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See Mat_8:28 ff for the passage comments with footnotes.
Mat_9:1-8.—Luke (Luk_5:17) and Mark (Mar_2:3) relate this history immediately after the cure of the leper. But this place belongs rather to the event connected with the centurion at Capernaum. Besides, the circumstance, that the scribes of Galilee now commenced their active opposition, proves that the chronological arrangement in Matthew is correct.
Mat_9:1. Into His own city.—In the Greek: åἰò ôὴí ἰäßáí ðüëéí . Capernaum had the honor of bearing that name (Mat_4:13).
Mat_9:2. A ðáñáëõôéêüò . See Com. on Mat_4:24.
Jesus seeing their faith.—This faith appeared more particularly in the bold plan which they adopted for bringing the sufferer into the presence of the Lord, as related by Mark and Luke. But while all shared that faith, the poor sufferer himself appears to have given the special directions. Paralytic, but healthy in soul,—a hero in faith on his sick-bed. Matthew indicates the extraordinary character of the circumstances by the expression: êáὶ ἰäïý .
Be of good cheer, èÜñóå é , ôÝêíïí .—These two miracles afford an insight into the various methods by which the Lord restores those who are cowardly, and those who, strong in faith, are afflicted. In the one case, He rebukes; in the other, He comforts.— ÔÝêíïí , an affectionate address; Mar_2:5; Mar_10:24; Luk_16:25. Analogous is èýãáôåñ , Mat_9:22.
Are forgiven thee, ἀöÝùí ôáßóïé .—The perfect tense (Doric). Beza: Emphasis minime negligenda. In this instance the palsy must have been the consequence of the sin of the sufferer, though not in other cases, Joh_9:3. That Christ with His unfailing penetration at once recognized and singled out these instances, showed how vastly different His judgment was from the prejudices of the people (Luk_13:4, and the account of Lazarus). Strauss vainly imagines that there is a contradiction between this and the other accounts about the Lord. Comp. against him the remarks of Meyer (note on p. 189), who, however, should not have denied that in the case before us the forgiveness of sins was both the moral and the psychical condition of restoration. It seems to us strange that de Wette should half concede the statement of Hase (in his Leben Jesu, § 73), who regards this history as an accommodation to popular prejudices.
Mat_9:3. And, behold, certain of the scribes.—Before this, the scribes had not even in their thoughts charged the Lord with blasphemy. We have here a third evidence that Christ read the inmost thoughts of man. He traced the affliction of the palsied man to its secret origin in sin; He read the measures adopted by the palsied man, and by those who bore him, and traced them to faith; and He read the scribes, and descried their secret and blasphemous objections, that He was guilty of blasphemy, since God alone could forgive sins (Luk_5:21). Perhaps these feelings may have appeared in their countenances, as the Jews were wont to express their abhorrence of blasphemy in the strongest manner, even rending their garments and spitting when they deemed the prerogatives of God openly invaded. In the present instance, fear may have restrained such an open expression of what was marked in their faces and gestures. Hence de Wette is wrong in suggesting that the expression ἰóþí in Mat_9:4 is “well explained by the reading åἰäþò “ (after B., M.). Mark here correctly adds: ôῷðíåýìáôé . “To read the thoughts and dispositions of others (comp. Joh_2:24-25), was a characteristic of the expected Messiah (see Wetstein ad loc.). In virtue of being the Son of God, Jesus possessed this power, which may be considered analogous to that of working miracles.”—Meyer. But we must not forget the vast difference between the notion of a magical reading of thoughts, which the rabbins entertained, and the Divine-human introspect of Christ, which in every instance was occasioned by some mark overlooked by others, but patent to the Master.
Mat_9:4. Wherefore think ye evil?—Olshausen: Evil, because they failed to understand His Divine character. De Wette: On account of their hasty, malevolent, and light judgment. Comp. Mat_12:31. Their thoughts were evil in themselves, because they regarded the highest life as a blasphemy, and also because they expressed not openly their scruples. Hence ὑìåῖò , in opposition to those who confided in Him. Probably they chiefly objected to this, that Christ seemed to abolish the arrangements of the temple, by which the priest typically forgave sins on offering the sacrifice appointed by the law. It is absurd to interpret the expression used by the Lord as a mere announcement of forgiveness of sins (Kuinoel).
Mat_9:5. Which is easier?—i. e., In truth, both are equally difficult, and presuppose Divine power and authority. But, as the full effect of His absolution could not be patent to the outward senses, He accords a visible confirmation of it by a miracle.
Mat_9:6. But that ye may know, Arise.—The Evangelist purposely omits to indicate the change of persons addressed, in order to make it more pictorial. “That ye may know that power has the Son of Man (power is put first by way of emphasis) on earth (in opposition to heaven) to forgive sins, Arise,” etc. For other details, see the account in Mark and Luke.
Mat_9:8. They were afraid (in the authorized version, marvelled), ἐöïâÞèçóáí .—Those who witnessed the occurrence experienced a spiritual conflict—the Spirit of Christ contending in their hearts with the unbelief of the scribes. In these circumstances, the miracle of healing proved all the more quickening, that the gracious working of Christ in the face of this opposition implied a greater manifestation of power.
Such power unto men.—Grotius and Kuinoel apply this simply to Jesus, regarding ἀíèñþðïéò as the plural of category. Baumgarten-Crusius explains it: Such power to men for their salvation through Christ. Meyer and de Wette: A new gift of God to humanity. But the expression referred especially to the ἐîïõóßá of forgiving sins. This power, which hitherto had been enthroned in the most holy place as the prerogative of Jehovah, now stood embodied before them, as it were an incarnate Shechinah. Hence their joyous expression: He has given it to the Son of Man, and therefore to men. The explanations of Kuinoel and Meyer are not contradictory.
2. The two miracles are still farther connected by the peculiar view of Christ which they present. More than in any other instance in which He healed the possessed, does the Lord here appear as the Mighty One—as conqueror not only of demons, but also of the dark and hostile powers of pagan or semi-pagan countries; while, in the second miracle, we see Him penetrating to the root of evil, to sin, and removing the moral power of consciousness of guilt. His saving grace extends to the lowest psychological and moral abyss of human misery. Combining these two miracles with that of calming the tempest, we behold Christ as the Lord over nature, over the powers of darkness, and over the depths of the human heart.
3. The cure of the demoniacs at Gadara may be regarded as forming the central-point of biblical demonology. It is also an explanation and defence of the legal prohibition of swine-flesh under the Old Covenant. But Lisco and Gerlach go too far in maintaining that the destruction of the herd was intended as a punishment. Jesus only permits it at the request of the demoniacs, who have not yet completely recovered, and hence are not quite under His power. Nor must we forget that, despite their own impurity, the demoniacs commonly possessed in increased measure a clear sense of what was unseemly (comp. Act_19:15). The demons chose to enter into the swine. The demoniacs also chose to bring an ironical punishment on their district, and thus to vent their last paroxysm in a direction more wholesome than formerly.—Lastly, the Lord Himself regarded this judgment as wholly suitable, without, however, having directly sent it.
4. The absolution of the palsied man, and later instances of the same kind, were in some respects an anticipation of the moment when the veil in the temple was rent in twain. Such seems also to have been the unconscious feeling of those who were present at the time. This history forcibly presents to our view the connection between sin and misery, between forgiveness and recovery, and hence also between justification and the resurrection.
[5. The power of forgiving sins is a strictly Divine privilege, as the Jews rightly supposed, and could be claimed by Christ only on the ground of His Divine nature. Hence we may use this claim as an argument for the Divinity of the Saviour (as Athanasius did against the Arians). Yet He claimed and exercised this power as the incarnate Son of God, or as the Son of Man on earth, having brought it with Him from heaven, as the one who is at once like unto us, and above us all as the crown and perfection of humanity. While on earth, He exercised the power directly and personally; after His exaltation He exercises it in His Church as His organ through the means of grace, and the ministry of reconciliation. Hence He conferred this power, commonly called the power of the keys, i.e., the power of discipline in receiving and excluding members, and thus opening and shutting the gates of the kingdom of heaven, upon His apostles (Mat_16:19; Mat_18:18), who in this case speak and act in the name and by the authority of Christ. The Church does the works of heaven on earth (“facit in terris opera cœlorum”), and binds and looses, but only by a committed, not an inherent power, and only as the organ of Christ. Comp. Trench, Notes on Mir., p. 207, and Wordsworth in Mat_9:6 : “Christ forgives sins not only as God, by His omnipotence, but as Son of Man; because He has united man’s nature to His own, and in that nature has fulfilled the law and perfected obedience, and so merited to receive all power on earth (Mat_28:18) in that nature; which power He now exercises as Mediator, and will continue to exercise, till all enemies .. are put under His feet. As Son of Man, He ever exercises this power of forgiving sin on earth, by means of the Word and Sacraments, and by the Ministry of Reconciliation (2Co_5:18-19), and by whatever appertains to what is called ‘the Power of the Keys.’ … Besides, by saying that sins are forgiven ‘upon earth,’ our Lord reminds us that after death there is no more place for repentance and forgiveness, for then the door is shut.” A false inference. The contrast is not between earth and eternity, but between earth and heaven.—P. S.]
The history of the Gadarenes.—Jesus makes a way for His own both by sea and by land.—The insecurity of highways an indication of the state of a country.—Connection between human raving and the spirits of darkness.—Internal contradiction on the part of those who were possessed: 1. They hasten reverently to meet the Lord, and yet complain that He would torment them; 2. they betake themselves to entreaty, and yet display malice; 3. they are themselves cured, and yet become burdensome to others.—The possessed gave a more suitable reception to the Lord than the people of Gadara.—The proximity of the Holy One rendering uneasy and tormenting not only open and wilful sinners, but also those who are deprived of their moral freedom.—It is easier for Christ to heal the raving of maniacs than to remove calculating and yet stupid selfishness.—The Divine judgment accompanying the cure: a trial of the country and people.—The expulsion of the Lord, under the guise of reverence, and in the form of an entreaty, notwithstanding the ceremony of a procession come out to meet Him.
The cure of the Paralytic, Mat_9:1-8.—The Lord reading the secrets of the heart: 1. He descries in the urgent endeavors of felt need, the faith which prompts them, and brings it to maturity; 2. He descries in the misery the guilt which was its cause, and removes not only the misery, but also its root; 3. He descries the secret unbelief of the heart, and obviates its pernicious influences.—The miracle on the conscience and the miracle on the sick life are always combined: 1. The former is the root; the latter, the manifestation. 2. The one or the other may, indeed, be more apparent; but 3. the miracle on the life cannot prove lasting without that on the conscience, while that on the conscience is manifested by that on the life.—This miracle on the palsied man revealing the fullest measure of grace of all the cures accomplished by Christ.—Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.—The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.—Christ will manifest in the bodies of His people what He has done for their souls.—The gospel of free grace confirmed by visible signs before the eyes of His opponents: 1. By the recovery of nations; 2. by the flourishing condition of countries; 3. by the tokens of a coming resurrection all over the earth.—The scribes and priests of the law forgiving sins, and Jesus forgiving sins: 1. The former connected with outward ordinances, sacrifices, and the services of the temple, typical in its nature and arrangements; 2. the latter proceeding from free grace, received by faith, and manifested in a new life.—The outward evidence of secret grace.—The gospel of the forgiveness of sins by Christ, the most glorious gift of God to man.—What God gave to Christ, He gave through Him to men.
Starke:—The devils also believe and tremble, Jam_2:19.—Zeisius:—If the devil cannot have his will, it is a torment to him; so also with his children, the wicked.—Osiander:—They who only seek to do harm are certainly Satan’s children, Joh_8:44.—Hedinger:—Now-a-days, also, the devil enters into the swine.—God sometimes deprives us of cur outward possessions: 1. In compassion; 2. in righteousness. Quesnel.—Hedinger:—What ingratitude to retain the swine and to banish Christ!—It is one of Satan’s devices to represent the gospel as causing loss.—They who banish Christ in His members are worse than the Gadarenes.— Mat_9:1-8. Hedinger:—It is our duty to succor our neighbor in his distress.—When laid on a bed of sickness, we ought to be more anxious for the health of the soul than for that of the body.—True faith receives from the hand of God what it sought.—He who from the heart repents and believes on Christ has forgiveness, Act_10:43.—Jesus reading the thoughts and intents of the heart, Joh_2:25.—It is impossible to be happy or comfortable if we are not assured that we are God’s children.—Each miracle of power or of grace the earnest of another.—Forgiveness of sins comprehends every blessing.—Quesnel:—What is felt a stumbling-block by the worldly-wise, is an occasion to the simple to praise God.—Admiration and praise must go together.
Gerlach:—Those who hate Me love death, Pro_8:36.—Miracles are but the anticipation and earnest of a higher order of things. Hence, as under the Old, so under the New dispensation, Jesus occasionally manifested Himself in His miracles as the future Judge of the world.—But this was not the main object of His miracles, which, in general, were the manifestation of His love, and performed by Him as Redeemer.—Miracles of judgment: this instance (?); the money-changers, and those who bought and sold in the temple (?); the unfruitful fig-tree; terror struck into the company of those who came out to take Him. (Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas.)—In this instance also, blessing and judgment were conjoined: 1. Safety restored to the district; 2. the neighborhood delivered from evil spirits; 3. the possessed cured; 4. the attraction of a prohibited enjoyment removed.— Mat_9:1-8. A special emphasis rests on the name, “Son of Man,” as signifying the Messiah or the Saviour, as man among men.—Jesus has be stowed upon His servants authority to announce to sinners forgiveness of sin in the name of God.
Heubner (on Mat_9:1-8):—Even the faith of others may aid us in obtaining forgiveness of sins.—Christianity has, directly and indirectly, a beneficial influence on bodily ailments.—Consciousness of sin is the sting in all our bodily sufferings.—Forgiveness is the first thing which man requires in his misery.—Christ always addresses to afflicted souls the words, “Be of good cheer,”—The common proverb, that thoughts are free, is essentially untrue.—Common tendency to suspicion.—The deliverance of others should be matter of joy to us.—The healing of the paralytic: 1. How Jesus begins it; 2. how He defends it; 3. how He completes it.—The power of Christ to forgive sins: 1. Wherein it consists; 2. its condition.
Reinhard, 1802.—The forgiveness of sins has the most beneficial influence also upon the consequences of our transgressions.—Harms:—The connection between sin and suffering: 1. Generally patent; 2. sometimes hidden; 3. always certain.—Westermeyer:—The power of Jesus to forgive sins on earth: 1. The contradiction against it; 2. the testimonies for it; 3. its glory; 4. its conditions. Sachse:—Christ the true Physician of the soul. Ranke:—The power of Christ to forgive sins.—C. Beck:—Christ knows how to save truly: 1. He looks to the ground; 2. He heals from the ground.—Höpfner:—Christ at the sick-bed.—Fuchs:—The blessing of sickness.—H. Müller:—I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
Footnotes:
[Dr. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of our Lord, 6th ed., Lond., 1838, p. 203 sq., correctly observes: “In our Lord’s argument it must be carefully noted that He does not ask, ‘Which is easiest, to forgive sins, or to raise a sick man?’ for it could not be affirmed that that of forgiving was easier than this of healing; but, ‘Which is easiest, to claim this power or to claim that; to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk?’ And He then proceeds: ‘That is easiest, and I will now prove my right to say it, by saying with effect and with an outward consequence setting its seal to my truth, the harder word, ‘Rise up and walk.’ By doing that which is submitted to the eyes of men, I will attest my right and power to do that which, in its very nature, lies out of the region of proof. By these visible tides of God’s grace I will give you to know in what direction the great under-currents of His love are setting, and that those and these are alike obedient to my word. From this which I will now do openly and before you all, you may conclude that it is no ‘robbery’ (Php_2:6) upon my part to claim also the power of forgiving men their sins.’ Thus, to use a familiar illustration of our Lord’s argument, it would be easier for a man, equally ignorant of French and Chinese, to claim to know the last than the first; not that the language itself is easier, but that, in the one case, multitudes could disprove his claim; and in the other, hardly a scholar or two in the land.”—P. S.]
[This change is indicated by the parenthetic words of the Evangelist: ôüôå ëÝãåé ôῷ ðáñáëõôéêῷ . The regular construction would require either åἰäῶóéí for åἰäῆôå , or ëÝãù for ôüôå ëÝãåé .—P. S.]
[Alford: “ Ôïῖò ἀíèñþðïéò , to mankind. They regarded this wonder-working as something by God granted to men—to mankind; and without supposing that they had before them the full meaning of their words, those words were true in the very highest sense. See Joh_17:8.”—Trench, On Miracles, p. Matt 209: “They felt rightly that what was given to one man, to the Man Christ Jesus, was given for the sake of all, and ultimately to all, that it was indeed given ‘unto men;’ they felt, that He possessed these powers as the true Head and Representative of the race, and therefore that these gifts to Him were a rightful subject of gladness and thanksgiving for every member of that race.”—P. S.]