Exegesis:

kai idōn ‘and seeing’ is temporal, ‘when he saw.’

tēn pistin autōn ‘the faith of them’: the phrase refers primarily to the four who were carrying the paralytic, but does not necessarily exclude the paralytic himself (cf. Gould, Lagrange).

pistis (4.40; 5.34; 10.52; 11.22) ‘faith,’ ‘belief,’ ‘confidence’: in this context, faith in Jesus’ ability to cure the man.

teknon (7.27; 10.24, 29, 30; 12.19; 13.12) ‘child,’ ‘(my) son’: a term of endearment. Nothing may be inferred as to the age of the paralytic from the use of this term; he could have been a lad (Luke 5.18, 20 specifically calls him a man). Moulton & Milligan quote examples from the papyri of the word used as it is in this verse, and some English translations stress the meaning of the term by adding “my son” (cf. Zürcher Bibel Mein Sohn).

aphientai sou hai hamartiai ‘your sins are forgiven’: the Gospels record no instance of Jesus’ saying “I forgive your sins.” In this particular instance it is noteworthy that the Gospel writer has employed the passive ‘your sins are forgiven’ without defining the subject of the action of the verb ‘forgive,’ even though he goes on to relate that the scribes charge Jesus with blasphemy in assuming the prerogative that belongs to God alone. Again, in v. 10, Jesus says, with reference to himself, “the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”: he does not say, “I forgive sins.” Both the title ‘the Son of man’ and the qualifying phrase ‘upon the earth’ are significant. The present tense aphientai ‘are forgiven’ should not be translated ‘are being forgiven’: this is an example of what is called an aoristic present.

aphiēmi ‘send forth,’ ‘go away’ (from apo ‘from’ and hiēmi ‘go’): the verb is used in Mark with three main meanings: (1) ‘let,’ ‘allow,’ ‘permit’: 1.34; 5.19, 37; 7.12, 27; 10.14; 11.6, 16; 15.36; (2) ‘forgive,’ ‘remit,’ ‘pardon’: 2.5, 7, 9, 10; 3.28; 4.12; 11.25; (3) ‘leave’: 12.19, 20, 22; 13.2 (‘leave alone’ 14.6); with the sense of ‘go away from,’ ‘abandon,’ ‘forsake’: 1.18, 20, 31; 4.36; 7.8; 8.13; 10.28, 29; 12.12; 13.34; 14.50; with the sense of ‘let loose’: 15.37.

Translation:

Rather than translate their to mean only the faith of the carriers (as is often the case), it would seem better to say ‘the faith of these men,’ so that the paralytic himself might be included in that group, since undoubtedly his confidence that Jesus could help him was an important factor in his having been brought.

For terms for ‘faith’ and ‘believe’ see 1.15, but note that in this instance the faith is not in a declaration, as in 1.15, but in what a particular person, namely, Jesus could do. Hence, the expression used here must imply confidence.

The Greek term teknon ‘child,’ which is rendered by the more appropriate “my son” in the Revised Standard Version, cannot be translated literally into other languages. In the first place, people would immediately question why four men would be required to carry a child and furthermore the statement of Jesus relative to the forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins would seem to imply an adult (compare Luke). However, any literal rendering of my son is equally subject to trouble, since in many languages one cannot speak in this manner except to one’s own offspring. Several different types of expression can be employed: ‘young man’ (Piro, Highland Puebla Nahuatl), in which ‘young’ has been used to represent something of the value of teknon; ‘friend’ (Copainalá Zoque), ‘my friend’ (Huautla Mazatec).

Are forgiven is a passive expression, which, if it can be reproduced without reference to a logical subject, should be retained. However, in languages where passive expressions simply do not exist or where a passive such as this one cannot occur without the agent of the action, one must make certain modifications by employing the most logical subject ‘God,’ i.e. ‘God forgives your sins’ or ‘May God forgive your sins.’

For forgive see 1.4. In this context, however, certain special adaptations of this expression for forgiveness may be required because of the use in some languages of ‘I’ as the subject and the immediacy of the act. For example, in Southern Bobo Madaré the rendering is ‘I command your sins be cast away from you.’ In Tzeltal the appropriate formula is ‘your sins are lost.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .