Mark 1:23

23 Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out,^[a]

Mark 1:23 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 1:23

And there was in their synagogue
In the synagogue of the Capernaites, at the same time that Jesus was teaching there,

a man with an unclean spirit:
not with an unclean heart, for there were doubtless many such there, but that had a devil; for in ( Luke 4:33 ) , it is said, "he had a spirit of an unclean devil": so called, because he is impure in himself, and the cause of uncleanness in men, in which he delights: and such spirits sometimes are where religious persons meet, but with no good design; either to disturb the preacher, or to divert the hearer, that the word may be unfruitful and unprofitable:

and he cried out:
either the man, or rather the unclean spirit in him, who had possessed his body, and made use of the organs of it: he cried out through dread of the majesty of Christ, whose presence he could not bear; and through grief and envy at the success of his ministration, and the influence it had upon the minds of men; and through fear of being dispossessed of the man, in whom he was.

Mark 1:23 In-Context

21 Then they went into Capernaum, and right away He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach.

22 They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority.

23 Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. He cried out,

24 "What do You have to do with us, Jesus-Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are-the Holy One of God!"

25 But Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet, and come out of him!"

Footnotes

• [a]. Other mss add to the beginning of v. 24: "Leave us alone.