And he entered into a ship— And returning into a vessel, he crossed the lake, and came to his own city [of Capernaum, where he had dwelt after his leaving Nazareth] Matthew 9:2 where they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed; and Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, Have confidence, my son! your sins are forgiven. Heylin. See this miracle more circumstantially described in Mark 2 and Luke 5. In St. Luke's miracle, there is a very material circumstance premised, namely, that some Pharisees and doctors of the law, who came out of every town of Galilee and Judaea, and from Jerusalem, were sitting by him, while he was teaching,—and the power of the Lord was present to heal them, that is to say, those his auditors, of their spiritual maladies; and then it immediately follows, and behold, men brought on a bed, or couch, one sick of a palsy; and because there was then no other access to Christ, by reason of the crowd which encompassed him, they let down the paralytic through the tiles upon his couch, into the midst before Jesus (see the note on Mark 2:4.), who, full as he was of the divine sanative power, and accordingly considering the object so presented to him, not only with regard to his bodily disease, but more especially with regard to his spiritual infirmity, by the prevalent power of sin, which incapacitated his mind for holy dispositions, as the palsy did his body for the natural functions; Christ, I say, considering this, applied, in the first place, to what was most important, and released him from the guilt and power of sin, saying, "Have confidence, my son! your sins are forgiven;" or, as it may be rendered, your sins are dismissed. Physicians, both ancient and modern, tell us, that palsies are sometimes occasioned by intemperance; therefore, if this paralytic brought his disease upon himself, the propriety of the terms in which the cure was pronounced will still more fully appear,—your sins are forgiven: only it must be observed, that when Jesus forgives, he at once forgives every sin, the least as well as the greatest. The reader need not be told, that son is a title of condescension and tenderness, as father was a correspondent title of respect.
The Scribes who were present, being disappointed in their curiosity (for they expected to see an outward bodily cure), and startled to hear our Lord express himself in such unusual terms, took offence, and in their hearts condemned him of blasphemy, for assuming to himself an authority to forgive sin; Matthew 9:3. Christ, to whom the secrets of all hearts are open, knew their thoughts: as he is the Almighty Word, which maketh all things by speaking them, so with him to say and to do is the same thing; which he plainly signifies here by his manner of expressing himself, Which is easiest, to say, &c. Matthew 9:5 that is, "Which is easiest to be performed, to forgive him his sins, or to deliver him from his disease?" Our Lord, as we before observed, seeing through the diseased object presented to him, and considering as well the spiritual as the bodily disorders which oppressed him, first applied a remedy where the want was greatest, and pardoned his sins, and at the same time delivered him from the power of them; but this was an invisible operation, and, although of a much higher nature than any bodily cure, yet was it no object of sense, and consequently not discernible by the spectators, some of whom were so far from believing Christ's power to forgive sins, that they were scandalized at him for assuming it. He therefore, to instruct them and us in a matter of so great importance, reasoned in the following manner: "Which is easiest, think ye,—to deliver a mind from the guilt and power of sin (for the original word is applicable to both), or a body from disease? To cure the body is certainly the easiest work; for it requires another kind of power to reach the guilt of the mind, to operate upon it, to rectify its vicious inclinations, to form it anew, and repair the disorders induced by sin. This I have effected in the paralytic here present. I have forgiven,—or, as the original may be rendered, dismissed his sins. I have healed his distempered soul: but as this divine operation is internal, and consequently not discernible to you that are spectators, I will add a second miracle, which though in all respects of an inferior nature, yet has the advantage of being visible, and therefore is a proper proof of what I assert. Judge of my power to heal souls by the cures I work upon bodies: and, that all may know the authority I have to forgive and dismiss sins, and cure the depravations of the mind, I say unto thee, O paralytic, arise, take up thy couch, and return to thine own home." The sick persondid so, and the multitude were all amazed, and glorified God. We may extend the same way of reasoning to all the miraculous cures recorded in theGospel, and infer from all and every one of them the divine power of our Saviour to renew and reform the souls of men. See Heylin, and the Inferences drawn from this chapter.