Luke 7:42

Luke 7:42, in plain English

He continued, 'Neither could pay, so the lender forgave them both. Now, which one will love him more?'

Why it's here

Both were forgiven freely. But the one who realized how much they owed — that's the one whose gratitude overflowed.

Who's speaking

Jesus draws Simon into answering his own indictment.

Where it sits in the story

Grace is the same for everyone — free and undeserved. But the person who truly grasps how much they've been forgiven? Their love has no limits. That's what the woman understood and Simon didn't.

The scholarly reading

When neither could repay (mē echontōn autōn apodounai), the creditor echarisato ("graciously forgave/cancelled") both debts. The verb charizomai (from charis, "grace") emphasizes the gratuitous nature of the forgiveness.

Language and setting

The key insight is that both debts are unpayable, and both are forgiven by grace alone. The difference is not in the forgiveness but in the debtors' awareness of what they've been given.

Voice

Jesus continues the parable, describing the creditor's gracious cancellation of both debts.

Significance

The creditor's grace is the parable's theological center: forgiveness is always gracious, never earned. The question shifts from ability to pay to the response of the forgiven.

40But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

41“Two men were debtors to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.

42When they were unable to repay him, he forgave both of them. Which one, then, will love him more?”

43“I suppose the one who was forgiven more,” Simon replied.

44And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

Read all of Luke 7 — A Roman centurion's faith astonishes Jesus, a widow's dead son is raised, and a sinful woman's tears become an act of worship.