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Mark

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Then Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him. 3 So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 So the Pharisees went out immediately and began plotting with the Herodians, as to how they could assassinate him. 7 Then Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. And from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan River, and around Tyre and Sidon a great multitude came to him when they heard about the things he had done. 9 Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd would not press toward him. 10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he sternly ordered them not to make him known. 13 Now Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed 12 so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 To Simon he gave the name Peter;⁠ 17 to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); 18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons!” 23 So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come.⁠ 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man.⁠ Then he can thoroughly plunder his house.⁠ 28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven,⁠ but is guilty of an eternal sin” 30 (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”). 31 Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came. Standing outside, they sent word to him, to summon him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 He answered them and said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”⁠ 34 And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!⁠ 35 For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Mark 3:27 and Gospel of Thomas 35

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Mark, Jesus uses the capture of a strong man to answer a charge about his power over demons. In the Gospel of Thomas, the strong man must still be bound before his goods are taken, but the dispute that explains the image is absent.

Passages

Mark 3:27

New Testament
26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. 28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter.
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

Gospel of Thomas 35

Nag Hammadi
34 Jesus said, “If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit.” 35 Jesus said, “It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he first binds his hands; then he will be able to plunder his house.” 36 Jesus said, “Do not be anxious from morning to evening and from evening to morning about what you will wear.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... 22-30 In Mark, this passage is a controversy-dialogue occasioned by the exorcisms of Jesus in general, not by a particular case. The observation that the author of Matthew combined Mark’s version of this passage with another that Luke follows exclusively indicates the existence of a parallel passage in Q. [...] The occurrence of such a saying in Q and its wording are uncertain (Robinson et al., Critical Edition of Q, 234–35; cf. lxxxii–lxxxiii for an explanation of the sigla). For a detailed comparison of the three accounts and a reconstruction of the version of Q, see Fleddermann, Mark and Q, 41–73. His argument that Mark is dependent on Q (p. 61), however, is not compelling; the two documents may be dependent on a common source, written or oral. He also discusses the parallel in Gos. Thom. 35, which is more similar to Mark than the versions in Matt 12:29 and Luke 11:21-22; the version in Thomas may be dependent on Mark as Fleddermann argues; on the version in Gos. Thom., see also Robinson et al., Critical Edition of Q, 234. ...”
Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 227–228.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Mark 3:27 and Gospel of Thomas 35

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