Mark 2:7
in Mark 2“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Why doth this man thus speak? he blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but one, even God?
KJV
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
⋯
This verse in Mark 2
Commentary
15 notes on this verseNow the commandment was given to man by the Word. For Adam, it is said, "heard the voice of the Lord God." Rightly then does His Word say to man, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" He, the same against whom we had sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end. But if indeed we had disobeyed the command of any other, while it was a different being who said, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" such an one is neither good, nor true, nor just.
This site's exposition
some of the scribes were sitting there
on Mark 2:6-7
The scribes' logic holds as far as it goes, Who can forgive sins but God alone, since the Hebrew Scriptures give that right to God. Their charge, He is blaspheming, is the charge that condemns Jesus at His trial in 14:64.
This site's exposition
Who can forgive sins but God alone?
John Chrysostom notes that the scribes supplied the rule themselves. By their own words forgiveness belongs to God alone, so when Jesus forgives and then proves it, their rule points to who He is. John Gill calls their maxim a sound one.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Who, moreover, was able to forgive sins? This is His alone prerogative: for "who remitteth sins but God alone? " and, of course, (who but He can remit) mortal sins, such as have been committed against Himself, and against His temple? For, as far as you are concerned, such as are chargeable with offence against you personally, you are commanded, in the person of Peter, to forgive even seventy times sevenfold.
They persecuted Jesus not only because he broke the Sabbath but also because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God, which is a far more drastic declaration. He confirmed this through his own actions.… The scribes themselves had devised this definition. They themselves had introduced the precept. They themselves had interpreted the law. But he proceeded to entangle them in their own words. In effect he said: It is you yourselves who have confessed that forgiveness of sins is given to God alone.
(non occ.) Further, He first healed by the remission of sins that which He had come to seek, that is, a soul, so that when they faithlessly doubted, then He might bring forward a work before them, and in this way His word might be confirmed by the work, and a hidden sign be proved by an open one, that is, the health of the soul by the healing of the body.
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA.a; Now they accuse Him of blasphemy, anticipating the sentence of His death: for there was a command in the Law, that whosoever blasphemed should be put to death. And this charge they laid upon Him, because He claimed for Himself the divine power of remitting sins: wherefore it is added, Who can forgive sin, save God only? For the Judge of all alone has power to forgive sin.
In their ministry of the forgiveness of sin, pastors do not exercise the right of some independent power. For not in their own name but in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit do they forgive sins. They ask, the Godhead forgives. The service is enabled by humans, but the gift comes from the Power on high.
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
The Pharisees accused the Lord of blasphemy because He forgave sins, since this belongs to God alone. But the Lord gave them yet another sign of His Divinity — the knowledge of their hearts, for the heart of each person is known to God alone, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?.... They took Christ to be a mere man, and reasoned with themselves, that he must be a blasphemer, in assuming that to himself, which was peculiar to God: they seem astonished at his words, and wonder at his arrogance, and to be filled with indignation and resentment at him; saying, who can forgive sins but God only? this was a generally received maxim with them, and a very just one.
His calling of Matthew from the receipt of custom, and his eating, upon that occasion, with publicans and sinners, and justifying himself in so doing,
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
This passage shows our Lord once more at Capernaum. Once more we find Him doing His accustomed work, preaching the word, and healing those that were sick. We see, in these verses, what great spiritual privileges some people enjoy, and yet make no use of them . This is a truth which is strikingly illustrated by the history of Capernaum. No city in Palestine appears to have enjoyed so much of our Lord's presence, during His earthly ministry, as did this city. It was the place where He dwelt, after He left Nazareth. (Matt. 4:13.)
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?--In this second question they expressed a great truth. Nor was their first question altogether unnatural, though in our Lord's sole case it was unfounded.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
This passage shows our Lord once more at Capernaum. Once more we find Him doing His accustomed work, preaching the word, and healing those that were sick. We see, in these verses, what great spiritual privileges some people enjoy, and yet make no use of them . This is a truth which is strikingly illustrated by the history of Capernaum. No city in Palestine appears to have enjoyed so much of our Lord's presence, during His earthly ministry, as did this city. It was the place where He dwelt, after He left Nazareth. (Matt. 4:13.) It was the place where many of His miracles were worked, and many of His sermons delivered. But nothing that Jesus said or did seems to have had any effect on the hearts of the inhabitants. They crowded to hear Him, as we read in this passage, "until there was no room about the door." They were amazed. They were astonished. They were filled with wonder at His mighty works. But they were not converted. They lived in the full noon-tide blaze of the Sun of Righteousness, and yet their hearts remained hard. And they drew from our Lord the heaviest condemnation that He ever pronounced against any place, except Jerusalem — "And you people of Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to the place of the dead. For if the miracles I did for you had been done in Sodom, it would still be here today. I assure you, Sodom will be better off on the judgment day than you." (Matt. 11:23, 24) It is good for us all to mark well this case of Capernaum. We are all apt to suppose that it needs nothing but the powerful preaching of the Gospel to convert people's souls, and that if the Gospel is only brought into a place everybody must believe. We forget the amazing power of unbelief, and the depth of man's enmity against God.
Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? - See this explained Mat 9:3 (note), etc.
The words behind it
14 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| τί | ti | Why | G5101 → | 563 times |
| οὗτος | houtos | this [man] | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| οὕτως | houtos | thus | G3779 → | 208 times |
| λαλεῖ; | lalei | does speak? | G2980 → | 294 times |
| βλασφημεῖ· | blasphemei | He blasphemes! | G987 → | 34 times |
| τίς | tis | Who | G5101 → | 563 times |
| δύναται | dunatai | is able | G1410 → | 207 times |
| ἀφιέναι | aphienai | to forgive | G863 → | 143 times |
| ἁμαρτίας | hamartias | sins | G266 → | 173 times |
| εἰ | ei | only | G1487 → | 508 times |
| μὴ | me | except | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| εἷς | heis | one | G1520 → | 343 times |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεός; | theos | God? | G2316 → | 1312 times |
τίWhy
tiG5101 →563 times
οὗτοςthis [man]
houtosG3778 →1381 times
οὕτωςthus
houtosG3779 →208 times
λαλεῖ;does speak?
laleiG2980 →294 times
βλασφημεῖ·He blasphemes!
blasphemeiG987 →34 times
τίςWho
tisG5101 →563 times
δύναταιis able
dunataiG1410 →207 times
ἀφιέναιto forgive
aphienaiG863 →143 times
ἁμαρτίαςsins
hamartiasG266 →173 times
εἰonly
eiG1487 →508 times
μὴexcept
meG3361 →1066 times
εἷςone
heisG1520 →343 times
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
θεός;God?
theosG2316 →1312 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 43:25I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
it leads to
- Hebrews 8:12
For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”
- Micah 7:18–19
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Hebrews 10:17
Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
- Jeremiah 31:34
No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I…
- Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
- Hebrews 8:12
Through
Micah 7:18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Ephesians 2:4–5
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Isaiah 43:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies7
About Mark
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 3.18.137; Cyril of Alexandria, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Irenaeus, AGAINST HERESIES 5.17.1-3; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, THE PARALYTIC LET DOWN THROUGH THE ROOF 6; John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, On Modesty and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark.