Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 5:23

"Which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk?" — Luke 5:23 (ASV)

Luke indicates that Jesus exercised extraordinary knowledge by having insight into one’s inner thoughts. He placed his challengers in a hypothetical dilemma (v.23; cf. 6:9; 20:3–44). Obviously while Jesus’ two options are in one sense equally easy to say (and equally impossible to do), in another sense it is easier to say that which cannot be proved or disproved: “Your sins are forgiven.” 24 The structure of this sentence is broken by the redirecting of Jesus’ comments from the leaders to the man. Thus a focus is maintained both on Jesus’ running controversy with the religious leaders and on his ministry to the paralytic.

Here is the first appearance of the term “Son of Man” in Luke (see comment on Mk 8:31). It occurs in connection with the right to pronounce forgiveness rather than with the themes of suffering and glory that characterize its specific use in the other passages where it is used.