📖 Biblical Definition
Bind the strong man is Christ's phrase in Matthew 12:29: or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. Christ identifies Himself as the one who has bound Satan; the cross is the binding; the gospel age is the plundering of Satan's house. Every conversion, every healing, every demoniac freed is a spoiled good.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Mt 12:29; Mk 3:27.) Christ's phrase of His defeat of Satan and plundering of his domain.
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The context is Christ's response to the Beelzebul accusation. He argues: a kingdom divided cannot stand; therefore He cannot be working by Satan; therefore He works by the Spirit of God; therefore the kingdom of God has come upon them; therefore the strong man has been bound and his house is being plundered.
The eschatological binding-and-loosing of Satan in Revelation 20:1-3 stretches the picture forward: the present binding (already accomplished) and the final binding (yet to come) frame the gospel age.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 12:29 — "Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house."
Mark 3:27 — "No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house."
Luke 11:21 — "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace."
Revelation 20:2 — "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often imagines spiritual warfare as ongoing standoff; Christ frames it as completed binding followed by ongoing plunder.
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Christ has bound the strong man. The cross was the binding. The gospel age is the plunder. Every soul saved, every demon cast out, every captive freed is one of the strong man's goods being taken from him.
The household's engagement is therefore confident, not anxious. The strong man is bound; the saints are spoiling his house under the authority of the One who binds him. The mood is not standoff but liberation.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek deō (to bind) and diarpazō (to plunder thoroughly).
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Greek deō — to bind, tie.
Greek diarpazō — to plunder thoroughly; the verb of spoiling the strong man's house.
Usage
"Christ has bound the strong man; the gospel age is the plunder."
"Every soul saved is one of the strong man's goods."
"The mood is not standoff but liberation."