Matthew 9:2
Matthew 9:2 is the second verse in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Content. In the original Greek according to Westcott-Hort this verse is: In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads: The New International Version translates the passage as: Analysis. Lapide comments on the words, "And seeing their faith, ..." which he says is clearly the faith of those who brought the paralytic to Christ. Because when they could not bring him into the house, they carried him up to the roof. Although he also adds the faith  of the paralytic in the group since Jesus would never have forgiven his sins, "unless he had had faith." There is some debate about the connection between sin and physical illness. Both Lapide and MacEvilly state that the main reason Jesus healed the man was "that He might show that diseases often arise, not so much from natural causes, as from sin. For He forgives the sins first, and then He heals the paralytic; showing that when the cause was taken away, the effect followed." Commentary from the Church Fathers. Chrysostom: "This paralytic is not the same as he in  John. For he lay by the pool, this in Capharnaum; he had none to assist him, this was borne on a bed." Jerome: "On a bed, because he could not walk." Chrysostom: "He does not universally demand faith of the sick, as, for example, when they are mad, or from any other sore sickness are not in possession of their minds; as it is here, seeing their faith;" 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."