Luke 5:25

5:17-26 How many are there in our assemblies, where the gospel is preached, who do not sit under the word, but sit by! It is to them as a tale that is told them, not as a message that is sent to them. Observe the duties taught and recommended to us by the history of the paralytic. In applying to Christ, we must be very pressing and urgent; that is an evidence of faith, and is very pleasing to Christ, and prevailing with him. Give us, Lord, the same kind of faith with respect to thy ability and willingness to heal our souls. Give us to desire the pardon of sin more than any earthly blessing, or life itself. Enable us to believe thy power to forgive sins; then will our souls cheerfully arise and go where thou pleasest.

And immediately he rose up before them,.... As soon as ever these words were spoken by Christ, the man, before sick of the palsy, finding himself perfectly well, got off of his couch, and stood up on his feet before the Scribes and Pharisees, and all the people: and took up that whereon he lay; his couch, or bed: and departed to his own house; with it upon his back: "and went to his business", as the Persic version renders it: glorifying God; both for the healing of his body, and for the pardon of his sins; each of which he knew none but God could do. This circumstance is only mentioned by Luke, and shows the sense the man had of the great favours bestowed upon him: he glorified God, by ascribing them to his goodness and power; by offering the sacrifice of praise, or giving thanks unto him for them; by publishing them among his neighbours, to the honour of his name; and by living a holy life and conversation, to his glory, under a grateful sense of his kindness: yea, he glorified Jesus Christ as God, who he knew must be God, by forgiving his sins, and curing his disease; he proclaimed his divine power, and ascribed greatness to him; he confessed him as the Messiah, and owned him as his Saviour, and became subject to him as his Lord.

25 . took up that whereon he lay ] This circumstance is emphasized in all three narratives to contrast his previous helplessness, “borne of four,” with his present activity. He now carried the bed which had carried him, and “the proof of his sickness became the proof of his cure.” The labour would have been no more than that of carrying a rug or a cloak, yet it was this which excited the fury of the Pharisees in Jerusalem ( John 5:9 ). It was not specially attacked by the simpler and less Pharisaic Pharisees of Galilee.

Acts 5:25 . ἰδοὺ … εἰσὶν : on the characteristic use of the verb εἰναι after ἰδοὺ or ἴδε in St. Luke’s writings as compared with other N.T. writers and the LXX, see Viteau, Le Grec du N. T. , pp. 200, 205 (1896); cf. Acts 2:7 , Acts 16:1 , and Luke 2:25 ; Luke 7:25 ; Luke 11:41 , etc.— παραγεν ., see on Acts 5:22 .— ἑστῶτες , cf. Acts 5:20 . antitheton: posuistis (Bengel).

21 – Matthew expresses the same idea by the words, “Till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” This wonderful expansion of the kingdom of Christ was indeed witnessed on the day of Pentecost, and in many subsequent scenes. 22 – Matt. xvii. 20, 21. 23 – Matt. xviii. 2–4; Mark ix. 31, 33–36. 24 – Matt. xviii. 6–9; Mark ix. 44–50. 25 – John vii. 34. 26 – John viii. 2–7. 27 – John viii. 13–18. 29 – The Author of the resurrection, and the Giver of eternal life. 30 – Luke ix. 51. 31 – Luke ix. 58. 34 – Luke xiv. 9–25. 35 – Luke xiv. 1–24. 36 – Luke xvi. 1–31. 37 – Luke xvii. 24–30. 38 – Luke xii. 5–8. 39 – Luke xviii. 11–14. 41 – Matt. xix. 29. 45 – John xii. 12, 13. 46 – Matt. xxi. 8, 9. 49 – Matt. xxi. 24–30; Mark xii. 18–25; Luke xx. 27–36. 51 – Matt. xxii. 32. 52 – Luke xxi. 3, 4. 53 – Luke xii. 42, 43. 55 – See Matt. xxiii. 13–37. 56 – Mark xiii. 9–13. 58 – The Life of Christ, by Rev. William B. Hanna, D.D., LL.D., 60 – John xiii. 18–21. 61 – John xiii. 28, 29. 62 – Converted,――when thou art _turned_ to me, after having forsaken me. 63 – By “works” is here probably meant _all that the apostles did_ to make an impression upon mankind. 64 – “Ye shall continue to see me by faith.” 65 – John xvi. 1–23. 66 – John xvii. 67 – Luke xxii. 43, 44.