Translation of Mark 2:5

This is how Mark 2:5 in Greek:

"καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ· τέκνον ἀφίενται σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι."

Here is my translation: "And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins have been forgiven."

This verse, in the passage on the healing of the paralytic brought by his four friends, has various interesting features.

It was on seeing "their" faith, that Jesus spoke these words to the paralysed man. I would suggest this might reflect the role in the church of the early centuries of "sponsors" in assisting those coming to Christ. While unable to "believe for someone", they do nevertheless have a role to play.

Of particular interest is how Jesus addressed the paralytic, namely "child". The ESV translates this as "son", possibly imagining how an older or more senior person might address someone younger or more junior. I understand there is also an equivalent Hebrew form of address, "beni" (my son). However, the word is "child". This seems to suggest the paralytic was very young - a teenager maybe.

The verb "are forgiven" has a wider semantic range than the English. The verb "ἀφίημι" means "to send away, leave alone, permit". The tense is perfect, which, as in English ("have been forgiven"), denotes a past action of ongoing relevance in the present, i.e. your sins were forgiven - and you are forgiven now!

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