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Mark II, 10a and the Interpretation of the Healing of the Paralytic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

G. H. Boobyer
Affiliation:
University of Durham (Newcastle Division), Newcastle Upon Tyne, England

Extract

The main exegetical difficulties of Mk. II, 1–12 are considered to be: (a) the awkwardness of the wording of 10b and 11a. With the statement “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins” Jesus is held to be addressing the scribes, but the text proceeds with an abrupt transition to “he saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee….” (b) The public use of the title “Son of man” so early in the Lord's ministry, (c) The open avowal to the scribes of the Son of man's power on earth to forgive sins, (d) The observation in verse 12 that “they were all amazed and glorified God,” as though even the critical scribes joined with the crowd in the approving acclamation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1954

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References

1 From Tradition to Gospel (1933), pp. 66–68; The Gospel according to St. Mark (1952), p. 191.

2 LʼÉvangile selon Marc (1912), 87–89.

3 Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition (1931), pp. 12–14.

4 The Gospel according to St. Mark (1925), p. 24.

5 E.g. Schniewind, J., Das Evangelium nach Markus (1949), pp. 59 f.Google Scholar; V. Taylor, The Gospel according to St. Mark, p. 199 f.

6 J. Schniewind maintains that the forgiveness of the sins of the paralytic will have been interpreted in the light of passages like Isai. XXXIII, 24. Jer. XXXI, 34 etc. (op. cit., p. 58); and E. Lohmeyer suggests that it will have been understood in relation to the LXX text of Isai. LXI, i (Das Evangelium des Markus, 1951, p. 54).

7 Cf. IV, 10f, 34; V, 37; VIII, 17–21, 27–31; IX, 2–9 etc.

8 There are of course other passages in St. Mark which might be understood along the lines suggested here for Mk. II, 10a (e.g. II, 28; VII, 3), but I have deliberately refrained from using them in this article.