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Verses 23-28

Mark 1:23-28. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit Luke, which had a spirit of an unclean devil. And he cried out Luke, with a loud voice. As soon as the devil saw Jesus, dreading his power, and expecting to be dispossessed, he cried out in great terror: saying, in the name of all the rest, Let us alone, &c. Art thou come to destroy us By driving us out of our abodes on earth to the regions of darkness? I know thee Under all the disadvantages of thy present appearance, I can sufficiently discern who thou art, the Holy One of God Whom he hath sanctified and sent into the world for the destruction of my kingdom, and therefore I dread thee. It seems plain, from what is said afterward, Mark 1:27, that the other persons then present did not know Jesus to be the Son of God; how then should the demoniac know this if he had been only mad, as some vainly suppose, and not really possessed by an evil spirit? This case was so remarkable, that, as the evangelist adds, immediately our Lord’s fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee. However, though madmen might not know Christ, the devils could not be ignorant of him, from the time of his baptism, when the voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, &c, and therefore Satan soon after, in one of his temptations, says, If thou be the Son of God, &c., Matthew 4:6. And Jesus rebuked him Not being willing to receive any testimony from Satan. When the unclean spirit had torn him Or convulsed him, as σπαραξαν seems here to mean. Accordingly, σπαραγμον , as Grotius has observed, is sometimes used to signify a convulsion. It is certainly much more natural, as Doddridge observes, to understand the expression thus, than to suppose the devil to have torn him, according to the common meaning of the word torn, which leaves the reader to imagine that he grievously wounded him, when Luke expressly says, he hurt him not. And cried with a loud voice Or, noise, rather, for he was forbidden to speak. Christ would neither suffer those evil spirits to speak in opposition, nor yet in favour of him. He needed not their testimony, nor would encourage it, lest any should infer that he acted in concert with them. Luke says, When the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him It is remarkable, that in all the cures of this sort which our Lord performed, the person to be cured was seized with the disorder in its violence at the time of the cure, and raised from the stupor of the fit to perfect health in an instant. The reason was, that thus the reality and greatness both of the disorder and the cure were fully proved, to the conviction of every beholder. And they were all amazed At so miraculous a cure; insomuch that they questioned among themselves Inquired of each other, and reasoned together, saying, What new doctrine is this? Luke, τις ο λογος ουτος , what a word is this! How powerful is this man’s word, or command! for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits An indubitable proof that his doctrine was attended with an extraordinary power: and immediately his fame Raised by this signal miracle, spread abroad throughout all the region And made way for his reception in the progress which he afterward took into every place of the neighbouring country.

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