<p>5:21 <i>And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason-</i>Matthew adds &quot;within themselves&quot;. Consider the huge emphasis of the New Testament upon 'thinking / talking within oneself', especially within the Gospels. The same Greek phrase is used repeatedly:<br />- &quot;Think not to say within yourselves&quot; (Mt. 3:9)<br />- &quot;The scribes said within themselves&quot; (Mt. 9:3)<br />- &quot;She said within herself&quot; (Mt. 9:21)<br />- The believer who fails to grow spiritually has no root &quot;within himself&quot; (Mt. 13:21)<br />- &quot;They reasoned within themselves... Why do you reason within yourselves...&quot; (Mt. 16:7,8)<br />- &quot;The husbandmen... said within themselves&quot; (Mt. 21:38)<br />- The disciples &quot;disputed within themselves&quot; (Mk. 9:33)<br />- Have salt &quot;within yourselves&quot; (Mk. 9:50)<br />- The Pharisee &quot;spake within himself&quot; (Lk. 7:39)<br />- The guests &quot;began to say within themselves&quot; (Lk. 7:49)<br />- The rich fool &quot;thought within himself, saying...&quot; (Lk. 12:17)<br />- &quot;The steward said within himself&quot; (Lk. 16:3)<br />- The unjust judge &quot;said within himself&quot; (Lk. 18:4)<br />- Peter &quot;doubted in himself&quot; (Acts 10:17)<br />- Jews who heard the Gospel &quot;reasoned within themselves&quot; (Acts 28:29 Gk.)<br />- Israel &quot;through the lusts of their own hearts... dishonoured their bodies within themselves&quot; (Rom. 1:24)<br />- &quot;Within yourselves... you have a better and enduring substance&quot; (Heb. 10:34)<br />- &quot;Partial within yourselves, judges of evil thoughts&quot; (James 2:4).</p><p>There are many other Bible verses which likewise speak of the internal state of a person and the significance of our self-talk- these are just examples of one Greek phrase. It is logical therefore to expect that the great adversary or 'satan' to be internal thinking, how we think and speak within ourselves. And properly understood, this is indeed what 'satan' in the Bible sometimes refers to. We should deeply note at this point that the thoughts of men in their hearts are known to the Father and Son, and have been recorded publicly here in these records for many centuries.</p><p><i>Saying: Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?</i>- The miracles of Jesus exposed the error of local views, e.g. of demons, without correcting them in so many words. Thus in Lk. 5:21 the Jews made two false statements: that Jesus was a blasphemer, and that God alone could forgive sins. Jesus did not verbally correct them; instead he did a miracle which proved the falsity of those statements. It was clearly the belief of Jesus that actions speak louder than words. He rarely denounced false ideas directly, thus he did not denounce the Mosaic law as being unable to offer salvation, but He showed by His actions, e.g. healing on the Sabbath, what the truth was.</p><p>The Jews got caught up on the issue of whether Christ's forgiveness of others made Him God or not- just as some folk do today. His response was to refocus them on the fact that He wanted&nbsp;<i>you</i>&nbsp;to<i> know</i>&nbsp;that He had real power to forgive&nbsp;<i>their</i>&nbsp;sins (Lk. 5:24). I spend a lot of time arguing against the trinity and the 'Jesus = God' mentality. But the essence is, do we&nbsp;<i>know</i>&nbsp;on a personal level that the Lord Jesus really has the power to forgive&nbsp;<i>our</i>&nbsp;sins?</p>