Jesus was preaching a fine sermon one day, crammed tight in a house full of folks, when everybody’s attention was suddenly turned upwards to a commotion on the roof. There were these four guys up on the roof, tearing it apart! Apparently, no one stopped them—not even the home owner. So for the next several minutes, they made this humongous hole in the roof, then proceeded to lower a paralyzed chap lying on a stretcher. These guys wanted Jesus to heal their buddy. When they couldn’t get in the house because of the crowd, they got creative and found a way to get to Jesus by lowering their paralyzed friend through the roof.
When Jesus saw what was happening He looked at the hapless chap on the stretcher and said, My son, your sins are forgiven (Mark 2:5). Well, it just so happened that there were scribes in the room. These were the guys who really knew the Word. It was their job to painstakingly and accurately copy the Scriptures by hand. They knew every jot and tittle of the Scriptures. And they knew it better than anyone else around. So, they’re the foremost authorities on the Word. When they heard Jesus forgiving this guy’s sins, they instantly went through the roof and said quietly to themselves, This is blasphemous! Who can forgive sins but God alone?
Do you know what? They were absolutely right! Only God can forgive sins. It’s blasphemous for a man to pretend he has the right, or the power, to forgive sins. So the scribes were right. They had Scriptures on their side.
To our shocked surprise, however, the incident is a lamentable reminder to us that we can be scripturally right and still be wrong! Now that definitely sounds like an oxymoron. How in the world can you be right on with the Scriptures and be wrong?
Well, the scribes were right as far as God being the only One who can forgive sins. But these learned men, in the passion of the moment, forgot all about Isaiah 7:14. The prophet foretold that a virgin shall conceive, and have a son, and shall call him Immanuel (which, by interpretation, is God with us). In other words, the prophet foretold of a time when God would one day come into their midst in the form of a man. He’d be born as a baby and grow up looking just like any other Jewish man. The only difference is, He’d be God in the flesh (see also Isaiah 9:6-7). This Man would be God. And, being God, this Man would have the power and right to forgive sins.
Of course, these Scripture scholars didn’t believe that Jesus was God incarnate. To them, Jesus wasn’t the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14. Jesus wasn’t God. He’s just a man. And because He’s just a man, they felt He committed blasphemy by pretending to forgive this paralytic’s sins.
You see, these learned men were Scripturally right about God alone forgiving sins. But, they were nonetheless Scripturally wrong because Jesus was God. God said so Himself (see Matthew 3:17). The Scriptures they knew and stood on made them right. It was the Scriptures they didn’t know or believe that made them wrong. Their not believing Jesus, that is, their unbelief, made them wrong.
Brethren, you can be Scripturally right in a sense and still be wrong. The Word you know and believe makes you right. But it’s the Word you don’t know or believe that makes you wrong. IF YOU WANT TO BE FULLY, ENTIRELY RIGHT YOU’VE GOT TO STAND ON THE WHOLE OF SCRIPTURE AND NOT JUST A PART.YOU’VE GOT TO BELIEVE JESUS IN ORDER TO BE RIGHT. Disbelieving Him, like the scribes, will make you wrong.
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