What Does Matthew 12:27 Mean?
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges.
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
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.THE KEY
The accusation turns back on itself because the same act of casting out is already accepted when it is done by those you trust.
THE MEANING
When you call an act of release evil, the same charge presses against the people whose similar acts you accept. Their actions become evidence that tests the standard behind your accusation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that an accusation is reliable simply because it is aimed at someone you distrust; the same standard must hold when it is applied to those you accept.
THE ROOT
ἐκβάλλω
ekballō
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
To throw or cast.
“cast out” in this verse is ekballō. The Greek repeats the same verb for Jesus and the accusers’ sons. The question is not only who performs the expulsion, but whether the same act can be judged by two different standards.
ALSO GROWS
ballō: To throw or cast.
βάλλω
The unprefixed verb shows the forceful action at the center of “cast out.”
apoballō: To throw away or cast aside.
ἀποβάλλω
With the prefix meaning “away,” this compound keeps the same casting action while showing how a prefix directs it.
κριταί
kritai
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
The word translated “judges” names those who discern and decide a case. Here, the people whose actions the accusers already recognize become the ones whose example exposes the inconsistency in that judgment.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: To judge or decide.
κρίνω
This is the verb behind the act of judging; the verse turns that act back toward the accusers’ own standard.
krisis: Judgment or decision.
κρίσις
This related noun names the decision at stake when the same act is measured by the same rule.
kritēs: A judge.
κριτής
This related noun names the person who gives judgment, as the verse does of the accusers’ sons.
THE PATTERN
A standard used to judge another also exposes the one who applies it when the same measure returns.
For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you.Whoever digs a pit falls into it; whoever rolls a stone, it turns back upon him.Therefore you have no word to answer with, O human, whoever you are who judges others, for in whatever you judge in another you press the sentence down upon yourself, for you who judge practice the very same things.THE THREAD
But if I cast out demons by the breath of God, then the governance of God has reached you.The same Greek verb, ἐκβάλλω (ekballō), appears again, now with the source named as the Spirit of God. The next verse shows that the dispute turns on what the act of casting out reveals: God’s reign has come near.
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