Matthew 12:29

How can one enter? In the parable Christ now sets forth He reinforces the truth stated in v. 28 that the “kingdom of God” is come and that the kingdom of Satan is being invaded. Christ is the “one” who enters Satan’s “house” or “kingdom” (see on v. 25). A man does not enter his own house and “spoil” his own “goods”; Satan does not “cast out” Satan (see v. 26). Therefore someone entering the “house” of Beelzebul (see on v. 24), to “spoil his goods,” must of necessity be his enemy.

A strong man’s. Literally, “the strong man’s,” in other words, Satan’s.

Spoil his goods. Satan claimed this world as his, that it had been “delivered” to him (see Luke 4:6). In that sense, this world was his “house,” and the human beings in it constituted his “goods.” Christ came to release Satan’s captives, first from the prison house of sin (see on Luke 4:18) and then from the prison house of death (see Rev. 1:18). By casting out demons Christ was robbing Satan of his victims, that is, spoiling his “goods.”

Bind the strong man. He who would bind a “strong man” must of necessity be stronger than the “strong man” (see Luke 11:22). God alone is stronger than Satan; therefore, in the face of evidence that Jesus is releasing the captives of Satan, it must be that the power of God is operating through Jesus. The mighty deeds of Christ testify, not to an alliance with Satan, but to warfare against him (see DA 406).