The Paralysed Man Lowered Through the RoofBible World
2:5Mark 2:5
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
When Jesus saw the trusting faith of the helpless paralytic and of the friends who carried him through the crowd and lowered him through the broken roof, He tenderly called him son and declared his sins forgiven. He forgave the soul before He healed the body because guilt and remorse over a sinful life were the man's heaviest burden and deepest need, and peace of mind had to come first. That pardon lifted darkness and despair and brought peace, joy and hope that transformed his whole being and prepared the way for bodily cure. The word of forgiveness displayed His divine authority on earth to forgive sins, and the complete restoration that followed — strength, health and vigor to rise, take up his bed and walk home — made that authority visible to all. He stands revealed as the Chief Physician and sin-pardoning Saviour who still forgives every repentant sinner who comes to Him just as he is, bringing rest to mind as well as healing to body.
Setting and Background
The scene is Capernaum at Peter's house, where Jesus was staying as guest and teacher, and word that He was there drew men, women, and children flocking from every direction to hear Him teach. The house was so crowded that the bearers could not come directly into His presence, so the paralytic was brought on a bed and let down through a roof torn open. Around this teaching He was laying His hands upon the sick, so that the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rose up in health praising God for deliverance. A leper standing afar off caught His words and saw these cures, and faith strengthened in his heart to draw nearer and yet nearer, forgetting restrictions, safety, and fear and thinking only of the blessed hope of healing.
The paralytic himself was reduced to utter helplessness by incurable palsy, had given up all hope of recovery, and lay in dying, urgent condition. Though wealthy, his wealth could not remove guilt from his soul or disease from his body. His palsy followed a life of dissipation, which he understood as the penalty of his wrongdoing. That left remorse, fear that his sinful past made him unfit and unwelcome before the pure Physician, and longing for pardon and relief of mind.
Priests and rulers had told him his sins caused his affliction and he could never be healed. Pharisees, scribes, and doctors had pronounced him incurable, doomed under God's wrath, abandoned to the wrath of God and cast off by God as proof of divine displeasure. They had themselves refused the sufferer help and held aloof, though more guilty themselves. Hope revived when he heard of Jesus' mercy and that others as sinful and helpless as he had been healed, even loathsome lepers finding access to His presence and cleansing. His friends and relatives had heard the gracious instruction and witnessed the wonderful miracles, and their confidence and encouragement led him to seek Jesus, so they gladly undertook to carry him into His presence.
The record to which the verse belongs also includes His going through the cornfield plucking ears of corn and healing the withered hand.
Faith That Jesus Saw
What Jesus saw was not the faith of one man alone but the faith of the sick man together with the faith of the friends and relatives who carried him, a faith first awakened in them by the report of the Healer. It was humble, trusting, confiding faith, and such seen faith moves Omnipotence and stands as the condition for forgiveness and healing and for the manifestation of spiritual gifts. That faith proved itself by persistent, determined effort through perplexing difficulties, for when the crowd blocked the way they carried him on a litter, broke open the roof, and lowered him down to Jesus.
His faith had not begun at the roof but at home, where Jesus Himself led him, stirred conviction of sin, and drew him as the Friend of sinners and only helper. There a first glimmer deepened into repentance and belief that Jesus could make him whole, growing stronger with every effort to come into His presence. He had already repented and believed in Jesus' power before he was laid at His feet, and his friends' confidence and help brought him into that presence. He then received Jesus' words of forgiveness with simple faith as the gift of new life, asking for nothing more and lying in blissful, silent, wordless happiness with heaven's light upon him.
Forgiveness Before Bodily Healing
Jesus spoke to the palsied man tenderly as son, bidding him be of good cheer because his sins were forgiven. He recognized the man's pleading need and understood his troubled spirit, having Himself drawn the guilty and doubting sufferer to seek help as the Friend of sinners and only helper. In that word of pardon He came to give hope to the guilty and wretched.
His first work was to forgive the man's sins before healing his body, in order to give peace of mind. He knew the man was tortured by guilt over sin and a violated conscience, haunted by the word that God had cast him off, and that forgiveness and relief for the mind were what he most needed before he could appreciate bodily health. So He answered the deepest burden first, and hope sprang up in the despairing heart.
The assurance that sins were forgiven rolled off the heavy burden of darkness, despair, and guilt. In its place came hope, peace, joy, and perfect love resting upon his spirit and shining upon his face and countenance. His whole being was transformed, his physical pain was gone, and his mind was restored to peace and happiness so that the suffering body could then be reached. He received pardon and peace as new life, asking for nothing more, and lay in blissful happiness ready for bodily healing.
What he desired was not physical restoration so much as relief from the burden of sin and assurance of peace with Heaven. He longed for pardon to relieve his troubled mind, and he was content then to live or die according to God's and Jesus' will if he could come into Jesus' presence and have his sins forgiven. That pardon publicly declared before the multitude had first been granted at home when he repented of his sins and believed in the power of Jesus to make him whole, and here he received the evidence he desired.
Jesus did not refuse even one who had brought disease upon himself by a sinful life of dissipation. He let power go out to convict of sin and to heal spiritual disease as well as physical sickness, meeting such a sufferer with mercy and forgiveness. Sin still hinders the recovery of hundreds today, and peace of God in the heart through forgiven sin makes sickness of much less consequence and prepares the way for faith that Christ will do as He has promised.
The case teaches that sickness of soul is far more aggravating than bodily suffering. The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires and violated conscience borne for months, can lie at the foundation of physical illness. Relieving the sin-sick soul first restores vigor to the mind, makes the mind receptive, and makes bodily treatment effective.
Authority and Complete Restoration
The declaration that sins were forgiven was seized upon by Pharisees, scribes and doctors, the very men who had given the sufferer over to death and wrath and refused him help, as a claim to infinite power belonging to God alone, blasphemy against God and a crime worthy of death to charge against Him before the people. Jesus read their unspoken thoughts and met them by asking whether it is easier to say that sins are forgiven or to command the palsied man to arise, take up his bed and walk, that it might be proved that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. The man then immediately arose, took up his bed and went out before them all.
The forgiveness itself showed divine power and authority on earth to forgive sins as His own prerogative, though they thought it belonged to God alone. The healing that immediately followed made that authority visible and especially clear, so that those present could know He possessed it. That physical restoration confirmed the spiritual healing and renewal of the heart.
The healing was complete, taking away the marks of sin and suffering and putting purity, peace, health and vigor in their place. Arms that had been lifeless became quick to obey the will, flesh that had been shrunken and leaden-hued was made fresh and ruddy, the step became firm and free, and full vigor of manhood was given. He arose, took up his bed and went out before them all, returning home and passing through the crowd blessing God at every step, carrying with ease as if light as a feather the couch on which he had been slowly borne.
The result was great rejoicing, tears of joy and glad thanksgiving in his home, with God glorified through His Son and light brought into a darkened home. In the man and his family there sprang up a faith and loyalty that no doubt dimmed and no unbelief marred, unshakable and perfect, ready even to lay down their lives for Jesus. The work was as if Heaven had opened and revealed the glories of the better world, filling the people with awe, while the Pharisees were left dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat, with no opportunity to inflame the multitude, in marked contrast between His gentle dignity and miraculous works and their proud and self-righteous bearing.
Forgiving sins was the central purpose of the healing at Capernaum, teaching the same truth as cleansing the leper from sin. His compassion reached both the guilty and the afflicted, for the man who had been forgiven was also healed, his useless limbs restored to youthful strength and health, as wondrous love stooped with divinity sorrowing over suffering humanity and soothing its ills. That display of marvelous power to the children of men confirms the message of salvation, reveals the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer that none should doubt or slight, and the whole story illustrates His power to heal the soul.
Christ the Sin-Forgiving Healer
Jesus is the Chief Physician, the great Healer, the great Restorer, and the sin-pardoning Saviour to be trusted for healing of body and soul, full of tenderness and love. When on earth He restored the sick to health and at the same time healed the soul by pardoning sin, and He can still restore sufferers today. As the Son of God, the great Medical Missionary, and the Life-giver, He died to make forgiveness possible, so the forgiveness spoken to the paralytic belongs to every sinner who commits himself to His keeping, bringing rest and peace and healing of mind as well as body. He still works as the great Physician who gives life to those dead in trespasses and sins and declares forgiveness to the repentant, discouraged soul. He stands beside the faithful worker who labors to rescue those fallen under Satan's temptations, especially broken-down victims of intemperance, Himself pardoning the soul rescued from Satan's grasp so that the soul is saved and the ransom He paid is not lost.
One who comes to Him in helpless dependence receives forgiveness of sins, for He does not extinguish even the faintest spiritual life or crush the weakest person, but gives strength to those who have none. He forgives the sinful and unholy who come just as they are with penitent prayer and will not reject them, with no long pilgrimage or painful journey to a holy shrine required, so that each one may receive forgiveness as personal, and even children who seek Him may trust that He accepts them and forgives their sins. Only the Lord can speak pardon to the convicted, anxious sinner whose mind finds no rest or peace, who fears he has resisted truth and been given up, and who is under terrible strain threatening to unbalance the mind, and that forgiving word brings relief and keeps the mind balanced, sought through earnest united prayer with laying on of hands and rebuking the enemy in His name. His forgiveness with divine authority fully blots out sin, awakens gratitude, and is available to the greatest sinner, for He is the one Mediator and the only channel open for all, while the law exposes sin but cannot pardon or help the transgressor, and by perfect obedience and a sinless offering as propitiation He redeemed Adam's transgression and opened the way for every sinner to approach God. His words met sufferers where they were, addressed the trouble on their minds, pointed them toward the heavenly home, and brought comfort to those longing for salvation without knowing how to obtain it. The voice that declared the paralytic's sins forgiven is the same voice that will speak at the last trumpet, and those who obeyed it will recognize the One who understands their weakness, to whom it will mean rest, peace, and everlasting life.
Healing Ministry and Personal Application
Christ's first work for the paralytic was to forgive his sins in order to give peace of mind, because He knew the man was tortured by the priests' teaching that his sins meant God had cast him off and rejected him, and forgiveness was what he most needed and filled his heart with peace and joy. The faith He saw was the sick man's own faith awakened by his friends' report of the Healer joined with the faith of the friends who carried him to the crowded house and broke open the roof to lower him down. This order of giving peace of mind before healing the body binds preaching the truth and healing the sick together as one inseparable work and as the way to work. In that union medical missionary work is to stand to the third angel's message as the right arm to the body, working in harmony to reveal the salvation of the Lord.
His work for the paralytic is the pattern for followers to do the work of Christ by seeking to save the souls and bodies of the afflicted together, including through healing work and the building of hospitals. The story shows the exercise of God's healing power to restore the sick, and fittingly illustrates restoring health through faith in God's healing power together with outdoor life, exercise, good food, and the best treatments. He is the Chief Physician, the great Healer of soul and body full of tenderness and love, who when on earth restored the sick to health and at the same time healed the soul as well as the body by pardoning sin, and who can still restore sufferers. Those who care for the sick and have Him abiding in the heart will keep religious principle clear and untarnished, keep thoughts directed to Him, talk of His works of healing, use influence to cleanse the soul, and lead the minds of patients and sufferers to Him for restoration of body and soul and for forgiveness of soul.
Physicians and nurses are to stand in His stead, live in close fellowship with Him, and as gospel teachers speak the assurance of forgiveness with tenderness, simplicity, and certain knowledge to the sick and suffering at the bedside, even to those losing hold on life and on the brink of the grave, bearing to them the gospel of physical and spiritual healing. As the Son of God and great Medical Missionary and Life-giver He died to make forgiveness possible, so the forgiveness spoken to the paralytic is for each sinner who commits himself to His keeping, bringing rest and peace and healing of mind as well as body. For patients in sanitariums the same word is applied: thy sins are forgiven, go in peace and sin no more. They are to be shown the way of salvation, led to repent, and given peace, for care for the body matters but healing the soul is more important than healing the body and calls for a life that turns from sin.
Receiving that forgiveness means understanding soul-healing, doing His will and taking His prescriptions, which can require a change of climate and leaving a country, associations, and atmosphere that bring spiritual death, in order to preserve every jot of spiritual and physical power and to walk and work in a manner acceptable to God, a change ministers are to urge line upon line upon those in danger. The word of pardon spoken personally to each new disciple at the beginning of Christian experience kindles a glowing light in the heart, but it is only the alphabet, the mere start. That light is kept alive only by helping souls who need help and strengthening the things that remain ready to die, by caring for sorrowful, tempted souls and directing restless energy into earnest work to do others good in the home, the neighborhood, the church, and even in the regions beyond until self is forgotten. When this work is neglected there is no advance beyond the beginning, works are not perfect before God, and there is a name to live while dead. Those who have heard these gracious words must not hold themselves apart from people whose lives are marked by darkness and hardship, but must regard every person as valued by God and purchased by Christ.
When Jesus saw the trusting faith of the helpless paralytic and of the friends who carried him through the crowd and lowered him through the broken roof, He tenderly called him son and declared his sins forgiven. He forgave the soul before He healed the body because guilt and remorse over a sinful life were the man's heaviest burden and deepest need, and peace of mind had to come first. That pardon lifted darkness and despair and brought peace, joy and hope that transformed his whole being and prepared the way for bodily cure. The word of forgiveness displayed His divine authority on earth to forgive sins, and the complete restoration that followed — strength, health and vigor to rise, take up his bed and walk home — made that authority visible to all. He stands revealed as the Chief Physician and sin-pardoning Saviour who still forgives every repentant sinner who comes to Him just as he is, bringing rest to mind as well as healing to body.
Setting and Background
The scene is Capernaum at Peter's house, where Jesus was staying as guest and teacher, and word that He was there drew men, women, and children flocking from every direction to hear Him teach. The house was so crowded that the bearers could not come directly into His presence, so the paralytic was brought on a bed and let down through a roof torn open. Around this teaching He was laying His hands upon the sick, so that the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rose up in health praising God for deliverance. A leper standing afar off caught His words and saw these cures, and faith strengthened in his heart to draw nearer and yet nearer, forgetting restrictions, safety, and fear and thinking only of the blessed hope of healing.
The paralytic himself was reduced to utter helplessness by incurable palsy, had given up all hope of recovery, and lay in dying, urgent condition. Though wealthy, his wealth could not remove guilt from his soul or disease from his body. His palsy followed a life of dissipation, which he understood as the penalty of his wrongdoing. That left remorse, fear that his sinful past made him unfit and unwelcome before the pure Physician, and longing for pardon and relief of mind.
Priests and rulers had told him his sins caused his affliction and he could never be healed. Pharisees, scribes, and doctors had pronounced him incurable, doomed under God's wrath, abandoned to the wrath of God and cast off by God as proof of divine displeasure. They had themselves refused the sufferer help and held aloof, though more guilty themselves. Hope revived when he heard of Jesus' mercy and that others as sinful and helpless as he had been healed, even loathsome lepers finding access to His presence and cleansing. His friends and relatives had heard the gracious instruction and witnessed the wonderful miracles, and their confidence and encouragement led him to seek Jesus, so they gladly undertook to carry him into His presence.
The record to which the verse belongs also includes His going through the cornfield plucking ears of corn and healing the withered hand.
Faith That Jesus Saw
What Jesus saw was not the faith of one man alone but the faith of the sick man together with the faith of the friends and relatives who carried him, a faith first awakened in them by the report of the Healer. It was humble, trusting, confiding faith, and such seen faith moves Omnipotence and stands as the condition for forgiveness and healing and for the manifestation of spiritual gifts. That faith proved itself by persistent, determined effort through perplexing difficulties, for when the crowd blocked the way they carried him on a litter, broke open the roof, and lowered him down to Jesus.
His faith had not begun at the roof but at home, where Jesus Himself led him, stirred conviction of sin, and drew him as the Friend of sinners and only helper. There a first glimmer deepened into repentance and belief that Jesus could make him whole, growing stronger with every effort to come into His presence. He had already repented and believed in Jesus' power before he was laid at His feet, and his friends' confidence and help brought him into that presence. He then received Jesus' words of forgiveness with simple faith as the gift of new life, asking for nothing more and lying in blissful, silent, wordless happiness with heaven's light upon him.
Forgiveness Before Bodily Healing
Jesus spoke to the palsied man tenderly as son, bidding him be of good cheer because his sins were forgiven. He recognized the man's pleading need and understood his troubled spirit, having Himself drawn the guilty and doubting sufferer to seek help as the Friend of sinners and only helper. In that word of pardon He came to give hope to the guilty and wretched.
His first work was to forgive the man's sins before healing his body, in order to give peace of mind. He knew the man was tortured by guilt over sin and a violated conscience, haunted by the word that God had cast him off, and that forgiveness and relief for the mind were what he most needed before he could appreciate bodily health. So He answered the deepest burden first, and hope sprang up in the despairing heart.
The assurance that sins were forgiven rolled off the heavy burden of darkness, despair, and guilt. In its place came hope, peace, joy, and perfect love resting upon his spirit and shining upon his face and countenance. His whole being was transformed, his physical pain was gone, and his mind was restored to peace and happiness so that the suffering body could then be reached. He received pardon and peace as new life, asking for nothing more, and lay in blissful happiness ready for bodily healing.
What he desired was not physical restoration so much as relief from the burden of sin and assurance of peace with Heaven. He longed for pardon to relieve his troubled mind, and he was content then to live or die according to God's and Jesus' will if he could come into Jesus' presence and have his sins forgiven. That pardon publicly declared before the multitude had first been granted at home when he repented of his sins and believed in the power of Jesus to make him whole, and here he received the evidence he desired.
Jesus did not refuse even one who had brought disease upon himself by a sinful life of dissipation. He let power go out to convict of sin and to heal spiritual disease as well as physical sickness, meeting such a sufferer with mercy and forgiveness. Sin still hinders the recovery of hundreds today, and peace of God in the heart through forgiven sin makes sickness of much less consequence and prepares the way for faith that Christ will do as He has promised.
The case teaches that sickness of soul is far more aggravating than bodily suffering. The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires and violated conscience borne for months, can lie at the foundation of physical illness. Relieving the sin-sick soul first restores vigor to the mind, makes the mind receptive, and makes bodily treatment effective.
Authority and Complete Restoration
The declaration that sins were forgiven was seized upon by Pharisees, scribes and doctors, the very men who had given the sufferer over to death and wrath and refused him help, as a claim to infinite power belonging to God alone, blasphemy against God and a crime worthy of death to charge against Him before the people. Jesus read their unspoken thoughts and met them by asking whether it is easier to say that sins are forgiven or to command the palsied man to arise, take up his bed and walk, that it might be proved that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. The man then immediately arose, took up his bed and went out before them all.
The forgiveness itself showed divine power and authority on earth to forgive sins as His own prerogative, though they thought it belonged to God alone. The healing that immediately followed made that authority visible and especially clear, so that those present could know He possessed it. That physical restoration confirmed the spiritual healing and renewal of the heart.
The healing was complete, taking away the marks of sin and suffering and putting purity, peace, health and vigor in their place. Arms that had been lifeless became quick to obey the will, flesh that had been shrunken and leaden-hued was made fresh and ruddy, the step became firm and free, and full vigor of manhood was given. He arose, took up his bed and went out before them all, returning home and passing through the crowd blessing God at every step, carrying with ease as if light as a feather the couch on which he had been slowly borne.
The result was great rejoicing, tears of joy and glad thanksgiving in his home, with God glorified through His Son and light brought into a darkened home. In the man and his family there sprang up a faith and loyalty that no doubt dimmed and no unbelief marred, unshakable and perfect, ready even to lay down their lives for Jesus. The work was as if Heaven had opened and revealed the glories of the better world, filling the people with awe, while the Pharisees were left dumb with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat, with no opportunity to inflame the multitude, in marked contrast between His gentle dignity and miraculous works and their proud and self-righteous bearing.
Forgiving sins was the central purpose of the healing at Capernaum, teaching the same truth as cleansing the leper from sin. His compassion reached both the guilty and the afflicted, for the man who had been forgiven was also healed, his useless limbs restored to youthful strength and health, as wondrous love stooped with divinity sorrowing over suffering humanity and soothing its ills. That display of marvelous power to the children of men confirms the message of salvation, reveals the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer that none should doubt or slight, and the whole story illustrates His power to heal the soul.
Christ the Sin-Forgiving Healer
Jesus is the Chief Physician, the great Healer, the great Restorer, and the sin-pardoning Saviour to be trusted for healing of body and soul, full of tenderness and love. When on earth He restored the sick to health and at the same time healed the soul by pardoning sin, and He can still restore sufferers today. As the Son of God, the great Medical Missionary, and the Life-giver, He died to make forgiveness possible, so the forgiveness spoken to the paralytic belongs to every sinner who commits himself to His keeping, bringing rest and peace and healing of mind as well as body. He still works as the great Physician who gives life to those dead in trespasses and sins and declares forgiveness to the repentant, discouraged soul. He stands beside the faithful worker who labors to rescue those fallen under Satan's temptations, especially broken-down victims of intemperance, Himself pardoning the soul rescued from Satan's grasp so that the soul is saved and the ransom He paid is not lost.
One who comes to Him in helpless dependence receives forgiveness of sins, for He does not extinguish even the faintest spiritual life or crush the weakest person, but gives strength to those who have none. He forgives the sinful and unholy who come just as they are with penitent prayer and will not reject them, with no long pilgrimage or painful journey to a holy shrine required, so that each one may receive forgiveness as personal, and even children who seek Him may trust that He accepts them and forgives their sins. Only the Lord can speak pardon to the convicted, anxious sinner whose mind finds no rest or peace, who fears he has resisted truth and been given up, and who is under terrible strain threatening to unbalance the mind, and that forgiving word brings relief and keeps the mind balanced, sought through earnest united prayer with laying on of hands and rebuking the enemy in His name. His forgiveness with divine authority fully blots out sin, awakens gratitude, and is available to the greatest sinner, for He is the one Mediator and the only channel open for all, while the law exposes sin but cannot pardon or help the transgressor, and by perfect obedience and a sinless offering as propitiation He redeemed Adam's transgression and opened the way for every sinner to approach God. His words met sufferers where they were, addressed the trouble on their minds, pointed them toward the heavenly home, and brought comfort to those longing for salvation without knowing how to obtain it. The voice that declared the paralytic's sins forgiven is the same voice that will speak at the last trumpet, and those who obeyed it will recognize the One who understands their weakness, to whom it will mean rest, peace, and everlasting life.
Healing Ministry and Personal Application
Christ's first work for the paralytic was to forgive his sins in order to give peace of mind, because He knew the man was tortured by the priests' teaching that his sins meant God had cast him off and rejected him, and forgiveness was what he most needed and filled his heart with peace and joy. The faith He saw was the sick man's own faith awakened by his friends' report of the Healer joined with the faith of the friends who carried him to the crowded house and broke open the roof to lower him down. This order of giving peace of mind before healing the body binds preaching the truth and healing the sick together as one inseparable work and as the way to work. In that union medical missionary work is to stand to the third angel's message as the right arm to the body, working in harmony to reveal the salvation of the Lord.
His work for the paralytic is the pattern for followers to do the work of Christ by seeking to save the souls and bodies of the afflicted together, including through healing work and the building of hospitals. The story shows the exercise of God's healing power to restore the sick, and fittingly illustrates restoring health through faith in God's healing power together with outdoor life, exercise, good food, and the best treatments. He is the Chief Physician, the great Healer of soul and body full of tenderness and love, who when on earth restored the sick to health and at the same time healed the soul as well as the body by pardoning sin, and who can still restore sufferers. Those who care for the sick and have Him abiding in the heart will keep religious principle clear and untarnished, keep thoughts directed to Him, talk of His works of healing, use influence to cleanse the soul, and lead the minds of patients and sufferers to Him for restoration of body and soul and for forgiveness of soul.
Physicians and nurses are to stand in His stead, live in close fellowship with Him, and as gospel teachers speak the assurance of forgiveness with tenderness, simplicity, and certain knowledge to the sick and suffering at the bedside, even to those losing hold on life and on the brink of the grave, bearing to them the gospel of physical and spiritual healing. As the Son of God and great Medical Missionary and Life-giver He died to make forgiveness possible, so the forgiveness spoken to the paralytic is for each sinner who commits himself to His keeping, bringing rest and peace and healing of mind as well as body. For patients in sanitariums the same word is applied: thy sins are forgiven, go in peace and sin no more. They are to be shown the way of salvation, led to repent, and given peace, for care for the body matters but healing the soul is more important than healing the body and calls for a life that turns from sin.
Receiving that forgiveness means understanding soul-healing, doing His will and taking His prescriptions, which can require a change of climate and leaving a country, associations, and atmosphere that bring spiritual death, in order to preserve every jot of spiritual and physical power and to walk and work in a manner acceptable to God, a change ministers are to urge line upon line upon those in danger. The word of pardon spoken personally to each new disciple at the beginning of Christian experience kindles a glowing light in the heart, but it is only the alphabet, the mere start. That light is kept alive only by helping souls who need help and strengthening the things that remain ready to die, by caring for sorrowful, tempted souls and directing restless energy into earnest work to do others good in the home, the neighborhood, the church, and even in the regions beyond until self is forgotten. When this work is neglected there is no advance beyond the beginning, works are not perfect before God, and there is a name to live while dead. Those who have heard these gracious words must not hold themselves apart from people whose lives are marked by darkness and hardship, but must regard every person as valued by God and purchased by Christ.