Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
When and where this passage of story happened does not appear; this evangelist does not observe order of time in his narrative so much as the other evangelists do; but it comes in here, upon occasion of Christ's being reproached as a friend to publicans and sinners, to show that it was only for their good, and to bring them to repentance, that he conversed...
Commenting on Luke 7:36-50
Simon answered and said,.... Very readily, without any hesitation, not being aware of the application of it, to the instance he had been pondering in his mind: I suppose, that he to whom he forgave most; it was his opinion, and to him a plain case, that he that owed the largest debt, and that being forgiven him fully, and freely, as he was under...
Verse 39. He spake within himself. Thought. If he were a prophet. The word prophet here means, not one who predicts future events, but one who knows the hearts of men. If Jesus had been sent from God as a prophet, he supposed that he would have known the character of the woman and would have rebuked her. Would have known, etc.