Jesus links the Son of Man with authority on earth to forgive sins. Daniel 7 is an important Gospel-wide background for the title, though this individual saying must be read within Matthew's developing usage rather than assumed to quote Daniel directly.

Israel's Scriptures repeatedly identify God as forgiver of iniquity; Jesus' declaration and demonstration of forgiveness therefore provoke a deliberate authority question.

Psalm 103 praises the LORD as forgiver of iniquity and healer of diseases; Matthew 9 places forgiveness and bodily healing together in Jesus’ authority over the paralytic. The pairing heightens the Gospel’s question of who possesses divine authority to forgive.