12:28
(Verse 28.) But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. In Luke, we read this passage as follows: But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you (Luke 11:20). This is the finger that the Magi confessed, who were making signs against Moses and Aaron, saying: This is the finger of God (Exodus 8:19). By this finger, the stone tablets were written on Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 9). Therefore, if the hand and arm of God is the Son, and his finger is the Holy Spirit, then the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are of one substance: let the inequality of the members not scandalize you, for the unity of the body builds it.
Therefore, the kingdom of God has come upon you. It signifies either himself, about whom it is written in another place: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). And: One stands among you, whom you do not know (John 26). Or certainly that kingdom which both John and the Lord himself preached: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2). There is also a third kingdom of Holy Scripture, which is taken away from the Jews and will be given to a nation producing its fruits (Matthew 21).
12:29
(Verse 29.) Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. We should not be secure: Our adversary is strong, which is confirmed by the voice of the victor. His house is the world, which is situated in evil (1 John 5), not by the dignity of the Creator, but by the greatness of the transgressor. We were once his vessels. The strong man has been bound, and bound in Tartarus, and crushed by the foot of the Lord. And with the seats of the tyrant plundered, captivity has been taken captive.
12:30-31
(Verses 30, 31.) Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I say to you: every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven to men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Let no one think that this is said about heretics and schismatics (although it can be understood in that way from what is said in excess), but it refers to the consequences and context of the discourse to the devil: because the works of the Savior cannot be compared to the works of Beelzebub. He desires to hold captive the souls of men; the Lord desires to set them free. He preaches idols; this one preaches the knowledge of the one God. He draws towards vices; this one calls back to virtues. How, then, can they have concord, whose actions are divided (or different)?
12:32
(Verse 32.) And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come. And how is it that some of our bishops and priests, after blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, are reinstated in their positions, when the Savior says that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven to men, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in the present time or in the future? Unless perhaps we take that example from the evangelist Mark, who expressed the causes of such anger more clearly, saying: 'Because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit.' Therefore, whoever attributes the works of the Savior to Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and says that the Son of God has an unclean spirit, to this person blasphemy will never be forgiven. Or perhaps this passage should be understood as follows: Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, being scandalized by my flesh and considering me only human, that I am the son of a carpenter and have brothers named James, Joseph, and Judas; and that I am a glutton and a drunkard, such an opinion and blasphemy, although it is not without fault of error, nevertheless will receive forgiveness on account of the lowliness of the body. But those who clearly understand the works of God, since they cannot deny the power, driven by the same envy, they slander; and they say that Christ, the Word of God, and the works of the Holy Spirit are Beelzebub: these will not be forgiven, neither in this age, nor in the age to come.
12:33
(Verse 33.) Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. For the tree is known by its fruit. It constrains them with an unassailable argument, which the Greeks call ἄφυκτον and we can call inevitable: it concludes from questions asked here and there, and presses with both horns. If, he says, the devil is evil, he cannot do good works. But if the works you see are good, it follows that the one who does them is not the devil. For it is not possible for good to arise from evil, or for evil to arise from good. But as follows:
12:34
(Verse 34.) Brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It reveals that they are a bad tree, producing fruit of blasphemy, which have the seeds of the devil.
12:35
(Verse 35) A good man brings forth good treasures. And an evil man brings forth evil treasures. Either it shows the Jews themselves blaspheming the Lord, from what wicked treasure they bring forth blasphemies, or with the previous question, the opinion clings that just as a good man cannot bring forth evil things, nor can an evil man bring forth good things, so Christ cannot do evil things, and the devil cannot do good works.
12:36-37
(Verse 36, 37.) But I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. This also aligns with what was said before. And the meaning is this: If an idle word, which does not edify the listeners, is not without danger for the one who speaks it, and each person will have to give an account for their own words on the day of judgment, how much more will you, who revile the works of the Holy Spirit and say that I cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, have to give an account for your slander! Idle speech is that which is spoken by the speaker and heard by the listener without any usefulness: if we omit serious matters and talk about frivolous things, and tell old stories. However, whoever responds with jests and breaks out in laughter and utters something shameful, they will be held guilty not of idle speech, but of a crime.
12:38
(Verse 38) Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." They demand a sign as if the signs they had seen were not enough. But in another Gospel it is explained more fully what they are asking for: "We want to see a sign from heaven" (Mark 8:11). They either wanted fire to come down from above like Elijah, or they wanted thunder to roar, lightning to flash, and rain to pour down in the summertime against the natural order of the place, so that they could not accuse Jesus of working these wonders in secret or attribute them to various natural phenomena. For those who calumny the things which they see with their eyes, hold with their hand, and experience through usefulness: what will you do with those things which have come from heaven? Surely you will respond that the magicians in Egypt performed many signs from heaven (Exod. VII).
12:39
(Verse 39.) And he answered and said to them: An evil and adulterous generation. Admirably said adulterous: because she had dismissed her husband, and according to Ezekiel, had joined herself to many lovers (Ezek. 16).
12:40
(Verse 40.) He seeks a sign, and a sign will not be given to him, except the sign of Jonah the prophet (John 2). For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. We have discussed this passage more fully in the Commentaries of the prophet Jonah; therefore, we leave it to the diligence of the reader to refer to that passage. Having briefly mentioned this, we are content that the whole should be understood in part through synecdoche: not that the Lord stood in hell for all three days and three nights, but that in part of the day of Preparation, the day of the Lord, and the whole day of the Sabbath, three days and three nights are understood.
12:41
(Verse 41) The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. Not by the power of judgment, but by the example of comparison.