Matthew 9:2

Jesus saw the faith of the men who were carrying their paralytic friend.

"The reason the reader is provided with inside views of characters is to shape his or her attitude toward them." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 37.]

The evidence of their faith was that they brought him to Jesus for healing. However, Jesus spoke only to the paralytic. The term "son" (Gr. teknon) is an affectionate one that older people often used when speaking to the younger. What Jesus said implied a close connection between this man’s sin and his sickness (cf. Matthew 8:17; Psalms 103:3; Isaiah 33:24), and He implied that sin was the worse condition. Forgiveness of sins is basic to healing. Jesus told him that his sins were forgiven, not had been forgiven at a previous time. He used the present tense that here has punctiliar force. [Note: Ernest de Witt Burton, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in NT Greek, p. 9; Turner, p. 64.] Punctiliar action is action that is regarded as happening at a particular point in time.