And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, This man is blaspheming. The scribes' internal objection is theologically accurate from within their framework: only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:7, Luke 5:21). The blasphemy charge is the charge that Jesus is claiming a divine prerogative that belongs to God alone. The scribes are right about the logic: if Jesus cannot forgive sins, then claiming to do so is blasphemy. What they miss is the premise — Jesus can forgive sins because he is the one in whom God is present and acting. Their theological syllogism is correct; their identification of the one standing before them is catastrophically wrong.

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