Chapter XXXVIII.—Of the Occasion on Which It Was Said to Him that He Cast Out Devils in the Power of Beelzebub, and of the Declarations Drawn Forth from Him by that Circumstance in Regard to the Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit, and with Respect to the Two Trees; And of the Question Whether There is Not Some Discrepancy in These Sections Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists, and Particularly Between Matthew and Luke.

85. Matthew proceeds with his narrative in the following terms: “And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but in Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation;” and so on, down to the words, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”516    Matt. xii. 23–37. Mark does not bring in this allegation against Jesus, that He cast out devils in [the power of] Beelzebub, in immediate sequence on the story of the dumb man; but after certain other matters, recorded by himself alone, he introduces this incident also, either because he recalled it to mind in a different connection, and so appended it there, or because he had at first made certain omissions in his history, and after noticing these, took up this order of narration again. 517    Mark iii. 22–30. On the other hand, Luke gives an account of these things almost in the same language as Matthew has employed.518    Luke xi. 14–26. And the circumstance that Luke here designates the Spirit of God as the finger of God, does not betray any departure from a genuine identity in sense; but it rather teaches us an additional lesson, giving us to know in what manner we are to interpret the phrase “the finger of God” wherever it occurs in the Scriptures. Moreover, with regard to other matters which are left unmentioned in this section both by Mark and by Luke, no difficulty can be raised by these. Neither can that be the case with some other circumstances which are related by them in somewhat different terms, for the sense still remains the same.

CAPUT XXXVIII. Ubi ei dictum est quod in Beelzebut ejicit daemonia, quidquid ex ipsa occasione locutus est de blasphemia adversus Spiritum sanctum, et de duabus arboribus, utrum in nullo Matthaeus a duobus aliis, maxime a Luca, dissentiat.

85. Sequitur Matthaeus, dicens: Et stupebant omnes turbae, et dicebant: Numquid hic est filius David? Pharisaei autem audientes dixerunt: Hic non ejicit daemones nisi in Beelzebub principe daemoniorum. Jesus autem sciens cogitationes eorum dixit eis: Omne regnum divisum contra se, desolabitur, etc., usque ad illud ubi ait, Ex verbis tuis justificaberis, et ex verbis tuis condemnaberis (Matth. XII, 23-37). Marcus non ex occasione illius muti subjicit dictum de Jesu quod in Beelzebub ejiceret daemonia; sed post alia quaedam, quae solus commemorat, hoc quoque subnectit, sive alio loco id recolens et adjungens, sive aliquid praetermittens, et deinde ad hunc ordinem rediens (Marc. III, 22-30). Lucas autem pene totidem verbis hoc dicit quod Matthaeus (Luc. XI, 14-26): et quod digitum Dei appellat Spiritum Dei, ab eadem sententia non recedit; quin potius et aliquid docet, ut noverimus quemadmodum intelligamus ubicumque Scripturarum legerimus digitum Dei. In aliis autem, quae non hic dicunt Marcus et Lucas, nulla controversia est; nec in his quae aliquanto aliter dicunt, quia eadem sententia est.