Matthew 9:5 BSB — MannaFest

Matthew 9:5

Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

For which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and walk?

KJV

For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?

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Commentary

5 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Matthew (420)

(Verse 5, 6.) Which is easier to say: your sins are forgiven you; or to say: rise up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, then He says to the paralytic. There is a great difference between saying and doing. Whether the paralytic's sins were forgiven, only the one who forgave them knew. But both the one who rose up and those who saw him rise up could verify it by his walking.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Gill

1697–1771

Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)

For whether is easier to say,..... Christ proceeds to clear himself of the charge of blasphemy, and to prove his power to forgive sins, by putting a case to them, of which he makes themselves Judges, and is this: which is easiest to be said, thy sins are forgiven thee? or to say, arise and walk?

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Where observe, (1.) How he asserts his authority in the kingdom of grace. He undertakes to make out, that the Son of man, the Mediator, has power on earth to forgive sins; for therefore the Father has committed all judgment to the Son, and has given him this authority, because he is the Son of man, John

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

For whether is easier to say - Thy “sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?” The one involves divine “power,” the other divine “authority,” and neither can be done but by God. One is as easy as the other; and to be able to do the one, involves the right and the power to do the other.

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2337: “The Physician Pardons His Palsied Patient” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1893)

I REMARKED in the reading that the Gospel of Matthew is especially the Gospel of the Kingdom and of the King. All through Matthew's writing, the title of King constantly occurs in connection with Christ, and His kingliness is prominent from the opening chapter to the close. Here we see the King exercising His royal prerogatives. In this passage we have several instances of Christ acting as He could not have acted if He had not possessed a royal and Divine Power. I.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

14 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
τί	ti	Which	G5101 →
γάρ	gar	for	G1063 →
ἐστιν	estin	is	G1510 →
εὐκοπώτερον·	eukopōteron	easier;	G2123 →
εἰπεῖν·	eipein	to say;	G2036 →
ἀφίενταί	aphientai	Are forgiven	G863 →
σου	sou	of you	G4771 →
αἱ	hai	the	G3588 →
ἁμαρτίαι,	hamartiai	sins,	G266 →
ἢ	ē	or	G2228 →
εἰπεῖν·	eipein	to say;	G2036 →
ἔγειρε	egeire	do arise	G1453 →
καὶ	kai	and	G2532 →
περιπάτει;	peripatei	do walk?	G4043 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk5

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Acts 3:16
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know has been made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him that has given him this…
leads to
- Matthew 21:21–22
  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain,…
- Acts 14:9
  This man was listening to the words of Paul, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed.
- Acts 3:6
  But Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”
- Mark 16:17–18
  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
- Luke 17:5–6
  The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”