Mark 2:6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why is this man speaking this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except One, God? 8 And immediately Jesus, knowing fully in His spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves, said to them, Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?
Scribes and Pharisees, as the proponents of the old and dead religion, were motivated and used by Satan, the enemy of God, to oppose, resist, and frustrate the gospel service of the Slave of God throughout all His ministry. They thought they worshipped God and were zealous for Him, not knowing that the very God of their forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was immediately before them in the form of a slave to serve them. They were blinded by their traditional religion from seeing Him in God's economy, and they plotted to kill Him. Later they actually killed Him (15:1, 31). The reasoning scribes, who considered themselves "scriptural" and "theological," acknowledged the Slave-Savior merely as a man, even a despised Nazarene (John 1:45-46). They did not realize that the One who forgave the sins of the paralytic was actually the forgiving God incarnated in the form of a lowly man. The scribes, assuming that they knew the Scriptures, thought that only God had authority to forgive sins, and that Jesus, who in their eyes was only a man, blasphemed God when He said, "Your sins are forgiven." This indicates that they did not realize that the Lord was God. The Gospel of Mark presents the Lord in the likeness of man and in the form of a slave. The scribes did not realize that within the humanity of this Slave there was deity. The Lord behaved Himself in such a way as to indicate that within His humanity there was deity. The Lord was a Nazarene in the form of a slave; yet He had omniscience. Because He was omniscient, He knew what the scribes were saying in their hearts. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Mark, pp. 64-65. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
To unsubscribe from the mailing list, either: Send an email to: [email protected] (No subject or message needed; a blank email will work) or visit www.emanna.com and fill out the unsubscribe form there.
