Matt16_18 offers a very good analogy that I hope to use in future opportunities. Thanks for the explanation.
And thanks too for pointing out the following verse:
Matt16_18:
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”
Mark 2:5
I could very well be wrong abou this, but reading this verse in context actually lends itself to what I said in my previous post. Consider Mark 2:3-12:
And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, 4
Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. carried by four men.
5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
9 "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
Your sins are forgiven'; or to say, Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?
10 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–He said to the paralytic,
11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”
12 And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
At first glance, it may appear that it was because of the faith of the men who brought the paralytic that his sins were forgiven. However, “seeing their faith” does not mean “because of their faith.” As stated before, faith and works are marks of our salvation, or in other words, that we are in a state of grace. In the above example, Christ either observes the fruits of the men’s faith, or can see into their hearts and know that their faith is genuine. Either way, he is able to declare that the paralytic’s sins are forgiven, and not necessarily because of their faith but rather because Christ is free to dispense his grace as he sees fit.
Notice, too, that the forgiveness was limited to only the paralytic and not the men who actually did the heavy lifting so to speak. Why is this when Jesus clearly pointed out “their faith” in reference to the rest of the men? The reason for this may be because of the more pressing point that needed to be made, particularly in the company of the Jewish scribes who understood that only God can forgive sins. Christ’s primary intent here is to make a very public and phenomenal claim to being God. Saying “I forgive your sins” as a Jew is the same as saying “I am God.” To further prove his claim, Christ challenges the scribes with a follow up question and then proceeds to heal the paralytic – a miracle that only God can do.
The final point here is to remember to read all bible verses in context to better understand their meaning. Otherwise, one risks the possibility of promulgating error as the fundamentalists do.
Mike
I am not saying that Catholics must drop everything whenever they bump into a street evangelist!
It shows the “correct" answers that antinomian Evangelical Protestants expect for the EE questions, and why they are outraged that Catholics could even think that they understand how man is saved:
