Luke 5:23

5:23-24 Jesus showed his authority to forgive sins by healing the man.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

23. Whether is easier, to say] An impostor might say ‘thy sins have been forgiven’ without any visible sign whether his words had any power or not; no one could by a word make a man ‘rise and walk’ who had not received power from God. But our Lord had purposely used words which while they brought the earthly miracle into less prominence, went to the very root of the evil, and implied a yet loftier prerogative.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Mat 9:5. See Gill on Mar 2:9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

Ver. 23. Whether is easier] q.d. Neither of either: for both are equally hard, and feasible to God alone.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? The Heart-reader hears, perhaps, the murmur as it runs round the circle, and grasping in a moment all that was in the angry hearts of these men, said aloud, that all might hear, some such words as these, "See now what I am about to do. You, in your dim short-sighted wisdom, think my forgiving this poor repentant sinner his dark past, is but an empty, meaningless form of words. See now whether what I am about to do further for him is an empty meaningless boon."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. τί ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον …; The adj. εὕκοπος is not found in Attic. In the N.T. it is only used in the comparative. Any one might say ‘thy sins have been forgiven’ without any visible sign whether his words had any power or not; no one could by a word make a man ‘rise and walk’ who had not received power from God. But our Lord had purposely used words which while they brought the earthly miracle into less prominence, went to the very root of the evil, and implied a yet loftier prerogative.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. τί ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν … ἤ εἰπεῖν. It is in this verse and the next that the three accounts are most similar—almost verbatim the same. The challenge is a very practical one, and the point of it is in the εἰπεῖν. It is easier to say, “Thy sins are forgiven,” because no one can prove that they are not forgiven. But the claim to heal with a word can be easily and quickly tested.

εὐκοπώτερον. Lit. “more capable of being done with easy labour” (εὐκόπος). In N.T. always in the comparative (16:17, 18:25; Mar 10:25; Mat 19:24); but εὐκοπον occurs 1 Mal 3:18; Ecclus, 22:15. It is found in Polyb., but not in class. Grk.—For τίς in the sense of “whether of two” like πότερος as quis = uter, comp. 22:27; Mat 21:31, Mat 21:24:17, Mat 21:27:17, Mat 21:21; Xen. Cyr. iii. 1, 17.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Walk [περιπατει] . Lit., walk about.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.