Those
who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Luke 7:49-50
Luke 7 [43.] Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.”
He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Luke 7 [49.] Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Luke 7 [50.] He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Meaning:
At the house of Simon the Pharisee, a sinful woman had anointed Jesus’ feet. Jesus told Simon a parable about two forgiven debtors (Luke 7:39-43) and then said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). These two verses record the reaction of the other guests and Jesus’ final words to the woman.
- “Those who sat at the table with him”
Meals in a Pharisee’s house were semi-public occasions. Guests reclined on couches around a low table, and others could come in and watch. Simon’s other guests had seen everything: the woman’s tears, Simon’s silent disapproval, Jesus’ parable and his declaration of forgiveness. Like Simon, they spoke “to themselves”. They kept their thoughts inside, but Luke lets us hear them.
- “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
This is the great question of Luke’s Gospel. Earlier, when Jesus told a paralysed man that his sins were forgiven, the scribes and Pharisees reasoned, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Luke 5:21; Mark 2:7). They were right that only God can forgive sins against himself. God had said through Isaiah, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).
When Jesus forgives sins, he does what only God can do. The guests were faced with a choice: either Jesus was claiming too much, or he was far more than a prophet. Luke leaves the question open for every reader to answer. The disciples would soon ask the same thing after he calmed the storm: “Who is this, then, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:25).
- “Your faith has saved you”
Jesus does not answer the guests. He turns to the woman. Earlier he said her many sins were forgiven, and that her great love showed it. Now he makes clear what had brought her forgiveness: not her tears, her ointment or her kisses, but her faith. She had trusted Jesus enough to come to him in a hostile house, and that trust had saved her.
Paul explains the same truth: “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Jesus spoke the same words to others he healed, including the woman who touched the fringe of his cloak (Luke 8:46-48).
- “Go in peace”
This was a common Jewish farewell, but on Jesus’ lips it means far more. Peace (shalom) is wholeness and restored relationship with God. The woman had come weeping and judged. She leaves forgiven, accepted and at peace. “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). She could go back into a town that still remembered her past, knowing that God no longer held it against her.
The Significance of Luke 7:49-50
- Jesus has authority to forgive
The question “Who is this?” still matters. If Jesus can forgive sins, he is the one we need above all others. No priest, ritual or good deed can remove our guilt; Jesus can.
- Salvation comes through faith
The woman did not earn forgiveness by her devotion. She received it by trusting Jesus, and her love was the result. The same way is open to everyone today.
- Forgiven people can live in peace
Jesus sends the forgiven out in peace. Whatever others say about our past, those who trust him can live free from guilt: “My peace I give to you” (John 14:27).
Cross-References:
Luke 5:21: "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" The same question asked earlier.
Isaiah 43:25: "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake" God alone forgives sin.
Ephesians 2:8: "for by grace you have been saved through faith" Salvation through faith.
Luke 8:46-48: "Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace." Similar words to another woman.
Conclusion: When Jesus declared the sinful woman forgiven, the other guests at Simon’s table asked among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus did not stop to argue. He told the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” The scene raises the central question of the Gospel, who Jesus is, and gives its answer through his actions: he does what only God can do, forgiving sins and giving peace to all who trust him.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible