Binding the Strong Man

Matthew-12v29

Matthew 12:29

Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

• strong [man] - G2748 - ischurosG2748-ischuros

  • Strong’s Concordance
    • strong, mighty
    • string (originally and generally of physical strength); mighty, powerful, vehement, sure
  • HELPS Word-studies
    • Cognate: 2478 isxyrós (an adjective, derived from 2479_/isxys_, “engaging, combative strength”) – mighty, strong. For the believer, 2478 (isxyrós) is God’s power “standing by” – ready to unleash itself to bring about His preferred-will, through faith (cf. 2307 /thélēma, 4102 /pístis). This engaging strength is always and immediately available from the Lord, which accomplishes His assignments (cf. 1 Jn 5:4). See 2479 (isxys).

• Whenever Jesus refers to the strong man, it is always in the context of dealing with Satan and his kingdom.

  • Matthew 12:22-30
  • Mark 3:20-27
  • Luke 11:14-23

• It is also in this context that Jesus refers to the unpardonable sinUnpardonable-Sin

  • Matthew 12:31-32
  • Mark 3:28-29

• Luke 11:22 has another tidbit

  • But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted, and then he divides up his plunder.

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

  • Or else … - The Saviour makes use of a new illustration to confute the Pharisees, drawn from breaking into a house.
  • A man could not break into the house of a strong man and take his property unless he had rendered the man himself helpless. If he had taken his goods, it would therefore be sufficient proof that he had bound the man. So I, says he, have taken this “property - this possessed person” - from the dominion of Satan. It is clear proof that I have subdued “Satan himself,” the “strong” being that had him in possession. The words “or else” mean “or how:” “How, or in what way, can one, etc.”
  • Spoil his goods - The word “spoil” commonly means, now, to corrupt, injure, or destroy. Here it means “to plunder,” to take with violence, as it commonly does in the Bible. See Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:15; Exodus 3:22.