Mark 3:23

23 So He called them to Him, and using figurative language He appealed to them, saying, "How is it possible for Satan to 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 Hearing of this, His relatives came to seize Him by force, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

22 The Scribes, too, who had come down from Jerusalem said, "He has Baal-zebul in him; and it is by the power of the Prince of the demons that he expels the demons."

23 So He called them to Him, and using figurative language He appealed to them, saying, "How is it possible for Satan to expel Satan?

24 For if civil war breaks out in a kingdom, nothing can make that kingdom last;

25 and if a family splits into parties, that family cannot continue.