Matthew 11:12

11:12 From ¹  the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it. ² 

Matthew 12:29

12:29 How ³  else can someone enter a strong man’s ⁴  house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house. ⁵ 

Matthew 13:19

13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ⁶  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ⁷  this is the seed sown along the path.

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Or “the kingdom of heaven is forcibly entered and violent people take hold of it.” For a somewhat different interpretation of this passage, see the note on the phrase “urged to enter in” in Luke 16:16.

³ tn Grk “Or how can.”

⁴ sn The strong man here pictures Satan.

⁵ sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

⁵ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

⁶ sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.