Luke 7:47 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For she loved much:— Wherefore she loved much. That nobody might put a wrong construction upon this woman's behaviour, our Lord declared, that her regard to him proceeded purely from a sense of the favour he had done her, in bringing her to repentance, and in raising her to the hope of pardon. For doubtless he had previously made her sensible of her sins by his sermon, and had raised her to the grace of true repentance; and therefore she expected her pardon from the general doctrine of the gospel; and particularly from the promise of rest which Jesus had lately made to all weary and heavy-laden sinners: but the favour of pardon bearing a proportion to the multitude and greatness of the sins pardoned, this woman, who was a notorious sinner, could not but love Jesus ardently, who had converted her, and blotted out all her transgressions. "I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, namely, by me;" for the reason will not hold without this. So that Jesus, on this occasion, in the hearing of Simon and all the guests, plainly assumed to himself the prerogative of God,—the right of forgiving men their sins. Accordingly the guests understood him in this sense, as appears from the reflection which they made upon his speech, Luke 7:49. The clause, for she loved much, is better translated as above, Wherefore, &c. Our Lord did not make the application of this parable more directly; but left Simon to do it.