"Why doth this man [Jesus] thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?"
Mark 2:7
One day, as Jesus was teaching He, paused to heal a paralyzed man. Before He healed the man physically, Jesus said, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” This statement shocked the scribes who happened to be there. They instantly went on the offensive in their minds, and Jesus didn’t miss it.
“Why doth this man [Jesus] thus speak blasphemies?”
Blasphemy is a serious charge. This sin can be against man or even someone blaspheming by attacking God.
The word “blaspheme” means “to hurt or blast the reputation or credit of another, or…to smite with reports.”1 “The word ‘blaspheme’ originally means to speak evil of anyone; to injure by words; to blame unjustly.”2 The person blaspheming is intentionally trying to slander the one they are talking about.
To speak blasphemy against God is to talk of Him unjustly, saying that He has done something He has not done, or that He has not done something that He has done. Blasphemy against God can be in the form of denying His attributes or adding to His attributes, misspeaking about Him and His character. “It also means to say or do anything by which his name or honor is insulted, or which conveys an ‘impression’ unfavourable [sic] to God.”3
The reason that the scribes said Jesus was blaspheming is that, “It means also, to attempt to do, or say a thing, which belongs to him [God] alone, or which he [God] only can do.”4 The scribes believed Jesus to be speaking this in His own name or by His authority, which He was.
The scribes’ logic was spot on, but their theology was incorrect. If Jesus, “a man,” was pronouncing forgiveness on this poor paralyzed man’s sin, He was blaspheming for “attempting to do or say a thing” that only God can do or say. But Jesus, being the Son of God (God in human flesh), had every right to forgive the man’s sin. In a few months from that day, Jesus went to the Cross as the “sin-bearer,” to pay for that man’s sin as well as ours.
“Who can forgive sins but God only?”
This part of the scribes’ statement was correct, only God can forgive sin! What does the Bible teach?
“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation,” (Exodus 34:6-7).
“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy,” (Micah 7:18).
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins,” (Isaiah 43:25).
Praise the LORD for His mercy and grace in forgiving our sins!
1. Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Clarke defined “blaspheme” this way in Matthew 9:3.
2. Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
3. Barnes, ibid.
4. Ibid.