This miracle is recorded also by Matthew and Luke. The former indicates its chronological position as occurring after the return from Gadara. Our gracious Lord "again entered into Capernaum," so slow is he to leave the most undeserving. The news of his arrival quickly spread; indeed, whenever he enters a home or a heart, he cannot be hid. True love and eager faith will surely find him, and in this passage we find an example of that truth.

I. THE COMING OF THE PARALYTIC is full of teaching for those who are now seeking the Saviour.

1. He had friends who helped him. Powerless to move, he was peculiarly dependent on their kindness. A sufferer from palsy not only needs much patience and resignation himself, but creates a demand for it in others, and so may prove by his presence in the home to be a means of grace to those called on to minister to him. To serve and help those who are permanent invalids is a holy service, to which many are secretly called, who therein may prove themselves good and faithful servants of the Lord. Such ministration needs a gentle hand, a patient spirit, a courageous heart, and a noble self-forgetfulness. Above all, we should endeavour to bring our sick ones to the feet of Jesus, that they may rejoice in his pardoning love. Our counsels, our example, and our prayers may do for them what these people did for their paralyzed friend.

2. He found difficulties in approaching Christ. The crowd was impassable. They ascended the staircase outside (Matthew 24:17), and so reached the fiat roof. Then they broke up the covering of the roof and let down the bed on which the sick of the palsy lay. These obstacles tried their faith, proved and purified it. There are difficulties in the way of our approach to Christ; some of which may be removed by our friends, others of which can only be overcome by our own faith and courage. Prejudices, easily besetting sins, evil companions, are examples.

3. The difficulties were victoriously surmounted. The fact that they were so was a manifest proof of the faith which animated this man and his friends. Some way is always open to those eager for salvation, though it may be one that seems unusual to onlookers.

II. THE GRACIOUSNESS OF THE SAVIOUR.

1. He knew the man's deepest wants. Probably the paralytic was more troubled about his sin than about his sickness, although his friends did not know it. We ought to be more anxious about the soul than about the body. Christ Jesus reads our secret thoughts. "He knew what was in man." He noticed and exposed the unexpressed anger of his enemies (ver. 8). But while he discovers the secret sin, far more readily does he discern the silent longing for pardon.

2. He was willing and waiting to bless. There was no delay. The strange interruption to teaching was not resented but welcomed. At once he spoke the word of pardon for which the man's heart was hungering, although he foresaw the indignation and scorn which would follow on the declaration, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." Divine love is not to be restrained by human narrowness, whether in the Church or outside it.

3. He showed himself ready and able to forgive. Possibly our Lord saw a connection between this illness and some special sin. He guards us, however, against supposing that it is always so (Luke 13:15; John 9:3). Perhaps the secret pangs of conscience were in the way of physical restoration here. Sometimes pardon was given after cure (Luke 17:19; John 5:14). The scribes were right in their declaration that none but God can forgive sins. The Levitical priests, under the old dispensation, were authorized to announce Divine forgiveness, as God's representatives, after the offering of appointed sacrifices; but the scribes very properly recognized that Jesus claimed to do far more than that. He admitted that it was so, and as the Son of man (Daniel 7:13) he claimed the power they denied him, and at once gave a proof that the power was actually his. They might have argued that there was no evidence that the man's sins were forgiven; that Jesus was making a safe claim, which could not be tested. In order to meet this he said in effect, "I will now claim and exercise a power the result of which you can see; and it shall either brand me as an impostor, or else it shall be a sign that my former utterance had effect." Then said he to the sick of the palsy, "Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house." Like that man, may our recovered and redeemed powers be instantaneously used in obedience to Christ. - A.

The empty tomb of Jesus recalls an event which is as well attested as any in history. It is so attested as to put the idea of what is called "illusion" out of the question. The main purpose, the first duty, of the apostolic ministry was to witness to the fact that Christ had risen. The apostles did not teach the resurrection as a revealed truth, as. they taught, e.g., the doctrine of justification; they taught the resurrection as a fact of experience — a fact of which they themselves had had experience. And this is why the different evangelists do not report the same appearances of our risen Lord. Each one reports that which he himself witnessed, or that which was witnessed by the eyewitness on whose authority he writes. Put the various attestations together, and the evidence is irresistible. That which these witnesses attest must be true, unless they have conspired to deceive us, or are themselves deceived. The idea that they are deceived, however, cannot be entertained by any man who understands human character; the idea that they were themselves deceived is inconsistent with the character of the witness which they give. No doubt there are states of hallucination, states of mental tension, in which a man may fancy that he sees something which does not in fact present itself to his senses. The imagination for the moment is so energetic as to impose upon the senses an impression which corresponds to that, whatever it be, which creates an emotion within the soul. Nay more, the New Testament itself speaks of inward revelations, sometimes during sleep, sometimes during the waking hours, as was that rapture of which St. Paul wrote, into "the third heaven, whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell — God knoweth." But the accounts of the appearances of our risen Lord do not at all admit of either of these explanations. If He had been seen only for a passing moment, only by one or two individuals separately, only in one set of circumstances, under one set of conditions again and again repeated, then there would have been room for the suspicion of a morbid hallucination, or at least of an inward vision. But what is the real state of the case? The risen One was seen five times on the day that He was raised from the dead; He was seen a week after; He was seen more than a month after that; and frequently, on many occasions, during the interval; He was seen by women alone, by men alone, by parties of two and three, by disciples assembled in conclave, by multitudes of men, five hundred at a time; He was seen in a garden, in a public roadway, in an upper chamber, on a mountain in Galilee, on the shore by the lake, in the village where His friends dwelt. He taught as before His death, He instructed, He encouraged, He reproved, He blessed, He uttered prolonged discourses which were remembered, which were recorded; He explained passages of Scripture, He revealed great doctrines, He gave emphatic commands, He made large and new promises, He communicated ministerial powers; and they who pressed around Him knew that His risen body was no phantom form, for He ate and drank before them just as in the days of yore, and they could, if they would, have pressed their very fingers into the fresh wounds in His hands and feet and side. In short, He left on a group of minds, most unlike each other, one profound ineffaceable impression, that they had seen and lived with One who had died indeed and had risen again, and that this fact was in itself and in its import so precious, so pregnant with meaning and with blessing to the human race, that it threw in their minds all other facts into relative insignificance; it was worth living for, it was worth dying for.

(Canon Liddon.)

The Saviour's first appearance after resurrection was to a woman. For all He had died. But not to an assembled world does He manifest Himself now that He has risen victorious o'er the grave; not to angels, or apostles; not to the faithful Joseph, or the true-hearted Nicodemus; but to a woman!

I. THE CHARACTER OF THE PERSON TO WHOM CHRIST APPEARED. A woman, and an inhabitant of a distant and unimportant town bordering towards the Gentile frontier, who had been possessed of demons, until Christ reached forth to her the hand of pity.

II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH HE APPEARED TO HER. He called her by her name.

III. THE GRAND TRUTH HERE ILLUSTRATED.

1. It was not a mere chance encounter. Christ having already left the tomb, must have purposely concealed Himself from all His disciples save the one whom He wanted to see and comfort.

2. Jesus revealed Himself to her, unaccompanied by any. No angel hosts: Christ was "all in all."

3. The manifestation was afforded in a garden to a woman. Eden: Eve.

(George Venabbes.)

The flee grace of the gospel, and the holiness it produces, distinguish it from every other system. It both justifies and sanctifies. In its method of justifying, it gives glory to God, and brings peace to man. In its method of sanctifying, it displays the fulness of grace, and delivers from the power of Satan.

I. THOSE WHO ARE MOST UNDER SATANIC INFLUENCE, ARE YET WITHIN THE REACH OF THE GOSPEL.

1. The power of evil spirits would be exerted over both body and soul, if they were not restrained by a greater power. As it is, Satan blinds the mind; works powerfully in the hearts of the children of disobedience; puts it into men's hearts to betray the best of Masters, and to lie against the best Friend. All sins, whether against God or against men, are committed in consequence of his temptation.

2. No power can counteract this evil influence but that which is Divine. In heathen countries Satan reigns uncontrolled; in Christian countries his devices are revealed, all his malice is baffled, his kingdom is overthrown.

3. The gospel not merely delivers men from Satanic influence, but exalts men into the most holy characters.

II. THE GOSPEL CAN EFFECT THE REFORMATION OF THE MOST ABANDONED. No sooner was Mary Magdalene dispossessed, than she devotes herself to the service of her Lord. So with all who heartily embrace Christ's religion. The power of sin in them is destroyed, the influence of Satan is dissolved, and they become willing captives of Christ's love. , in one of his apologies, says, "O Emperor; we, who were formerly adulterers, are now chaste; we, who used magic charms, now depend on the immortal God; we, who loved money, now cheerfully contribute to the wants of all; we, who would not sit down with those who were not of the same tribe with us, now cheerfully sit among and pray for the conversion of them that hate us, and persuade them to live according to the excellent precepts of Christ."

1. Let us learn how admirably the gospel is adapted to the present state of human nature. It finds us guilty, and reveals to us the sovereign mercy of God in Christ. It subdues the corrupt heart; turns men from darkness to light, etc.

2. See what ground this affords for exertion, even in the most desperate cases.

(W. Marsh, M. A.)

I. WHO SHE WAS. Christ revealed Himself first to a woman. A woman out of whom He had cast seven devils. She had been a special trophy of Christ's delivering power. In her mighty grace had proved its power. She had become a constant attendant on the Saviour. She spent her substance in relieving His wants.

II. HOW SHE SOUGHT. Very early in the morning. With very great boldness. Very faithfully: stood at sepulchre. Very earnestly — weeping. Perseveringly. Sought Christ only. There was much ignorance, very little faith, but much love.

III. HOW SHE FOUND HIM. Jesus Christ was discovered to her by a word. Her heart owned allegiance by another word. Her next impulse was to seek close fellowship. She then entered on His service.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I. A melancholy instance of Satanic power.

II. A glorious trophy of Divine grace. The cure was unsought by her. Mary resisted the healing hand. She was healed by a word. She was healed instantaneously.

III. An ardent follower of Christ.

IV. A faithful adherent to her Master under all trial.

V. One of the most favoured beholders of Christ.

VI. An honoured messenger of Christ to the apostles.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Was it not most meet that a woman should first see the risen Saviour. She was first in the transgression, let her be first in the justification. In yon garden she was first to work our woe; let her in that other garden be the first to see Him who works our weal. She takes the apple of that bitter tree which brings us all our sorrow; let her be the first to see the Mighty Gardener, who has planted a tree which brings forth fruit unto everlasting life.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Mary Magdalene represents those who have come under the tormenting and distracting power of Satan, and whose lamp of joy is quenched in tenfold night. They are imprisoned not so much in the dens of sin as in the dungeons of sorrow; not so criminal as they are wretched; not so depraved as they are desolate.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Persons possessed with devils were unhappy; they found the gloom of the sepulchre to be their most congenial resort. They were unsocial and solitary. If they were permitted, they broke away from all those dear associations of the family circle which gave half the charms to life; they delighted to wander in dry places, seeking rest and finding none; they were pictures of misery, images of woe. Such was the seven-times unhappy Magdalene, for into her there had entered a complete band of devils. She was overwhelmed with seven seas of agony, loaded with seven manacles of despair, encircled with seven walls of fire. Neither day nor night afforded her rest, her brain was on fire, and her soul foamed like a boiling cauldron.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

To sum up much in few words, there is no doubt that Mary Magdalene would have been considered by us to be demented; she was, practically, a maniac. Reason was unshipped, and Satan stood at the helm instead of reason, and the poor barque was hurried hither and thither under the guidance of demons.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I remember a man of excellent character, well-beloved by his family and esteemed by his neighbours, who was for twenty years enveloped in unutterable gloom. He ceased to attend the house of God, because he said it was no use; and although always ready to help in every good work, yet he had an abiding conviction upon him that, personally, he had no part nor lot in this matter, and never could have. The more you talked to him the worse he became; even prayer seemed but to excite him to more fearful despondency. In the providence of God, I was called to preach the Word in his neighbourhood; he was induced to attend, and, by God's gracious power, under the sermon he obtained a joyful liberty. After twenty years of anguish and unrest, he ended his weary roamings at the foot of the cross, to the amazement of his neighbours, the joy of his friends, and to the glory of God.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Until the gate of hell is shut upon a man, we must not cease to pray for him; and if we see him hugging the very door posts of damnation, we must go to the mercy seat and beseech the arm of grace to pluck him from his dangerous position. The case of Mary Magdalene is a looking glass in which many souls, wrung with anguish, may see themselves.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Abiathar, Alphaeus, David, Jesus, John, LeviCapernaum, GalileeAuthority, Forgive, Forgiveness, Palsy, Paralytic, Paralytic-, Pardon, Power, Says, Sick, Sins, Sins-he1. Jesus followed by multitudes,
3. heals a paralytic;
13. calls Matthew;
15. eats with tax collectors and sinners;
18. excuses his disciples for not fasting;
23. and for picking the heads of grain on the Sabbath day.

Mark 2:10

     2012   Christ, authority
     2066   Christ, power of
     2078   Christ, sonship of
     2221   Christ, Son of Man
     6689   mercy, of Christ

Mark 2:1-12

     5162   lameness

Mark 2:3-12

     2012   Christ, authority
     5285   cures
     6040   sinners

Mark 2:5-10

     2018   Christ, divinity

Mark 2:5-12

     7464   teachers of the law

Mark 2:8-12

     5030   knowledge, of Christ

Mark 2:10-11

     2233   Son of Man

Mark 2:10-12

     1418   miracles, responses

December 28 Morning
Thy sins be forgiven thee.--MARK 2:5. I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.--Who can forgive sins but God only? I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.--Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.--Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity? God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.--The blood of Jesus Christ …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 8 Evening
Why reason ye these things in your hearts?--MARK 2:8. Being not weak in faith, [Abraham] considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb; he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?--If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

The Secret of Gladness
'And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?'--Mark ii. 19. This part of our Lord's answer to the question put by John's disciples as to the reason for the omission of the practice of fasting by His followers. The answer is very simple. It is--'My disciples do not fast because they are not sad.' And the principle which underlies the answer is a very important one. It is this: that all outward forms of religion, appointed by man, ought only …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Authority to Forgive
'And again He entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that He was in the house. 2. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door; and He preached the word unto them. 3. And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4. And when they could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where He was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Publicans' Friend
'And He went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. 14. And as He passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed Him. 15. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples: for there were many, and they followed Him. 16. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with publicans …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Works which Hallow the Sabbath
'And it came to pass, that He went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? 25. And He said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 28. How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Friend of Sinners
(Preached in London.) MARK ii. 15, 16. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners they said onto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? We cannot wonder at the scribes and Pharisees asking this question. I think that we should most of us ask the …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

The Sick of the Palsy
"And when He entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was noised that He was in the house." MARK 2:1 (R.V.) [And when He had come back to Capernaum several day s afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. And being unable to get to Him on account of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

The Son of Man
"The Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." MARK 2:10 (R.V.) WHEN asserting His power to forgive sins, Jesus, for the first time in our Gospel, called Himself the Son of man. It is a remarkable phrase. The profound reverence which He from the first inspired, restrained all other lips from using it, save only when the first martyr felt such a rush of sympathy from above poured into his soul, that the thought of Christ's humanity was more moving than that of His deity. So too it is then alone …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

The Controversy Concerning Fasting
"And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say unto Him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?" MARK 2:18 (R.V.) THE Pharisees had just complained to the disciples that Jesus ate and drank in questionable company. Now they join with the followers of the ascetic Baptist in complaining to Jesus that His disciples eat and drink at improper seasons, when others fast. And as Jesus had then replied, that being a Physician, …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

The Call and Feast of Levi
"And He went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. And it came to pass, that He was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples: for there were many, and they followed Him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with the …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

The Sabbath
"And it came to pass, that He was going on the sabbath day through the cornfields; and His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And He said unto them, Did ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungered, he, and they that were with him? How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which it is not lawful to eat …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

Wesley's Living Arguments
Sunday, 20.--Seeing many of the rich at Clifton Church, my heart was much pained for them and I was earnestly desirous that some even of them might "enter into the kingdom of heaven." But full as I was, I knew not where to begin in warning them to flee from the wrath to come till my Testament opened on these words: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" [Mark 2:17]; in applying which my soul was so enlarged that methought I could have cried out (in another sense than poor vain …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

Of the Words Themselves in General.
We come now to the words themselves, wherein Christ asserts that he is, 1, "the way;" 2, "the truth;" 3, "the life;" and, 4, "that no man cometh to the Father but by him." In them we learn these two things in general. First, The misery of wretched man by nature. This cannot be in a few words expressed. These words will point out those particulars thereof, which we will but mention. 1. That he is born an enemy to, and living at a distance from God, by virtue of the curse of the broken covenant of …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Combination Illustrated.
To illustrate our method of combination, let us take Section 36, which is a fitting together of the following passages, namely: 9 And as Jesus passed by from thence, he saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.--Matt. ix. 9. 13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the place of toll, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Call of Matthew.
(at or Near Capernaum.) ^A Matt. IX. 9; ^B Mark II. 13, 14; ^C Luke V. 27, 28. ^c 27 And after these thingsa [after the healing of the paralytic] he went forth, ^a again by the seaside [i. e., he left Capernaum, and sought the shore of the sea, which formed a convenient auditorium for him, and which was hence a favorite scene for his teaching]; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14 And as he ^a Jesus passed by from thence, he saw ^c and beheld ^a a man, ^c a publican, named …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jesus Defends Disciples who Pluck Grain on the Sabbath.
(Probably While on the Way from Jerusalem to Galilee.) ^A Matt. XII. 1-8; ^B Mark II. 23-28; ^C Luke VI. 1-5. ^b 23 And ^c 1 Now it came to pass ^a 1 At that season ^b that he ^a Jesus went { ^b was going} on the { ^c a} ^b sabbath day through the grainfields; ^a and his disciples were hungry and began ^b as they went, to pluck the ears. ^a and to eat, ^c and his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. [This lesson fits in chronological order with the last, if the Bethesda …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Matthew's Feast. Discourse on Fasting.
(Capernaum.) ^A Matt. IX. 10-17; ^B Mark II. 15-22; ^C Luke V. 29-39. ^c 29 And Levi [another name for the apostle Matthew] made him a great feast in his house: ^b 15 And it came to pass, that he was sitting { ^a as he sat} at meat in the { ^b his} ^a house, ^c and there was a great multitude of publicans [Matthew had invited his old friends] and of others ^b and ^a behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. ^b for there were many, ^c that were sitting at meat …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jesus Heals a Paralytic at Capernaum.
^A Matt. IX. 2-8; ^B Mark II. 1-12; ^C Luke V. 17-26. ^c 17 And it came to pass on one of those days, ^b when he entered again into Capernaum after some days, ^c that he was teaching; ^b it was noised that he was in the house. [Luke uses the general expression "those days," referring to the early portion of our Lord's ministry in Galilee. Mark says, "some days," which implies the lapse of a considerable interval. The healing of the leper created such excitement that for some time, several weeks, …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Two Sabbath-Controversies - the Plucking of the Ears of Corn by the Disciples, and the Healing of the Man with the Withered Hand
IN grouping together the three miracles of healing described in the last chapter, we do not wish to convey that it is certain they had taken place in precisely that order. Nor do we feel sure, that they preceded what is about to be related. In the absence of exact data, the succession of events and their location must be matter of combination. From their position in the Evangelic narratives, and the manner in which all concerned speak and act, we inferred, that they took place at that particular …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Return to Capernaum - Concerning the Forgiveness of Sins - the Healing of the Paralysed
It is a remarkable instance of the reserve of the Gospel-narratives, that of the second journey of Jesus in Galilee no other special event is recorded than the healing of the leper. And it seems also to indicate, that this one miracle had been so selected for a special purpose. But if, as we have suggested, after the Unknown Feast,' the activity of Jesus assumed a new and what, for want of a better name, may be called an anti-Judaic character, we can perceive the reason of it. The healing of leprosy …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Call of Matthew - the Saviour's Welcome to Sinners - Rabbinic Theology as Regards the Doctrine of Forgiveness in Contrast to the Gospel of Christ
In two things chiefly does the fundamental difference appear between Christianity and all other religious systems, notably Rabbinism. And in these two things, therefore, lies the main characteristic of Christ's work; or, taking a wider view, the fundamental idea of all religions. Subjectively, they concern sin and the sinner; or, to put it objectively, the forgiveness of sin and the welcome to the sinner. But Rabbinism, and every other system down to modern humanitarianism - if it rises so high in …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Kingdom of God: Its Values
The Right Social Order is the Highest Good for All The first three chapters dealt with simple human principles which are common and instinctive with all real men. Jesus simply expanded the range of their application, clarified our comprehension of them, placed them in the very center of religious duty, and so lifted them to the high level of great social and religious principles. In the next three chapters we shall take up a conception which is not universally human, but which Jesus derived from …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus

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