could not walk." Jerome: "not the sick man’s, but theirs that bare him." Chrysostom: "Seeing then that they showed so great faith, He also shows His excellent power; with full power forgiving sin, as it follows, He said to the paralytic, Be of good courage, son, thy sins are forgiven thee." Peter Chrysologus: "Of how great power with God must a man’s own faith be, when that of others here availed to heal a man both within and without. The paralytic hears his pardon pronounced, in silence uttering no thanks, for he was more anxious for the cure of his body than his soul. Christ therefore with good reason accepts the faith of those that bare him, rather than his own hardness of heart." Chrysostom: "Or, we may suppose even the sick man to have had faith; otherwise he would not have suffered himself to be let down through the roof as the other Evangelist relates." Jerome: "O wonderful humility! This man feeble and despised, crippled in every limb, He addresses as son. The Jewish Priests did not deign to touch him. Even therefore His son, because his sins were forgiven him. Hence we may learn that diseases are often the punishment of sin; and therefore perhaps his sins are forgiven him, that when the cause of his disease has been first removed, health may be restored." Notes References External links Other translations of Matthew 9:2 at BibleHub 09:2