But certain of the scribes were there sitting, and reasoning in their hearts,
The house is packed, Jesus has just told a paralysed man that his sins are forgiven, and in that same room sit men who say nothing at all. Their silence is the point: Mark records no spoken word, only a verdict already formed inside them.
The scribes were the recognised experts in the law of Moses, and they had been watching. Something in the room kept their objection unspoken.
Such an answer to faith was also a challenge to unbelief. The scribes were sitting there watching among the rest, and it was bound to stir them. They keep it in their hearts without speaking. That shows they still felt the power of His presence, or that for the time "the world had gone after Him." But there in their hearts it ferments: "Why does this man speak like this? He blasphemes: who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Two congregations were in that room, not one.
But Satan, too, had his congregation there... They were wise in their own eyes. They were judges of law and gospel, and neither doers of the one nor believers of the other. They rejected Christ and His mercy. Their proud reason looked down on the blessed truth of God, and their proud self-righteousness hated the grace they never knew they needed... Not that they cared for God or loved man, but they hated Jesus for His grace; and if it were the truth, their occupation was gone.
The word Mark uses describes an argument that has not yet reached the mouth. It grows in stages.
The word translated "disputings" is "dialogismos". From it we get our word "dialogue." It begins with an inward questioning that may be silent. Then these inward questionings become doubts. But when they grow bolder and are spoken out loud, they are disputings. You may see them well illustrated in Mark 2:6 and 8, where they are well translated "reasoning." The Lord often had to meet this spirit.
Nobody objected while He healed diseases and cast out demons. The objection starts the moment He speaks about sins.
The moment the Lord uses His power to forgive sins the opposition begins. Men did not object when He cast out demons, healed diseases and cleansed lepers. Those things relieved people of physical trouble without necessarily disturbing the conscience. As soon as He speaks of sins, that touches the conscience, and men begin to oppose.
Their theology was not the problem. The unspoken assumption underneath it was.
The words of the scribes were true: "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But their assumption was false — that the One who had just spoken was not God. He was God "manifest in the flesh," as He proved so often before their eyes. But all human reasoning founded on disbelief in the person of Christ must be not only false but evil.
One writer traces this reasoning, and all human reasoning, back to a single root.
Is not the answer to their reasoning, and to all human reasoning, this: where there is no sense of need, there is no grasp of the glory of the Person of Christ?
Their thoughts stayed unspoken, but not unknown.
The same inward habit of harbouring evil thoughts against the Lord Jesus came out when they carried the paralysed man to Him on his bed. The first words of the Lord to him were, "Son, your sins are forgiven." The scribes were sitting in the audience. As these words reached their ears, they accused Him of blasphemy in their hearts, in secret. They wrongly assumed within themselves that the Lord had taken over the right that belongs to God, who alone has authority to forgive sins. But the Lord perceived in His spirit their inward reasoning (Mark 2:8). The words that followed from Him showed everyone present that He could read the secret thoughts of men.
- Sitting. The scribes sat and watched. Their objection stayed inside them, because they still felt the power of His presence.
- Reasoning. The word means silent questioning inside. It hardens into doubt, then breaks out as open dispute.
- Conscience. Healed bodies drew no complaint. The word about sins touched the conscience, and that is where opposition started.
- Application. Their premise was sound: God alone forgives. But reasoning built on disbelief in who Christ is turns a true principle into a false and evil conclusion.
- Exposed. Where there is no sense of need, no one sees the glory of Christ. Then the One they accused read their unspoken verdict aloud.
Why does this [man] thus speak? he blasphemes. Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?
The scribes stay silent, but in their hearts they accuse Jesus of insulting God for forgiving a paralysed man's sins. Their rule about God is right — the real question is whether they know who is sitting in front of them.
Start with the word behind their charge.
Blasphemy is one of the New Testament Greek words. Among the Jews it gained a wider meaning than it had in classical writing. There it meant simply "speaking against" a person. So a "blasphemy" was the opposite of speaking well of someone.
Their premise was not the problem. Notice, too, what set them off.
The moment the Lord uses His power to forgive sins the opposition starts. Men did not object when He cast out demons, healed diseases, and cleansed lepers. Those works relieved people of bodily trouble, and they did not have to touch the conscience. As soon as He speaks of sins, He touches the conscience, and men begin to oppose. They say, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Their argument was true in principle, for God alone can forgive sins. It was wrong in application. They failed to see the glory of the Person who was present — God manifest in flesh.
He looked past the paralysed body to the root of the trouble. And pardon still has a price.
The Lord uses the wretched state of the paralytic to point out the true root of all evils — sin. He had come because sin was in the world. And why did He come, if not so that sin might be forgiven? Since God is just, there must of course be a perfect atonement for sins before He can forgive them. But Jehovah, who knew everything, could grant the pardon through the Son of man... Psalm 103 celebrates Him as the One who would forgive all Israel's iniquities and heal all his infirmities.
Their objection stayed inside their heads. He answered it anyway.
Jesus was present as the One who pardons iniquities and heals diseases (Ps. 103:3). But He was also present as the One who searches the hearts, tests the inner life, and knows the innermost thoughts (Ps. 94:11; Jer. 17:10). He saw the faith of the five men, and He saw the reasonings of the scribes too. He saw them in His own all-knowing spirit. This was not a power given to Him for the moment, as it might have been with a prophet. No one but God could see into the secret workings of a man's spirit, as Solomon admitted in his prayer (1 Kings 8:39)... Who else could "hear them thinking"?
Their problem was not the argument. It was pride.
They were wise in their own eyes. They set themselves up as judges of law and gospel, and they neither did the one nor believed the other... They rejected Christ and His mercy. Their proud reason looked down on the blessed truth of God. Their proud self-righteousness rejected and hated the grace they never knew they needed... The principle they urged was true, the application fatally false. How often religious unbelievers crash on this rock and perish!
The same blindness is not unique to them.
What is the answer to their reasonings, and to all human reasonings? Where there is no sense of need, there is no realization of the glory of the Person of Christ.
The scribes also had something to lose.
The religious rulers found this way of Jesus interfered with them. Their interest was to keep God and the people apart; for then they had hopes of being used themselves. So they were angry when the Lord said to the man, "Your sins are forgiven." It was a great interference with them. It trespassed on their position. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" — and God was in heaven. The Son of man forgiving sins on earth upset the whole system that kept them in credit and plenty in the world.
- Right rule. Only God forgives sins. On that, the scribes were correct.
- Wrong Person. They missed the glory of the One standing in front of them — God manifest in flesh.
- Real disease. He treated sin, not paralysis, as the root trouble. Pardon rests on a perfect atonement, and it was His to give.
- Silent proof. He answered thoughts they never spoke. Only God can search a heart like that.
- Real reason. Pride and position blocked them. Where no one feels the need, the glory of Christ stays hidden.