An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospels Parable Of The Strong Man

Tweet

A short near cryptic parable that is barely a sentence in length. Three Gospels include it, Matthew 12:29 Mark 3:27 and Luke 11:21-22. The lines are similar in each version though Luke gives it slightly more attention. The parable is an answer to a frequent criticism levelled at Jesus. While his family, sometimes including his Mother, Mary, often see Jesus as losing his mind, the Pharisees see him perform miracles and instead of seeing this as proof of his divinity they accuse him of drawing his power from Satan or other false deities. This is known as the ‘Beelzebul Controversy’, the idea that Jesus is an incarnation or pawn of Beelzebub, or Satan. The parable is Jesus’s defence against such claims. The parable states that to rob the house of a strong man, one first has to fool or over-power and incapacitate the strong man and then take away his strength o you can plunder his property safely and easily. The meaning involves seeing the strong man as Satan and Jesus as the thief taking back the souls Satan has taken control and possession of. Jesu effectively declare that he can hardly be Satan given that his work as a miracle-performer involve driving out demons, when Satan would be giving us all demons instead. Why would Satan want to be seen defeating Satan or his minions? The parable does make Jesus a thief and a man of stealth, hardly the best moral example to use. It also shows that while not exactly Satanic, the powers do match those a demon can employ. Could Jesus be a double agent? Could he be using the miracles to dupe us into trusting him, as a way to overcome our strengths? Arthur Chappell