Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
All Commentaries on Matthew 12:29 Go To Matthew 12
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Having concluded the second answer, He brings forward yet a third, saying, “Or how can any enter into a strong man’s house? For that Satan cannot cast out Satan is clear from what has been said; and that no other can cast him out, till he have first overcome him, is plain to all. Thus the same as before is established yet more abundantly; for He says, So far am I from having the Devil for my ally, that I rather am at war with him, and bind him; and in that I cast out after this sort, I therein spoil his goods. Thus He proves the very contrary of that they strove to establish. They would show that He did not cast out demons of His own power; He proves that not only daemons, yea but the prince, also of the daemons He hath bound, as is shown by that which He hath wrought. For if their Prince were not overcome, how were the daemons who are His subjects thusspoiled.This speech seems also to me to be aprophecy; inasmuch as He not only casts out daemons, but will take away all error out of the world, and dissolve the craft of the Devil; and He says not rob, but spoil, shewing that He will do it with power.
He calls him “strong,” shewing therein his old reign, which arose out of our sloth.
