1. Because it is evident that while our Lord forgave the sick man’s sins for his own sake, He healed his disease for the sake of those who stood by.
2. Because our Lord claims the power of forgiving sins, not because He is the Son of God, but because He is the Son of Man.
3. It is one of the very rare instances in which a miracle seems to have been performed for the purpose of convincing unbelief. What is this forgiveness? It must be the same thing as human forgiveness. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” It therefore cannot mean the remission of punishment. Forgiveness is reconciliation; the offence is no longer allowed to stand between the parties. When God forgives He receives us back to His favour. It is free, full, and outruns our repentance. But He does not destroy the consequences of sin; the punishment remains. But it entirely changes the character of the punishment. What we regarded as the blow of an angry Ruler, becomes the chastisement of a kind Father. Our Lord claims the power of forgiving sins, not because He is the Son of God, but because He is the Son of Man. Why does our Lord thus describe Himself? We are accustomed to think that the pardon of sin is a power possessed by God alone. When Christ calls Himself the Son of Man, He is displaying before our eyes a pattern of what we ought to be, and of powers we ought to possess. Were we perfect beings, the power of forgiving sins would be ours. The ministry of reconciliation is committed to man. The forgiveness of sins is the reconciliation of the sinner to God; people of great personal holiness have the power of reconciling sinners to God. This may fall short of the power to forgive; but it is because the holiest man falls short of the measure of Christ. We may now see why our Lord accepted the challenge of unbelief. He cured the man to show the bystanders that they ought to have like power. It was man, not God, who had made the way of forgiveness hard. Love raised the life that self-righteous scorn had trampled down. (J. P. Wright, M. A.)
The forgiveness of sins
Christ here addressed the soul of the man first; sometimes His first attention was given to the body. From the indiscriminate order of Christ’s procedure in this matter, we like to see how body and soul are equally dear to God. The power which is given to Christ upon earth to forgive sins.
1. There is a beautiful justice in the fact that He who purchased the pardon, at such an untold price of suffering, should be the one to whom it is permitted to have the joy of giving it.
2. At the moment when our blessed Lord said these words the apostles were all standing by; and He did His own work, in His own solitude, to His own glory.
3. In these words “on earth “I read the blessed promise that so long as this earth shall last, more and more wicked though it may grow, He will never leave this earth while it is an earth, but will be always here to do His forgiving work. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The forgiveness of sins
I. As the great want of man.
II. As the peculiar achievement of christ.
III. As the primary offer of the gospel. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
1. The force of the name “ Son of Man,” implying
(1) Divine origin.
(2) Representative of manhood. Not the Son of the Jew, or carpenter.
(3) Brotherhood.
(4) Manlike sympathy.
2. His grand prerogative-“power on earth to forgive sins.”:Forgiveness is His own right by virtue of His
(1) Sacrifice;
(2) Intercession (Act_5:31).
3. The great blessing-“forgiveness.” “The soul might have been healed and the body untouched; but the paralysis, both moral and physical, was removed.
(1) Forgiveness is obtainable “on earth.”
(2) Many realized it now. (J. Harris.)
The Son of Man
“There have been two men in the world,” says St. Paul: “the fallen Adam, with his infantile and undeveloped perfections; and the Christ, with His full and complete humanity.” All other men are fragments; He is the “Entire and perfect Chrysolite.” “Aristotle is but the rubbish of an Adam,” and Adam is but the dim outline sketch of a Jesus. And between the two there have been none. The one Man as God meant Him, the type of man, the perfect humanity, the realized ideal, the home of all the powers of manhood. (Dr. Maclaren.)
Eastern beds
The Oriental frequently spreads a mat upon the ground and sleeps in the open air. In the morning he rolls up his mat, and carries it away. (A. Cart, M. A.)
Forgiveness personal
The Rev. H. Wilkins, Cheltenham, in “ Good Cause for Good Cheer,” writes: “It is no general statement, but a personal assurance of the forgiveness of sins. Looking with His own keen glance of love into the sick man’s eyes, He says: ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee.’ The general truth of the pardon of sins is not enough for us, we want a personal forgiveness. One day when Martin Luther was almost overwhelmed with despair in his cell at Erfurth, an old monk tried to comfort him by repeating the article of the Apostles’ Creed, ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ Luther often repeated the same words. ‘Ah!’ said the good old monk, ‘it is not enough to believe in the forgiveness of David’s sins or Peter’s sins; this the devils believe. God’s command is to believe that our own sins are forgiven.’ This was the assurance that Jesus gave here. He knew this man’s life-history; He knew, probably, that there was a close connection between his suffering and his sin; but whatever his sins were, they were frankly forgiven.”
