Mark 3:23

23 But he called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan expel Satan?

Mark 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 3:23

And he called them unto him
The Jerusalem Scribes, to come nearer to him, and attend to what he had to say in defence of his character and miracles:

and said unto them in parables:
similitudes, and proverbial expressions, as the following seem to be,

how can Satan cast out Satan?
or one devil cast out another? how unreasonable is it to suppose it? can it ever be thought that such, whose interest it is to unite, would ever oppose and dispossess one another? if therefore, as if he should say, I am Beelzebub, or have him, and he is in me, and I am in confederacy with him; was this the case, can any think I should ever cast him out of others, as I do?

Mark 3:23 In-Context

21 When his family heard about this, they set out to take charge of him; for they said, "He's out of his mind!"

22 The Torah-teachers who came down from Yerushalayim said, "He has Ba`alZibbul in him," and "It is by the ruler of the demons that he expels the demons."

23 But he called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan expel Satan?

24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom can't survive;

25 and if a household is divided against itself, that household can't survive.