“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”
My Notes
What Does Luke 7:47 Mean?
Luke 7:47 is the interpretive key to one of the most intimate scenes in the Gospels. A woman known in the city as a sinner has entered a Pharisee's dinner party, wept on Jesus's feet, wiped them with her hair, and poured ointment on them (v. 37-38). Simon the Pharisee is scandalized. Jesus responds with a parable about two debtors — one who owed much and one who owed little — and asks: which one will love the creditor more? Simon answers correctly: the one forgiven more. Then Jesus delivers this verse.
"Her sins, which are many, are forgiven" — the Greek hai hamartiai autēs hai pollai (her sins, the many ones) doesn't minimize her past. Jesus doesn't say she wasn't a sinner. He says she is a forgiven sinner — and that her sins were many. The honesty about the size of the debt makes the forgiveness more staggering, not less.
"For she loved much" — the Greek hoti ēgapēsen poly (because she loved much) has generated centuries of debate about the direction of causation. Is her love the cause of forgiveness or the evidence of it? The parable Jesus just told (v. 41-43) makes the direction clear: forgiveness produces love, not the reverse. The debtor who was forgiven much loved much because of the forgiveness. The woman's lavish, reckless, socially scandalous display of love is the overflow of a forgiveness she has already received.
"But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little" — the Greek hō de oligon aphietai, oligon agapa (the one to whom little is forgiven loves little) is aimed directly at Simon. He extended no hospitality — no water for feet, no kiss of greeting, no oil for the head (v. 44-46). His love was minimal because his sense of being forgiven was minimal. He didn't think he needed much mercy. And so he had little love to give.
The verse creates a paradox: the greater the sin-awareness, the greater the love. The person most conscious of their debt produces the most extravagant devotion.
Reflection Questions
- 1.The woman loved much because she was forgiven much. How aware are you of the size of your own debt — and does that awareness produce extravagant love or restrained religion?
- 2.Simon loved little because he thought he was forgiven little. Where might a sense of personal respectability be shrinking your capacity to love?
- 3.The woman's love was public, messy, and socially unacceptable. What holds you back from that kind of uninhibited devotion to Jesus — fear of judgment, self-consciousness, or something else?
- 4.Jesus says the direction is forgiveness → love, not love → forgiveness. How does knowing you're already forgiven change the quality and quantity of love you're able to give?
Devotional
The woman with the worst reputation in the room produced the most love in the room. And the man with the best reputation produced the least.
That's the paradox Jesus names in this verse, and it overturns everything Simon the Pharisee assumed about how the spiritual world works. Simon thought proximity to God required distance from sinners. Jesus says the exact opposite: the person who knows how much she's been forgiven is the one who loves the most. And the person who thinks he doesn't need much forgiveness — the one who's kept the rules, maintained his reputation, stayed clean — he loves little. Because he thinks he owes little.
The woman's love wasn't what earned her forgiveness. Her love was the proof that forgiveness had already arrived. She wept because she'd been forgiven. She poured ointment because she'd been freed. She kissed His feet because she knew what those feet had done for someone like her. The extravagance of her devotion was proportional to the size of the debt that had been cancelled.
Simon offered Jesus nothing — no water, no kiss, no oil. Standard hospitality, all skipped. Not because Simon was rude by nature, but because he didn't think Jesus deserved extraordinary treatment. His debt felt small. His love was accordingly small.
This verse asks a question you can't avoid: how much do you think you've been forgiven? Because the answer determines how much you love. If you think your debt was manageable — if you've convinced yourself your sins were the respectable kind, the understandable kind — your love will be measured and restrained. But if you know the debt was enormous — if you've honestly reckoned with how much was cancelled — the love that pours out will be reckless, extravagant, and impossible to explain to the Simons in the room.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Wherefore I say unto thee - As the result of this, or because she has done this; meaning by this that she had given…
For she loved much - Or, Therefore she loved much. It appears to have been a consciousness of God's forgiving love that…
When and where this passage of story happened does not appear; this evangelist does not observe order of time in his…
for she loved much Rather, because. No doubt, theologically, faith, not love, is the means of pardon (Luk 7:50); hence,…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture