Matthew 12:13

12:13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and it was restored, ¹  as healthy as the other.

Matthew 12:27

12:27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons ²  cast them ³  out? For this reason they will be your judges.

Matthew 12:35

12:35 The good person ⁴  brings good things out of his ⁵  good treasury, ⁶  and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury.

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¹ sn The passive was restored points to healing by God. Now the question became: Would God exercise his power through Jesus, if what Jesus was doing were wrong? Note also Jesus’ “labor.” He simply spoke and it was so.

² sn Most read your sons as a reference to Jewish exorcists (cf. “your followers,” L&N 9.4), but more likely this is a reference to the disciples of Jesus themselves, who are also Jewish and have been healing as well (R. J. Shirock, “Whose Exorcists are they? The Referents of οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν at Matthew 12:27/Luke 11:19,” JSNT 46 [1992]: 41-51). If this is a reference to the disciples, then Jesus’ point is that it is not only him, but those associated with him whose power the hearers must assess. The following reference to judging also favors this reading.

³ tn The pronoun “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁴ tn The Greek text reads here ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos). The term is generic referring to any person.

⁵ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here and in the following clause (“his evil treasury”) as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

⁶ sn The treasury here is a metaphorical reference to a person’s heart (cf. BDAG 456 s.v. θησαυρός 1.b and the parallel passage in Luke 6:45).