Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
I just don't want to be like the scribes in Mark 2, demanding repentance when the sins of the paralytic in v. 5 were forgiven without repentance.
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The scribes in Mark 2 weren't demanding repentance. They were affronted because they said "only God can forgive sins", and by Jesus proclaiming that the paralytic's sins were forgiven, in their eyes He was making Himself equal with God ("so you know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...").
The faith, willingness to be brought before Him, was the repentance. Jesus can see into hearts, unlike us, and could see the condition of the paralytic's heart, whether defiant and closed (unrepentant) or humble and open (repentant).