Mark 2:5-10

2:5 When Jesus saw their ¹  faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ²  2:6 Now some of the experts in the law ³  were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds: ⁴  2:7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! ⁵  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 2:8 Now ⁶  immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, ⁷  he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? ⁸  2:9 Which is easier, ⁹  to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’? 2:10 But so that you may know ¹⁰  that the Son of Man ¹¹  has authority on earth to forgive sins,” – he said to the paralytic ¹²  –

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¹ sn The plural pronoun their makes it clear that Jesus was responding to the faith of the entire group, not just the paralyzed man.

² sn The passive voice here is a divine passive (ExSyn 437). It is clear that God does the forgiving.

³ tn Or “some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

⁴ tn Grk “Reasoning within their hearts.”

⁵ sn Blaspheming meant to say something that dishonored God. To claim divine prerogatives or claim to speak for God when one really does not would be such an act of offense. The remark raised directly the issue of the nature of Jesus’ ministry.

⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the shift from the thoughts of the experts in the law to Jesus’ response.

⁷ tn Grk “they were thus reasoning within themselves.”

⁸ tn Grk “Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?”

⁹ sn Which is easier is a reflective kind of question. On the one hand to declare sins are forgiven is easier, since one does not need to see it, unlike telling a paralyzed person to walk. On the other hand, it is harder, because for it to be true one must possess the authority to forgive the sin.

¹⁰ sn Now Jesus put the two actions together. The walking of the man would be proof (so that you may know) that his sins were forgiven and that God had worked through Jesus (i.e., the Son of Man).

¹¹ sn The term Son of Man, which is a title in Greek, comes from a pictorial description in Dan 7:13 of one “like a son of man” (i.e., a human being). It is Jesus’ favorite way to refer to himself. Jesus did not reveal the background of the term here, which mixes human and divine imagery as the man in Daniel rides a cloud, something only God does. He just used it. It also could be an idiom in Aramaic meaning either “some person” or “me.” So there is a little ambiguity in its use here, since its origin is not clear at this point. However, the action makes it clear that Jesus used it to refer to himself here.

¹² sn Jesus did not finish his sentence with words but with action, that is, healing the paralytic with an accompanying pronouncement to him directly.