whom the Lord shows to be divided against himself. [1] The Holy Spirit, however, is not divided against himself. Rather he makes those whom he gathers together undivided against themselves, by dwelling within those who have been cleansed, that they may be like those of whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, “The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” [2] SERMONS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 21.35. [3]

[1] The issue being discussed is how the Holy Spirit unites those who have been inwardly divided by the demonic.

[2] Acts 4:32.

[3] Cetedoc 0284, 71.75.104.808; NPNF 1 6:330; Dominican ed. Sermon 71.35, WSA 3 3:258.

3:27a | The Strong Man’s House

THE DEVIL’S GOODS

AUGUSTINE: The “strong man” in this passage means the devil who was able to hold the human race in bondage. By his “goods,” which Christ was coming to plunder, the devil was keeping for himself those who would in time become faithful, but had remained in the clutches of ungodliness and various sins. It was for the purpose of binding up this strong man that John, in the Apocalypse, saw “an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” [1] The angel checked and repressed his power to seduce and possess those destined to be set free. THE CITY OF GOD 20.7. [2]

[1] Cf. Rev 20:1-2.

[2] Cetedoc 0313, 48.20.7.44; FC 24:266*.

WEAKNESS MADE STRONG

AUGUSTINE: He conquered the devil first by righteousness, and then by power. First by righteousness, because he who had no sin [1] was slain by him most unjustly. But then by power, because having been dead he lived again, never afterwards to die. [2] For Christ was crucified, not through immortal power, but through the weakness which he took upon him in mortal flesh. [3] Of this weakness the apostle nevertheless says, “God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” [4] ON THE TRINITY 13.14.15. [5]

[1] Cf. 2 Cor 5:21.

[2] Rom 6:9.

[3] Cf. 2 Cor 13:4.

[4] Cf. 1 Cor 1:25.

[5] Cetedoc 0329, 50A.13.14.35; NPNF 1 3:177**. He conquered the devil by that righteousness which, having no sin, was slain; and by the power of his resurrection.

CROSS AS VICTORY

AUGUSTINE: It is not difficult, therefore, to see how the devil was conquered when he, who was slain by him, rose again. [1] But there is something greater and more profound of comprehension: to see how the devil was conquered precisely when he was thought to be conquering, namely, when Christ was crucified. For at that moment the blood of him who had no sin at all, was shed for the remission of our sins. [2] The devil deservedly held those whom he had bound by sin to the condition of death. So it happened that One who was guilty of no sin freed them justly from this condemnation. [3] The strong man was conquered by this paradoxical justice and bound by this chain, that his vessels [4] might be taken away. Those vessels which had been vessels of wrath were turned into vessels of mercy. [5] ON THE TRINITY 13.15.19. [6]

[1] The issue is how the devil was conquered precisely at the point where he seemed to be conquering.

[2] Cf. Mt 26:28; 1 Jn 3:5..

[3] Cf. Heb 2:14.

[4] Booty.

[5] Rom 9:22-23.

[6] Cetedoc 0329, 50A.13.15.1; FC 45:396-97.

3:27b | Then Indeed He May Plunder His House

THE SAME CHAINS

IRENAEUS: The adversary enticed humanity to transgress our maker’s law, and thereby got us into his clutches. [1] Yet his power consisted only in tempting the human will toward trespass and apostasy. With these chains he bound up the human will. [2] This is why in the economy of salvation it was necessary that he be bound with the same chains by which he had bound humanity. [3] It would be through a man that humanity would be set free to return to the Lord, [4] leaving the adversary in those bonds by which he himself had been fettered, that is, sin. For when Satan is bound, man is set free; since “none can enter a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man himself.” [5] It is in this way that he became exposed as the opposer of the Word who made all things, and subdued by his command. The new man showed him to be a fugitive from the law, and an apostate from God. He then was securely bound as a fugitive, and his goods [6] hauled away. These goods are those who had been in bondage, whom he had unjustly used for his own purposes. So it was a just means by which he was led captive, who had led humanity into captivity unjustly. In this way humanity was rescued from the clutches of its possessor by the tender mercy of God the Father, who had compassion on his own handiwork, and gave to it salvation, restoring it by means of the Word, Christ, in order that humanity might learn from this actual event that they receive incorruptibility not of themselves, but by the free gift of God. [7] AGAINST HERESIES 5.21.3. [8]

[1] Cf. Gen 3:1-6.

[2] At issue is why in the plan of salvation it was necessary that the devil be bound up by one truly human.

[3] Namely, through his own twisted willing.

[4] Cf. Rom 5:18.

[5] Mt 12:29; Mk 3:27.

[6] Humanity in bondage.

[7] Cf. Rom 5:16.

[8] AHR 2:383-84; ANF 1:550**. As Satan had unfairly led humanity into bondage of the will, so the God-man had fairly bound up the will of the strong man.