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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Luke 7:49
Comments
‘Who is this that forgiveth sins also?’, or as they said before in Luke, ‘Who can forgive sins, but God alone?’ (Luke 5:21). They were of course right. No one but God could say, ‘Thy sins are forgiven.’ The friends of Simon the Pharisees, who sit around the table, hear these words and they are shocked, for they have been spoken by a man. No Pharisee ever spoke such words. No priest ever spoke like this on their own authority in such a comprehensive way. Certainly, the ceremonial law offered forgiveness, but only through the sacrifices laid down in the law of Moses, according to which God had said in advance that he would pardon sin. It was his forgiveness, and all that the priest could do was assure the people that these were the terms given by God and that he would keep his word: ‘the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven’ (Leviticus 4:20).But this was completely different to anything they had heard before. This was a man claiming on his own authority, without qualification, to be able to forgive sin. No sacrifice had been offered. It was a declaration of Christ right then and there in their presence on the basis of his will and determination. But they did not know him. They did not know how he had come to be the Saviour of the world, to forgive the sin of all who come to him, and that the Father had given him the authority to forgive sins (Luke 5:24). Jesus Christ never uttered a lie or overstated the extent of his powers. But the friends of Simon could not receive these words, and they did not know who Christ was, and in their prejudice they made a careful note of his saying, which they would use against him in the future.
Application
We want to hear these words; we need to hear these words. But we cannot go to any mere man, any earthly priest to hear them. We can only go to Christ himself, and when we hear them from him, we know they are true. We can rejoice over them as words that we can hold onto forever, and words that will never be retracted or changed. The words of Christ are different to the words spoken by every other person. He knows that what he says is true, and he wants us to know it is true, for he knows that this is our greatest need, and we can have assurance that we are forgiven in no other way, than to hear it from his mouth.
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