The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 5:21
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? It is very probable that some of those who stood by, had already, at Jerusalem, witnessed by the Bethesda Pool a wonder-work done by the same Jesus on the person of an impotent man lying there waiting for the troubling of the water ( John 5:5 , John 5:9 ), and had taken part there in an angry expostulation with the Wonder-worker, who on that occasion,... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 5:20
And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. For a moment the great Physician gave place to the Heart-reader; and the Lord spoke those strange, grand words to give comfort and peace to the suffering, silent, sick man. Jesus read what was in the heart of the poor paralytic; his sins distressed him more than his malady; very possibly the sad infirmity had been brought about by his old dissolute life. The soul, then, must be healed first. It was for this ,... read more