The concept of God was properly confused by the doctrine of the Trinity. Instead of the “One” God, as witnessed throughout the Old and New Testaments, many centuries after the completion of these books, first a Trinity and again later a Trinity were invented and introduced. It is absolutely confusing for many people when they are first confronted with the fact that the Bible nowhere speaks of a Trinity. Many assumptions are based on tradition, not Scripture. The following passage is interpreted in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity, as if Jesus were declared to be “God” (absolute deity, equal to the Father). But can this be deduced from the text itself?

Healing of the paralytic

Mark describes the following story:

“After some days [Jesus] returned to Capernaum. When it was heard that He was at home, immediately so many gathered that they had no room, not even at the door. And He spoke the word to them.

Then they came and brought a paralytic to Him, lifted up by four. Since they could not bring Him to Him because of the crowd, they covered the roof where He was. When they had dug it up, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Noticing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”

Some of the scribes were also there; they sat by and reasoned in their hearts, “Why is this one speaking like this? He blasphemes! Who can remit sins except the One – God?” Immediately Jesus, recognizing in His Spirit that they were thus reasoning with themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning this in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic: Your sins are forgiven you – or to say: Arise, take up your mat and walk?

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to remit sins (He said to the paralytic, “Unto thee I say, arise, take up thy mat, and go into thine house.”). Then he stood up, and immediately picking up the mat, he went out in front of everyone, so that they were all beside themselves with amazement. They glorified God and said, “We have never seen anything like this!””

Mark 2:1-12

Accusation of the scribes

The scribes said nothing. They were just thinking about something for themselves. Jesus hears nothing, but He “discerned in His Spirit” what the considerations were. To this He speaks aloud a response.

The occasion was this: Jesus said to the paralyzed man “Child, your sins are forgiven”. This statement was more than suspicious to the scribes. In an effort to see God as unique, they resisted anyone who made themselves equal to God. This reminds us of a passage from the Gospel of John:

“My Father works until now; therefore I also work!” Therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only abolished the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
John 5:17-18

This is to say that the Jews more often thought that Jesus was equal to God. The question, of course, is whether He did.

Is Jesus saying that He is God?

The short answer is no. Jesus does not say that, and it is the scribes here who “conclude” that Jesus is “blaspheming.” Jesus does not make himself God, but the scribes make it look that way. Inferences are human, not divine.

Within the framework of a theology of the Trinity, which is not mentioned in the Bible with any word, one tries – like the scribes – to establish a “fact” about inferences. Did Jesus falsely claim that He was equal to God? Or can He do so only because He is actually God? These things are all not mentioned. The scribes concluded along the first question, while followers of a Trinity fail along the second assertion.

The problem is this: Jesus does not say here that He is equal to God, but it is inferred that He is God, which is why He can make this statement. However, this appears to be a short circuit. The Christian short-circuit is this: Jesus forgives sin, “therefore” he is God. However, this was not claimed anywhere. But people have become so accustomed to crooked inferences that hardly anyone notices.

If one lets go of these conclusions, one can devote oneself to the text. What does it say and what does it not say? Why does it work? What does Jesus say? What is happening here?

• Scribes concluded that no one can forgive sin except God, and Jesus was clearly not that God – so it was blasphemy.
• Christians today conclude that only God can forgive sin, so Jesus must be God. It’s a roundabout way of looking at it.

The problem with both inferences is that they are inferences. Neither is said in the text. It is about interpretation of what Jesus says. Putting themselves in the situation that is described, the scribes see a man, Jesus, and from this they conclude that he cannot forgive sin.

The important question here is whether Jesus is trying to present Himself as God, or whether He is saying something else. The observation that only God can forgive sin is correct. The context reveals several things. The forgiveness of sins is merely the last in several steps:

1. Jesus cast out a demon (Mark 1:23-28)
2. Jesus healed many people (Mark 1:32-34)
3. Jesus healed a leper (Mark 1:40-44)
4. Jesus forgave sins (Mark 2:5) and healed in response (Mark 2:9-12).

One could see an increase in this:

1. It starts with a “non-tangible” reality (obsession)
2. Diseases follow
3. Lepers are a disease in themselves. Edersheim points out that rabbinic Judaism was powerless against this disease (Alfred Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book III, page 500). Because Jesus could heal there too, it was a special distinction.
4. Forgiveness of sins was another deepening. Jesus was about more than external recovery.

Edersheim points out that in the Jewish context the forgiveness of sins is part of the holistic image of man. This does not mean the fantasized burden of sin of Christian tradition, but the experienced inability to stand before God. Healing and salvation therefore belong together. In Greek it is the same word. Forgiveness of sins or healing – it is essentially the same thing. The outer and the inner man belong together.

“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Thy sins be forgiven thee – or to say, Arise, take up thy mat, and walk?”
Mk 2,9

With signs and wonders Jesus proved his mission as Messiah. It is language that is very clear from the Messianic expectation and promise (see Mt 11:2-6). Nevertheless, the scribes did not take the first references seriously and now question the forgiveness of sins. If one does not understand the language that Jesus lives out, how could one arrive at an interpretation? Seen in this way, the accusation of blasphemy is only a diversionary maneuver of religious self-righteousness, in which one masks one’s own ignorance.

Son of man

Jesus does not call himself “God”, but “Son of Man”:

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to remit sins (He said to the paralytic): To you I say, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house!”
Mark 2:10-11

What Jesus does, he does as “Son of Man” who has “authority” (Gr. exousia) to remit sins on earth. Authority is a “power conferred or delegated, an authority to which its power is delegated by a higher authority” (Keyword Concordance to the Concordant New Testament). An authority therefore does not prove that He Himself is God, but that this authority was given to Him by a higher person, as Jesus calls it in many places. Already before in the gospel of Mark the authority of Jesus was pointed out:

“They then came to Capernaum. When He went into the synagogue there on the Sabbaths, He taught at once; and they marveled at His teaching, for He taught it as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
Mark 1:21-22

Likewise, it continued:

“Then they all shuddered, so that they asked one another, “What is this? A new doctrine? With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Immediately the news of Him went out everywhere in the whole region of Galilee.”
Mark 1:27-28

“But that ye may know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to remit sins.”
Mk 2,10

The Son of Man was already mentioned by the prophet Daniel (Dan 7:13). There the expression is used in a messianic context. The Messiah, it is shown here, will have this title and an authority to forgive even sin. This forgiveness of sins will be “on behalf of.” The Messiah will make whole on God’s behalf.

In fact, forgiveness of sins in this sense is neither what the scribes concluded nor what Christian tradition has made of it. Forgiveness of sins truly comes only from God, and Jesus has authority to pronounce this forgiveness. The proof came immediately when he healed the paralytic.

Jesus’ divinity proven?

Do we find the deity of Jesus confirmed in this story? No. He does not refer to himself as God, but as the “Son of Man”. Forgiveness of sins was an authority given to him by a higher one, namely God. Thus it is expressly testified that Jesus is just not equal to God the Father.

The passage has many more precious thoughts. They are not highlighted here. As far as the question here was only whether this Bible passage supports the doctrine of the Trinity, the traditional assumption must be negated.