Who Can Forgive Sins?

What Forgiveness Is

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When Jesus told the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5), He gave him the greatest gift a person can ever receive. But what does it mean to be forgiven?

Sin is against God. When we sin, we often hurt people, but we also go against God, who made us and loves us. The lost son in Jesus' story said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Luke 15:21).

Sin is a debt. Jesus taught us to pray, “And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). A debt is something you owe and must pay back.

We cannot pay it. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Being good tomorrow cannot pay for what we did wrong today.

Forgiveness sends sin away. To forgive means to let someone go free from what they owe. God does not pretend our sin never happened. He takes it away.

Removed far away. “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Transgressions means sins. That is farther than anyone can picture.

Into the sea. “You will cast all our sins Into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). God throws them where no one can dig them up again.

White as snow. “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Scarlet is a deep red stain that will not wash out. God makes us clean.

Remembered no more. God promised, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). God chooses never to hold our sins against us again.

Truly happy. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). Blessed means truly happy.

God loves to forgive. “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity… Because He delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18). Mercy is kindness we do not deserve.

Only God can. Because every sin is against God, only God can forgive it. That is why the scribes asked, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7).

What we learn. Forgiveness is a gift from God. We cannot earn it. It sends our sin far away and makes us clean.

What to do. Tonight, tell God about something wrong you have done. Say you are sorry, and then thank Him that He forgives everyone who comes to Him through Jesus.

Jesus' words in Mark 2:5 shocked the scribes. To see why, we need to understand what forgiveness is in the Bible and why only God can give it.

Sin is personal. Every sin is first of all against God. David confessed his sin to the Lord (Psalm 32:5), and the lost son said, “I have sinned against heaven” (Luke 15:21). Only the one who has been wronged can forgive the wrong.

Sin as debt (Matthew 6:12). The Lord's Prayer calls sins debts. Sin creates a debt toward God that we have no way to repay, because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

The word for forgive. The Greek aphiēmi (say: ah-FEE-ay-mee) means to send away, release or cancel. It is the same word used when the fishermen “immediately left their nets” (Mark 1:18). When God forgives, He sends the debt away and leaves it behind.

Psalm 103:12. East and west are as far apart as anything a person can picture. That is how far God removes our sins from us.

Micah 7:18-19. Micah asks, “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity?” The answer is no one. God is unique because He forgives, and He “delights in mercy.”

Isaiah 1:18. Scarlet and crimson dyes did not wash out of cloth. God promises to do what no washing can do: make a stained heart “as white as snow.”

Jeremiah 31:34. In the new covenant God says, “Their sin I will remember no more.” God does not forget the way we forget. He chooses never to bring it up against us again.

Not cheap. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Remission means release from a debt. Forgiveness is free to us because it cost Someone else a life.

The scribes' reasoning. The scribes knew from Scripture that God alone forgives (Mark 2:7). In Isaiah 43:25 the Lord says He blots out transgressions for His own sake.

Two ways to respond. If Jesus is only a man, His words were blasphemy. If He is God, they are the best news anyone could hear.

Forgiven people forgive. “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Application. Confess your sin honestly to God (1 John 1:9), receive His forgiveness by faith, and then release others from what they owe you.

The Son of Man Has Power

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The scribes were right that only God can forgive sins. Then Jesus showed them who was standing in front of them.

He knew their thoughts. Jesus knew what the scribes were thinking without being told (Mark 2:8). Only God knows every heart.

He forgave by His own word. Jesus did not tell the man that God might forgive him someday. He said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” He forgave like God, because He is God.

The proof. Jesus said, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10). Then He told the man to get up, and the man got up right away.

The Son of Man. This was the name Jesus used for Himself most often. It comes from a vision God gave the prophet Daniel.

Daniel's vision. Daniel saw “One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven!” (Daniel 7:13).

A forever King. “Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom… His dominion is an everlasting dominion” (Daniel 7:14). Dominion means the right to rule.

All authority. After He rose from the dead, Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

He came to serve. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). A ransom is a price paid to set someone free.

The cost of forgiveness. Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). The tree means the cross.

Through His blood. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7). Redemption means being bought back.

Forgiving from the cross. Even while He was dying, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Alive to forgive. Jesus rose again, and “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Intercession means praying for someone.

Who He is. Only God can forgive sins, and Jesus forgave sins. That is one of the clearest ways the Bible shows us that Jesus is God.

What we learn. Jesus is the Son of Man, God's forever King, and He has power to forgive you.

What to do. Ask Jesus to forgive you and to be your King. Then thank Him every day for the price He paid.

In Mark 2 Jesus answered the scribes' question with a title and an action. Both pointed to the same truth: the One who forgives is God.

Knowing hearts (2:8). Scripture teaches that God alone knows the human heart (1 Kings 8:39). Jesus knew the scribes' thoughts “in His spirit” at once.

Forgiving in His own name. When the prophet Nathan spoke to David, he announced what the Lord had done (2 Samuel 12:13). Jesus spoke differently. He forgave on His own authority (exousia, say: ex-oo-SEE-ah, the right and power to act).

The visible sign. The healing was the proof, not the main point. Jesus made the claim that could be checked to back up the claim that could not (Mark 2:9-11).

Daniel 7:13-14. Daniel saw “One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven!” He came to the Ancient of Days and received “dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.”

Human and heavenly. Son of Man sounds human, and Jesus was truly human. But Daniel's Son of Man rides the clouds and is served by every nation, a picture of divine glory. The title fits Jesus, who is fully man and fully God.

At His trial. When the high priest asked if He was the Christ, Jesus answered by pointing to the Son of Man coming with the clouds (Mark 14:62). The court called it blasphemy (Mark 14:64), the same charge the scribes thought in Mark 2:7.

Mark 10:45. The Son of Man came “to give His life a ransom for many.” A ransom is a price paid to free a captive. Forgiveness is free to us because Jesus paid the ransom.

The great exchange. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our sin was counted to Jesus, and His righteousness is counted to us.

Paid in full. He “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us… having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). The record of our debt is canceled.

Hebrews 1:3. “When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The work of forgiveness is finished, and the One who did it reigns.

Hebrews 7:25. He “always lives to make intercession” for those who come to God through Him. The risen Son of Man still has power on earth to forgive.

Application. If Jesus has authority to forgive, His word settles the matter. When guilt accuses you, remember who has spoken: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

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Complete all sections to finish!

Read each section and answer the questions correctly.