Mat 9:2-8 | PNT | STEP | They brought to him a man sick of the palsy . Compare . A helpless paralytic, unable even to walk, but anxious to be brought to the great Healer. Seeing their faith . That of the four bearers of the helpless man, and the man himself. The sick man and his friend showed their faith by overcoming great obstacles in order to come to Christ for help. Mark informs us that there was such a crowd that the palsied man had to be let down through the roof ( ). Said to the sick of the palsy . "Palsy" is a contraction of the word "paralysis". A disease which deprives the part affected of sensation or the power of motion, or both. Thy sins be forgiven thee . The Greek is in the past tense. Possibly he had brought his sickness upon himself by means of his sins; but was now penitent.

Matthew 9:2-8

They brought to him a man sick of the palsy. Compare Mr 2:1-12 Lu 5:17-26. A helpless paralytic, unable even to walk, but anxious to be brought to the great Healer.

Seeing their faith. That of the four bearers of the helpless man, and the man himself. The sick man and his friend showed their faith by overcoming great obstacles in order to come to Christ for help. Mark informs us that there was such a crowd that the palsied man had to be let down through the roof (Mr 2:4).

Said to the sick of the palsy. "Palsy" is a contraction of the word "paralysis". A disease which deprives the part affected of sensation or the power of motion, or both.

Thy sins be forgiven thee. The Greek is in the past tense. Possibly he had brought his sickness upon himself by means of his sins; but was now penitent. Certain of the scribes. The learned class, the official expounders of the Scriptures, the theologians, the jurists, the legislators, the politicians, and, indeed, the soul of Israel.

Said within themselves. They had scented heresy from afar, and came from Jerusalem to pry into the teachings of the Prophet of Galilee, as the people called him (Mt 21:11). See Lu 5:17.

This [man] blasphemeth. By professing to forgive sins, the prerogative not of man, but of God. If Christ were but a man, as they imagined, the scribes would have been right. And yet, so far, he had not said that "he" forgave the sins, but merely declared them forgiven. This was the beginning of the opposition that ended with the cross. On the same accusation of blasphemy, now first made, the Sanhedrin condemned him to death (Mt 26:65). Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? They had said nothing aloud, but he read their hearts. Whether is easier to say, [Thy] sins be forgiven thee. To say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee", was easy, for no visible result could test the saying. To say, "Take up thy bed and walk", was not apparently so easy, for failure would cover with confusion. He said the last, leaving the inference--If I can do the most difficult, then I can do the easier. But that ye may know. By doing that which is capable of being put to the proof, I will vindicate my right and power to do that which in its very nature is incapable of being put to the proof of the senses.

The Son of man cannot simply mean "a man", or a mere man, since the powers in question do not to men as such. The true sense is determined by Da 7:13, where the phrase is confessedly applied to the Messiah, as a partaker of our nature.

Hath power on earth to forgive sins. "Authority" is a better rendering than "power", and it is so given by the American Revision Committee. He had "authority" from the Father who had sent him, and who had committed judgment to his hands on earth. Sins are against God, and therefore only God can forgive them; for in the nature of things only he can forgive against whom the offense has been committed, but Jesus was "God manifest in the flesh" (1Ti 3:16). I can forgive sins committed against myself, but not those committed against my neighbor, much less those against God. Christ's argument here affords a fair test of all priestly claims to absolve from sin. If the priest has power to remit the eternal punishment of sin, he should be able, certainly, to remit the physical and temporal punishment of sin. This Christ did; this the priest does not, and cannot do. And he arose, and departed to his own house. It may be regarded as an enacted parable of sin and redemption. The paralytic typifies the sinner, by his original helplessness (Isa 40:30 Joh 6:44 15:5); faith was demonstrated by his earnestness to come to Christ in spite of obstacles (Ps 25:15 86:2,7); and the power of divine grace, in the ability to obey Christ's command, received in the very attempt to comply with it (Php 4:13). The multitudes . . . marvelled. Why should they not? "His name shall be called Wonderful" (Isa 9:6).