Bible Synapse
Is whoever is not with Jesus against him, or is whoever is not against him on his side?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Answering the charge that he casts out demons by Satan: “He that is not with me is against me”.
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Luke gives the same saying in the same setting.
He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
Of a man casting out demons in Jesus’ name: “he that is not against us is on our part”.
And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.
“Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.”
And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
The objection
In Matthew 12:30 Jesus says that whoever is not with him is against him. In Mark 9:40 and Luke 9:50 he says that whoever is not against ‘us’ is for ‘us’. The first puts the undecided among his enemies, the second among his friends.
The answer
The sayings belong to two different situations and answer two different questions. Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23 come in Jesus’ reply to the charge that he cast out demons by Satan’s power. He is the stronger man who binds Satan, and in that conflict there is no neutral ground: everyone must take a side regarding Jesus himself, and whoever does not gather with him scatters. That is a test to apply to oneself.
Mark 9:38–40 and Luke 9:49–50 concern a man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name but did not travel with the twelve. John wanted to stop him, and Jesus said, “Forbid him not”, because no one who does a mighty work in his name “can lightly speak evil of me”. The saying changes from ‘me’ to ‘us’: the question is how the disciples should treat someone outside their own circle who is plainly on Jesus’ side. That is a test for judging others, and a warning against party spirit. Both sayings draw the same line, a person’s stance towards Jesus himself; the man in Mark 9 was with Jesus, though not with the twelve.
From the classic commentators
since there is such an open war proclaimed and carried on between Christ and the devil, none ought to be neutral; whoever is not on the side of Christ, is reckoned as an enemyJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Matthew 12:30 (1746–1763)
Christ does not say this man should not have followed ‘with them,’ but simply teaches how he was to be regarded though he did not—as a reverer of His name and a promoter of His cause.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on Luke 9:49–50 (1871)
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 12 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Luke 9 (1871), at Bible Hub