What Does Luke 11:18 Mean?
If the Adversary also is split against himself, how will his governance stand? For you say that I cast out demons through Beelzebub.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.THE KEY
The Greek word for “divided” grows from the word for a “part,” so the accusation pictures Satan parceling his own kingdom into pieces.
THE MEANING
The verse tests the charge by its own logic: if Beelzebub’s power drives the expulsion of the very forces it rules, that rule is turning against itself. A realm divided within itself cannot remain standing, so the charge makes the source of deliverance the force dismantling its own domain. The contradiction is present in any claim that gives one power control while making it destroy its own rule.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The claim that release from a destructive power proves that power is in control dissolves here: if the same power is expelling its own forces, it is acting against its own rule.
THE ROOT
διεμερίσθη
diemeristhē
GROWS FROM
μέρ-
The Greek stem mér- carries the sense “part” or “share”; with the verb-forming suffix it yields the idea of dividing or distributing into parts.
“split” in this verse is diemeristhē. The verb διεμερίσθη (diemeristhē) belongs to the family of διαμερίζω (diamerizō), “divide” or “distribute,” built on the stem for a part or share. “Divided against himself” pictures the adversary’s rule broken into portions and turned against itself.
ALSO GROWS
meros: part, share, portion
μέρος
It names a unit within a whole, showing that the verse’s division breaks the kingdom into parts.
meris: share, portion, lot
μερίς
This same word family can name a portion that is chosen or allotted, keeping the sense of “part” visible beneath “divided.”
merizō: divide, distribute, assign a share
μερίζω
It makes explicit the action implied here: a whole is separated or distributed into parts.
שָׂטָן
śāṭān
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
The Hebrew consonants ś-ṭ-n carry the sense of opposition or accusation; the noun names an adversary, an opponent.
The Greek has ὁ σατανᾶς (ho satanas), “the adversary,” echoing the Hebrew title ha-satan. The role is opposition, and this verse turns that opposition inward, against the adversary’s own rule.
ALSO GROWS
śāṭān: adversary, opponent, accuser
שָׂטָן
The name itself marks a force defined by opposition, which the verse depicts as opposing its own side.
śiṭnāh: hostility, accusation
שִׂטְנָה
It carries the same consonants into the language of accusation, linking the adversary with the charge being tested here.
σταθήσεται
stathēsetai
GROWS FROM
στα-
The Greek stem sta- carries the sense of standing or being set in place; here the question is whether the kingdom can remain established.
The verse sets division against standing: a rule that breaks itself into opposing parts cannot remain established. The Greek word keeps the image of a realm holding its position beneath the English “stand.”
ALSO GROWS
stasis: standing, position; faction or uprising
στάσις
The word can name both a position and a faction, echoing how a stance turned against the whole becomes internal conflict.
statheros: firm, steady, stable
σταθερός
It names the steadiness a divided kingdom lacks.
THE PATTERN
A household or kingdom loses stability when its own parts turn against one another, while wholeness comes through their being joined.
The one who troubles his own house inherits breath, and the fool is a servant to the wise of heart.And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall no more be two nations, nor be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, Every governance divided against itself is laid empty, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.THE THREAD
But one thing is needed. Mary has picked out the good portion, which will not be lifted from her.Luke 11:18 uses διεμερίσθη (diemeristhē), from the family of μέρος (meros, “part” or “share”); Luke 10:42 uses μερίδα (merida, “portion”). The same word family can name a realm broken into parts or a chosen portion that remains.
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