Luke 5:23

23 Is it easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, "Get up and walk'?

Luke 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 5:23

Whether is it easier to say
Mark adds, "to the sick of the palsy"; to whom Christ had said that his sins were forgiven him, which had given offence to the Scribes and Pharisees, imagining that he had assumed too much to himself: wherefore he proposes the following case to them, which they thought was most easy for man, or more proper and peculiar to God to say,

thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, rise up and walk?
Neither of them could be said by a mere man, with effect, so as that sins would be really remitted on so saying; or that a man sick of a palsy, by such a word speaking, would be able to stand upon his feet and walk; but both of them were equally easy to him, that is truly God; and he that could say the one effectually, could also say the other: or in other words, he that could cure a man of a palsy with a word speaking, ought not to be charged with blasphemy, for taking upon him to forgive sin: our Lord meant, by putting this question, and acting upon it, to prove himself to be God, and to remove the imputation of blasphemy from him; (See Gill on Matthew 9:5). (See Gill on Mark 2:9).

Luke 5:23 In-Context

21 The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who speaks such blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!"
22 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Why do you think such things?
23 Is it easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, "Get up and walk'?
24 I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, pick up your bed, and go home!"
25 At once the man got up in front of them all, took the bed he had been lying on, and went home, praising God.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.