Jesus had gone beyond a story about forgiveness. He spoke directly to the woman: "Thy sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48). The guests knew what kind of claim that was. Matthew Henry describes them as "those present who quarrelled with Christ, in their own minds, for presuming to forgive sin." Barnes calls it "a very pertinent question. Who could he be but God? Man could not do it, and there is no wonder that they were amazed." Gill, however, reads their words not as wonder but as offense, "censuring and reproaching him for wickedness and blasphemy." Either way the question asks: who would dare to say this, and who could actually do it?

Jesus did not explain Himself to the guests. He turned again to the woman: "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace" (Luke 7:50). Matthew Henry notes that "he stood to what he had said." Rather than withdraw His word, Jesus added to it, assuring her that she was saved and could leave in peace. Luke leaves the guests' question hanging for the reader to answer.

"Sat at meat" means reclined at the meal. Barnes notes on Luke 7:36 that the original word means only that one "placed himself or reclined at the table." The KJV says the guests spoke "within themselves"; the ESV has "among themselves." Gill allows both: they "either thought and reasoned in their own minds, or whispered."

The offense makes sense against what Luke has already shown. When Jesus forgave a palsied man earlier, the scribes and Pharisees asked, "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" (Luke 5:21). Jesus answered by healing him, "that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins" (Luke 5:24). Henry links the two, saying Jesus had "there proved that he had power to forgive sin."

"Who is this?" is one of the great questions of Luke's Gospel. The scribes asked it about forgiving sins (Luke 5:21). The guests ask it here. The disciples will ask it in the storm, "What manner of man is this!" (Luke 8:25), and Herod will ask it too (Luke 9:9). Finally Jesus asks His disciples, "But whom say ye that I am?" and Peter answers, "The Christ of God" (Luke 9:20).

The guests' question has the right shape even if their hearts were not in the right place. If only God can forgive sins, and Jesus forgives sins with a word, then the answer points beyond a prophet. For the woman, the answer was not a debate but a gift: forgiveness, salvation, and peace (Luke 7:48-50).