Mark 2:7
Mark 2:77“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
The Watchtower treats the scribes' question as a misunderstanding. They had a technically correct theology — only God can forgive sins — but they failed to recognise that Jesus had been delegated this authority by Jehovah. JW commentary frames v. 7 as the scribes incorrectly accusing Jesus of blasphemy when in fact he was acting within the limits of his Jehovah-given authority. The verse is read as a near-miss; Jesus and the scribes are both partly right.
The scribes' theology is exactly correct: only God can forgive sins (compare , ). They state the law of divine prerogative, and Jesus does not contradict them. He does not say "actually, agents can also forgive sins on God's behalf." He accepts their premise and proceeds to demonstrate that he has the authority — by reading their thoughts (v. 8, a divine capacity per ) and healing the paralytic with a word (v. 11, a divine power). The miracle proves the claim. The scribes were right that only God can forgive; Jesus showed he belongs in that category. Pair with (the parallel) for the same pattern.