When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
- KJV And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
- NKJV When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
- NASB And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”
- NLT Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Seeing their faith, Jesus first forgives the man's sins. He addresses the deepest human need before the physical one.
Overview
Jesus responds to the faith of the man and his friends not by healing first but by pronouncing forgiveness, revealing that sin is humanity's root problem. His authority to forgive, which belongs to God alone, is implicitly claimed. This sets up the controversy and points to Christ as the one who deals decisively with sin, which he will accomplish at the cross.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Acts 14:9This man was listening to the words of Paul, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed.
- Matt 9:2Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”
- Mark 2:5When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
- Luke 7:48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
- Jas 2:18But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
- John 2:25He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.
- Col 3:13Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
- Gen 22:12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
- 2 Cor 2:10If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake,
- Acts 11:23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
- Ps 90:7–8For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
- John 5:14Afterward, Jesus found the man at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”
- Isa 38:17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Ps 107:17–18Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.
- Jas 5:14–15Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 5:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.