This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed:
and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy;
Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves,
This man blasphemeth.
And Jesus knowing their thoughts said,
Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
For whether is easier, to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee;
or to say, Arise, and walk?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,
(then saith he to the sick of the palsy,)
Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
And he arose, and departed to his house.
— KJV, Matt 9:1-7
We must never forget that the spiritual creates the material.
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To understand why Christ equated “Thy sins be forgiven thee” with “Arise, and walk” we need to touch on aspects of Truth that we have investigated in earlier essays.
Our Evil Thinking
Just as we do today (ref. “We Don’t Understand The Word, Pt 1“), the scribes arrived at conclusions based solely on physical observation, instead of a spiritual perspective (ref. “Creating Is Perpetual“).
The material perspective assumes that Christ was saying “I have decided to forgive you your sins” – a random action disconnected from the Laws of His Father such as the Law of Sowing & Reaping. Christ would never do this (ref. “Perfect Miracles“).
As discussed in “We Don’t Understand The Word, Pt 1” and other essays, Christ spoke “from Above to below”. His words indicate that the sick man had cause to be happy even before he was physically healed i.e. “Be happy, because your sins have already been forgiven, even if you are not yet physically healthy“.
Christ was revealing that (i) this man’s physical ailment arose as a result of prior sins, and (ii) those sins had already been forgiven spiritually, even if that fact was not yet materially visible.
Sin & Forgiveness
This supports our contention (ref. “Sowing & Reaping, Pt 1“, “Creating Is Perpetual“) that we are the primary cause of any suffering we endure. That is not to say that we cannot suffer injustice at the hands of others, but that was not the case here.
Christ was not primarily focused on the man’s physical state. He expected the man to be joyful immediately he was informed that the sin that had manifested by way of this illness had been forgiven i.e. that he was spiritually healthy.
This expresses His expectation that we should have a primarily spiritual orientation to life (ref. “Thinking Without Thinking, Pt 3“).
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Given the faith in The Word that Christ noticed as soon as He saw the man (the real meaning of “faith” was explored in “Faith Is A Halfway House“), we can assume that the man’s thoughts, words, and actions had become pure before he met Christ.
His efforts in The Word had purified him sufficiently for his spirit to have become disconnected from whatever evil had created his physical condition, as explained in “Sowing & Reaping, Pt 2“.
The Spiritual Drives The Material
Christ, with His Divine Power, could stimulate the rapid physical manifestation of the man’s spiritual health. If the man had not already been spiritually healthy it would not have been possible for Christ to heal him physically, as that would not be Lawful.
That is why He equated “Thy sins be forgiven thee” with “Arise, and walk“. And that is why He did not say “hath power to forgive sins” but “hath power on Earth to forgive sins“. Earthly miracles require a preceding spiritual reformation.
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
— John 20:23
Christ was referring to sins suffered personally. We are meant to forgive sins against us, as He stated many times (e.g. “The World’s Most Underrated Prayer, Pt 2“). But we cannot randomly “forgive” sins that have no connection with us. That is incompatible with The Word of Christ and the Eternal Justice of the Almighty.
Christ was telling the observers: “The fact that I can help him arise and walk physically is the evidence that I was not blaspheming, that he had already earned forgiveness and healed himself spiritually through his own efforts“.
Today’s Resolution:
- Reformation is the living road to forgiveness. Let us apply our faith in action, so that we can become born anew and secure lasting forgiveness.
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