Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 9:4

"And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?" — Matthew 9:4 (ASV)

Jesus had seen the faith of the paralytic and his friends; now he saw the evil thoughts of some of the teachers of the law. Such discernment may have been supernatural, though not necessarily so. Jesus’ charge probed beyond their talk of blasphemy to what they were thinking in their hearts. And what they were thinking was untrue, unbelieving, and blind to what was being revealed before their eyes.