Luke 5:23

21 ^aAnd the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? ^bWho can forgive sins but God alone?”

22 But when Jesus ^aperceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?

24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, ^a“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, ^aglorifying God.

26 And they were all amazed, and they ^aglorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

Matthew the Tax Collector

27 ^aAfter these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ^b“Follow Me.”

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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What Does Luke 5:23 Mean?

Luke 5:17-26

In the healing of the paralytic (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26), the physician Luke uses a medical term, "palsied" (KJV), the technical Greek word used to describe paralysis from disease in some part of the nervous system. Because his disease was so debilitating, the man needed comfort and healing. Jesus thus refers to him as "son," or more literally, "child," showing His fatherly compassion.

Paralysis represents sin's crippling power and the sinner's sheer helplessness to do anything to relieve his own suffering. The apostle Paul speaks of our initial lack of spiritual strength in Romans 5:6, "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." With this miracle, Jesus forgave the penalty that the man had incurred through sin and raised him from his miserable state.

Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing a Paralytic (Part Two)

**Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Luke 5:23:**

Matthew 9:1-8
Luke 5:17-26
Luke 5:36-39
Luke 7:49

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