Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 4
December 15, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: The kingdom of darkness is chiefly characterized by a hopeless bondage to Death that is without human remedy.
Introduction: In our study last time, we considered the "Death-Focus" of Mark's presentation of the demoniac's habitual dwelling place. We noted that this paragraph represents Mark's "final" argument regarding his identification of Jesus as "The Coming Mighty One". Behind this thesis is what I called last week The War of the Ages, and the adversaries of the Mighty One are identified as "unclean spirits" (indicating their incapacity to provide any good experience of "Life" because they are swallowed up in Death) and as "demons" (indicating their aggressive hatefulness in subjecting others to the "pangs of death").
This evening we are going to pursue Mark's characterization of the condition of the demoniac so that we may see the kingdom of darkness for what it is.
As we delve into the details, keep in mind that every word not only declares a basis for "Life", but is normally built off of the reality of progressive revelation where biblical themes are introduced early and then fleshed out over centuries of divine revelation.
- I. Mark's Focus Upon Human Frailty.
- A. His opening statement is extraordinarily "focused" by repetition.
- 1. The translation in the NASB reveals this repetition issue by using the "no" word in "no one was able", but it does not show us the repetition in the actual word forms of "anymore", and "even".
- 2. The word "ou" in Greek is the strongest individual word indicating denial.
- 3. In Mark's sentence, he says "and not even with a chain any longer was anyone able...", but his words are "oude" (not even), "ouketi" (no longer), and "oudeis" (no one) with a three-fold denial ("third time is a charm" mentality). The word order and translation was rearranged by the translators, so the impact is more, or less, left in the shadows.
- B. His opening statement is also focused upon "human frailty" in that the words "was able" is a translation of the most potent Greek word for "power".
- 1. "Power" as "dunamis", in the Greek language is always the "victorious result" of power that rests upon the two major underlying kinds of "power-producers" (iscus and kratos).
- 2. That Mark had this in mind is revealed in 5:4 where he says "no one" (oudeis) "was strong enough" (iscuo) "to subdue him".
- C. His point: the demoniac was without hope from any human resource.
- II. Mark's Focus Upon Human Effort.
- A. The chief word here describing the human effort is translated "to bind" and "had been bound" (deo).
- B. Mark consistently used this word in eight texts to signal some form of attempt to restrain by "binding".
- 1. The point is "restrain": to keep from being able to act in a way not desired by the restrainer(s).
- 2. The particular "way of acting" in this case is living out in the graves and wandering in the mountains and gashing oneself with stones.
- 3. The "method of choice", in this case is "chains and shackles".
- a. "Chains" indicate "powerful restraint" as in Revelation 20:1, and were typical of the way prisoners were restrained (as in Peter's case in Acts 12:6-7).
- b. "Shackles" were combined with the chains to enhance their effectiveness (the word so translated is only found in the New Testament in our current text and Luke 8:29 -- Luke's record of this same incident).
- C. Mark's record of human effort focused upon the fact that "many times" shackles and chains had been used.
- III. Mark's Record of the Futility of the Human Effort.
- A. The demoniac was able to pull so powerfully that the links in the chains would stretch out and break.
- B. He was also able to "shatter" the shackles, by single-handedly squeezing them until they broke in pieces.
- C. And no one had the inner resources to be able to "control" him (James 3:7-8 is the only other place in the New Testament where this word is used and it is emphatic about "total inability to control").
- IV. Mark's Record of the Outcome of the Demoniac's Situation.
- A. Day and Night.
- B. In the graves and on the mountains.
- C. Screaming and gashing himself.
