But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?
When Jesus asked what they were reasoning in their hearts, He was laying bare their unspoken thoughts and hidden hostile motives that no outward concealment could hide. They were inwardly charging Him with blasphemy for declaring the paralytic's sins forgiven, since only God can forgive sins, and they feared losing their influence if the people turned to Him. He confronted that reasoning by first cleansing the man's soul with forgiveness and peace, because health of soul had to come before health of body, and then commanding him to rise to prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. At His word the man immediately rose before them all, restored from wasting sickness to vigor and health, and carried home the couch on which he had been borne. The witnesses were amazed and glorified God with fear and awe, while the scribes and Pharisees hardened themselves in unbelief, and Jesus still perceives the reasonings of human hearts today, where the burden of sin underlies much physical suffering that finds relief only in the Healer of the soul.
Setting and Discernment
The setting is teaching beside the lake where crowds gathered for healing, and as He laid hands on the sick the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rose up in health. In that same setting a leper who believed He could make him clean pressed through the crowd, fell at His feet, and pleaded to be cleansed. He declared willingness and cleansing, laid His hand on him, and immediately the flesh became healthy, the nerves sensitive, the muscles firm, and the rough scaly surface gave way to a soft glow like the skin of a healthy child. He then strictly charged him to tell no man but to go at once to the priest and offer for cleansing what Moses commanded, so the priests would examine him and pronounce him wholly free before rumors reached them and secure an impartial decision permitting him to unite again with family and friends. The verse also belongs to teaching in a house where Pharisees, doctors, and scribes watched with hostile intent, hoping to catch a contradiction or forbidden teaching so they could accuse and confound Him, while friends had brought the paralytic for both healing and forgiveness from a merciful healer with authority to relieve physical suffering and the burden of sin.
He perceived unspoken thoughts, inward murmurings, hidden motives and heart-reasoning, and answered that inner reasoning aloud. Outward concealment could not hide anger and hostile purposes from Him, and in confronting what was kept in the heart He exposed its evil. He knew the questioning of His authority to forgive sins without its being spoken, and challenged the reasoning held within. He perceived those who murmured inwardly about that authority so they would know the Son of man has power to forgive sins, confirming His words by the healing that followed in wondrous love for the guilty and afflicted, compassion for suffering humanity, and power confirming salvation.
What He read was their inward charge that declaring the paralytic's sins forgiven was blasphemy and an assumption of infinite power, since no one but God alone can forgive sins. They laid hold of His words of divine pardon to present Him before the people as guilty of a crime worthy of death. They exchanged no words together but looked into one another's faces with the same thought, fearing loss of their influence over the multitude if popular sentiment turned to Jesus. When He fixed His reproving glance upon them they cowered and drew back, and He answered their inward reasoning aloud and confronted their hidden accusation. He challenged them to consider whether it was easier to declare forgiveness or to command the man to rise and walk, and in exposing the evil in their hearts showed His authority to forgive sins.
The paralytic's palsy was the result of a sinful life, and dissipation had contributed to his bodily affliction. His suffering was embittered by remorse, guilt, a violated conscience giving no relief, and despair, making mental suffering harder to bear than bodily pain. He had lost all hope of recovery and feared his sinful past would keep him from Jesus. He had appealed in vain to Pharisees and doctors who pronounced him incurable, denounced him as a sinner who would die under the wrath of God, refused him any encouragement, and entrenched themselves in the sanctity of their office, annoyed at being troubled with so disagreeable a matter. They looked with horror upon his shriveled form and said they could not raise one from the dead because dissolution had already commenced, turning away from what they could not raise from dissolution. He sank into despair, yet when he heard of the works of Jesus and that others as sinful and helpless as he had been healed, he was encouraged to believe he too might be cured if carried to the Saviour, though hope fell when he remembered the cause of his malady and he could not cast away the possibility of healing.
He understood the man's inner condition perfectly, perceiving not only a body wasting under disease and near dissolution but a sickness of soul far more aggravating than bodily suffering. The burden borne for months was guilt over sins, and the greatest burden was greater than bodily suffering. His great desire was relief from the burden of sin, and he longed to see Jesus and receive assurance of forgiveness and peace with heaven, and then he would be content to live or to die according to God's will. He knew the paralytic's perplexity and doubt, had brought conviction to his conscience, and saw his faith grow as he sought to come to Him, and that knowledge of inner need preceded the healing to answer the need for forgiveness as well as physical restoration. The illness had been wrongly treated as proof of God's anger and personal guilt, but his deepest need was forgiveness and relief from the burden of sin.
Authority Proved by Healing
By asking what they were reasoning in their hearts, Jesus confronted the hidden charge that declaring the paralytic's sins forgiven was blasphemy and an assumption of authority belonging to God alone. He answered their unspoken thoughts aloud and challenged them to examine their inward reasoning about His authority to forgive. He pressed them to consider whether it was easier to declare sins forgiven or to command the man to rise and walk, and then healed him as evidence that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.
He first forgave sin in order to cleanse the soul, relieve the mind, and give peace, hope, and joy before reaching the suffering body. The man needed health of soul before he could appreciate health of body, for his physical illness was accompanied by a still heavier burden of guilt, violated conscience, and mental suffering harder to bear than bodily wasting near dissolution. The need for forgiveness was as important as the need for physical healing, and the restored mind then made it possible to reach him physically.
The healing proved that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, the same divine power He had in heaven. It revealed Him as the Son of the living God in whom the Father dwelt and as the promised Saviour, confirming His words and His message of salvation. It gave His enemies a sign they could not set aside, displaying wondrous love for the guilty and afflicted, compassion for suffering humanity, and power and authority that amazed and disconcerted them.
At His command to arise, take up the couch, and go to his house, the man immediately rose before them all. He who had been slowly borne from his home on a couch carried it back with ease, walking with a firm free step into the midst of his family. His lifeless arms became quick to obey his will, his shrunken leaden-hued flesh became fresh and ruddy with health, and he stood in the full vigor of manhood with sensitive nerves, firm muscles, hope in his countenance, gloom gone, and peace and purity in place of the marks of sin and suffering. Glad thanksgivings went up from that house with rejoicing and tears of joy, and he and his household were ready in unfailing faith and fealty to lay down their lives for Jesus.
Response and Present Application
Those who watched were amazed, glorified God, and were filled with fear and awe at what had been done before them all when the palsied man let down through the roof arose at command, took up his couch, and went to his house. The scribes and Pharisees were likewise amazed, yet they were disconcerted and exasperated rather than persuaded, and the miracle did not lead them to believe He was the Teacher sent from God. Their hearts were not open to conviction but were closed by hatred, prejudice, jealousy, malice, skepticism, and desire to prove Him a deceiver. The stronger the evidence presented to their minds, the more they armed themselves with hatred and unbelief, hardening their hearts until left to forge chains that bound them in hopeless darkness, with no reserve power left to reach them.
The healing performed to show Christ's power to forgive sins is therefore both a source of hope and encouragement and a warning. The course taken against Him — scandal, reproach, false witness, spying, and watching every word and action — fulfills the same pattern that opposes God's commandment-keeping people.
The record of this healing ministry met both the spiritual and the physical needs of those who sought help, and it offers lessons for gospel workers. Christ's work in healing the paralytic and forgiving his sins and sending him home well gave an example of medical missionary labor. Forgiveness of sin and the command to sin no more stand as sure in God's Word as if spoken personally.
Healing was given to soul and body together, with healing of soul first, for the man needed health of soul before he could appreciate health of body, so relief was first brought to the mind and the soul cleansed from sin before the physical malady was healed. The burden of sin with its unrest and unsatisfied desires is the foundation of a large share of physical disease. Thousands today suffering from physical disease are really longing for forgiveness and can find no relief until they come to the Healer of the soul, and the peace which He alone imparts restores vigor to the mind and health to the body.
Jesus still perceives the thoughts and reasonings in human hearts. The mind that God made He can mold without the power of man, and angels make impressions on the human mind, letting light shine into the chambers of the mind and into the soul temple to sweep away every form of deception and error. Some refuse to be illuminated by that light, but many respond to it. When the Spirit works on the mind of the afflicted one and he inquires for truth, those who cooperate with God are to follow the Lord's way with suffering humanity for present and eternal good, working for the precious soul as Christ would work and pointing sufferers to Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour without urging any special doctrine upon them.
When Jesus asked what they were reasoning in their hearts, He was laying bare their unspoken thoughts and hidden hostile motives that no outward concealment could hide. They were inwardly charging Him with blasphemy for declaring the paralytic's sins forgiven, since only God can forgive sins, and they feared losing their influence if the people turned to Him. He confronted that reasoning by first cleansing the man's soul with forgiveness and peace, because health of soul had to come before health of body, and then commanding him to rise to prove that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. At His word the man immediately rose before them all, restored from wasting sickness to vigor and health, and carried home the couch on which he had been borne. The witnesses were amazed and glorified God with fear and awe, while the scribes and Pharisees hardened themselves in unbelief, and Jesus still perceives the reasonings of human hearts today, where the burden of sin underlies much physical suffering that finds relief only in the Healer of the soul.
Setting and Discernment
The setting is teaching beside the lake where crowds gathered for healing, and as He laid hands on the sick the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rose up in health. In that same setting a leper who believed He could make him clean pressed through the crowd, fell at His feet, and pleaded to be cleansed. He declared willingness and cleansing, laid His hand on him, and immediately the flesh became healthy, the nerves sensitive, the muscles firm, and the rough scaly surface gave way to a soft glow like the skin of a healthy child. He then strictly charged him to tell no man but to go at once to the priest and offer for cleansing what Moses commanded, so the priests would examine him and pronounce him wholly free before rumors reached them and secure an impartial decision permitting him to unite again with family and friends. The verse also belongs to teaching in a house where Pharisees, doctors, and scribes watched with hostile intent, hoping to catch a contradiction or forbidden teaching so they could accuse and confound Him, while friends had brought the paralytic for both healing and forgiveness from a merciful healer with authority to relieve physical suffering and the burden of sin.
He perceived unspoken thoughts, inward murmurings, hidden motives and heart-reasoning, and answered that inner reasoning aloud. Outward concealment could not hide anger and hostile purposes from Him, and in confronting what was kept in the heart He exposed its evil. He knew the questioning of His authority to forgive sins without its being spoken, and challenged the reasoning held within. He perceived those who murmured inwardly about that authority so they would know the Son of man has power to forgive sins, confirming His words by the healing that followed in wondrous love for the guilty and afflicted, compassion for suffering humanity, and power confirming salvation.
What He read was their inward charge that declaring the paralytic's sins forgiven was blasphemy and an assumption of infinite power, since no one but God alone can forgive sins. They laid hold of His words of divine pardon to present Him before the people as guilty of a crime worthy of death. They exchanged no words together but looked into one another's faces with the same thought, fearing loss of their influence over the multitude if popular sentiment turned to Jesus. When He fixed His reproving glance upon them they cowered and drew back, and He answered their inward reasoning aloud and confronted their hidden accusation. He challenged them to consider whether it was easier to declare forgiveness or to command the man to rise and walk, and in exposing the evil in their hearts showed His authority to forgive sins.
The paralytic's palsy was the result of a sinful life, and dissipation had contributed to his bodily affliction. His suffering was embittered by remorse, guilt, a violated conscience giving no relief, and despair, making mental suffering harder to bear than bodily pain. He had lost all hope of recovery and feared his sinful past would keep him from Jesus. He had appealed in vain to Pharisees and doctors who pronounced him incurable, denounced him as a sinner who would die under the wrath of God, refused him any encouragement, and entrenched themselves in the sanctity of their office, annoyed at being troubled with so disagreeable a matter. They looked with horror upon his shriveled form and said they could not raise one from the dead because dissolution had already commenced, turning away from what they could not raise from dissolution. He sank into despair, yet when he heard of the works of Jesus and that others as sinful and helpless as he had been healed, he was encouraged to believe he too might be cured if carried to the Saviour, though hope fell when he remembered the cause of his malady and he could not cast away the possibility of healing.
He understood the man's inner condition perfectly, perceiving not only a body wasting under disease and near dissolution but a sickness of soul far more aggravating than bodily suffering. The burden borne for months was guilt over sins, and the greatest burden was greater than bodily suffering. His great desire was relief from the burden of sin, and he longed to see Jesus and receive assurance of forgiveness and peace with heaven, and then he would be content to live or to die according to God's will. He knew the paralytic's perplexity and doubt, had brought conviction to his conscience, and saw his faith grow as he sought to come to Him, and that knowledge of inner need preceded the healing to answer the need for forgiveness as well as physical restoration. The illness had been wrongly treated as proof of God's anger and personal guilt, but his deepest need was forgiveness and relief from the burden of sin.
Authority Proved by Healing
By asking what they were reasoning in their hearts, Jesus confronted the hidden charge that declaring the paralytic's sins forgiven was blasphemy and an assumption of authority belonging to God alone. He answered their unspoken thoughts aloud and challenged them to examine their inward reasoning about His authority to forgive. He pressed them to consider whether it was easier to declare sins forgiven or to command the man to rise and walk, and then healed him as evidence that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.
He first forgave sin in order to cleanse the soul, relieve the mind, and give peace, hope, and joy before reaching the suffering body. The man needed health of soul before he could appreciate health of body, for his physical illness was accompanied by a still heavier burden of guilt, violated conscience, and mental suffering harder to bear than bodily wasting near dissolution. The need for forgiveness was as important as the need for physical healing, and the restored mind then made it possible to reach him physically.
The healing proved that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins, the same divine power He had in heaven. It revealed Him as the Son of the living God in whom the Father dwelt and as the promised Saviour, confirming His words and His message of salvation. It gave His enemies a sign they could not set aside, displaying wondrous love for the guilty and afflicted, compassion for suffering humanity, and power and authority that amazed and disconcerted them.
At His command to arise, take up the couch, and go to his house, the man immediately rose before them all. He who had been slowly borne from his home on a couch carried it back with ease, walking with a firm free step into the midst of his family. His lifeless arms became quick to obey his will, his shrunken leaden-hued flesh became fresh and ruddy with health, and he stood in the full vigor of manhood with sensitive nerves, firm muscles, hope in his countenance, gloom gone, and peace and purity in place of the marks of sin and suffering. Glad thanksgivings went up from that house with rejoicing and tears of joy, and he and his household were ready in unfailing faith and fealty to lay down their lives for Jesus.
Response and Present Application
Those who watched were amazed, glorified God, and were filled with fear and awe at what had been done before them all when the palsied man let down through the roof arose at command, took up his couch, and went to his house. The scribes and Pharisees were likewise amazed, yet they were disconcerted and exasperated rather than persuaded, and the miracle did not lead them to believe He was the Teacher sent from God. Their hearts were not open to conviction but were closed by hatred, prejudice, jealousy, malice, skepticism, and desire to prove Him a deceiver. The stronger the evidence presented to their minds, the more they armed themselves with hatred and unbelief, hardening their hearts until left to forge chains that bound them in hopeless darkness, with no reserve power left to reach them.
The healing performed to show Christ's power to forgive sins is therefore both a source of hope and encouragement and a warning. The course taken against Him — scandal, reproach, false witness, spying, and watching every word and action — fulfills the same pattern that opposes God's commandment-keeping people.
The record of this healing ministry met both the spiritual and the physical needs of those who sought help, and it offers lessons for gospel workers. Christ's work in healing the paralytic and forgiving his sins and sending him home well gave an example of medical missionary labor. Forgiveness of sin and the command to sin no more stand as sure in God's Word as if spoken personally.
Healing was given to soul and body together, with healing of soul first, for the man needed health of soul before he could appreciate health of body, so relief was first brought to the mind and the soul cleansed from sin before the physical malady was healed. The burden of sin with its unrest and unsatisfied desires is the foundation of a large share of physical disease. Thousands today suffering from physical disease are really longing for forgiveness and can find no relief until they come to the Healer of the soul, and the peace which He alone imparts restores vigor to the mind and health to the body.
Jesus still perceives the thoughts and reasonings in human hearts. The mind that God made He can mold without the power of man, and angels make impressions on the human mind, letting light shine into the chambers of the mind and into the soul temple to sweep away every form of deception and error. Some refuse to be illuminated by that light, but many respond to it. When the Spirit works on the mind of the afflicted one and he inquires for truth, those who cooperate with God are to follow the Lord's way with suffering humanity for present and eternal good, working for the precious soul as Christ would work and pointing sufferers to Jesus as a sin-pardoning Saviour without urging any special doctrine upon them.