#i'm compelled by the idea of tommy and arthur offering each other absolution/forgiveness when it's not necessarily within their power to

[normalbrothers]

proverbs 17:17, which tommy recites, is more or less about how true love starts at practical actions in service of a loved one in need, and at this point tommy jumps back into the uneasy role of arthur's caretaker, he accepts the blame for the state arthur is in (however debatable) and tries to encourage him towards sobriety with the promise of linda's return, beyond this there are the scenes in the cellar and the office which are all ultimately about motivating and comforting arthur.

correspondingly arthur recites john 8 where he's unwittingly offering a defense for tommy's affair with mitford later that same episode. this being the famous parable about the adulteress sentenced to death by stoning where the argument is that whoever is free of sin may cast the first stone, thus saving the woman from execution/condemnation.