Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. If the Pharisees had really been blind they would have had no sin, but since they had an understanding of spiritual things and yet refused to receive full sight, their sin …
Category Archives: Chapter 9
John 9:40
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” The saddest part of this passage is the Pharisees never realize that they could possibly be blind.
John 9:39
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” There is probably a time lapse between the talk of Jesus with the man born blind and His discussion with the Pharisees in this section. The two are placed together here by …
John 9:38
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. The man’s revelation of Jesus Christ has been progressing throughout the day and he now comes to it’s fullness. He recognizes that Jesus is the only One worthy to receive his faith and allegiance and he again acts according to the extent of his …
John 9:37
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Jesus revealed Himself to the man. Note the manner in which Jesus words His revelation of His identity: “You have now seen him…” This would have special significance to the man who had never in his life seen anything …
John 9:36
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Up to now the man had not seen Jesus, but Jesus has just sought him out and spoken to him and he knows that voice. He knows that the One to whom he is speaking is the same One …
John 9:35
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “when he found him” – The man was cut off from family, religion, and society in general. It became common knowledge that he had been thrown out of the Temple and Jesus …
John 9:34
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. His agrument is indeed unanswerable. The Jews again lose their cool and fling insults at him since they cannot fling answers at him. Robertson observes: “The audacity of it all… It was insufferable. He …
John 9:33
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” His reasoning is beautiful and complete. God only hears and answers the prayers of the righteous; Jesus has performed a miracle that no one else in all of history has done and could only have come from God; therefore Jesus must be righteous and …
John 9:32
Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. This healing is unparalleled in all of history, even by Moses!
John 9:31
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. “God does not listen to sinners.” = (Psalms 66:18, Proverbs 15:29, Isaiah 1:15) Psalms 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from …
John 9:30
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. The man boldly continues to answer their attack with ironic and yet powerful reasoning. He declares that the truly marvelous thing is that these leaders of Israel (“you” is emphatic) cannot see the simple truth in …
John 9:29
We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” Some of the people knew of what they thought to be the origins of Jesus (John 7:27) but none of the Pharisees knew from where Jesus came (John 8:14). They regard their lack of knowledge …
John 9:28
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! The Jewish authorities completely lose their cool and lash out at the man. Edersheim observes “they lost all self-possession and with this their moral defeat became complete.” (Life II, 185) They claim to be followers of Moses, …
John 9:27
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” He poses his question in such a way as to expect a negative answer. He is obviously baiting the Jews and, as we can see from the …
John 9:26
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” Why would the accusers go back over the ground they just covered? They were seeking grounds to convict Jesus.
John 9:25
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” He sticks to the facts of which he is certain and does not bow to their theories. Nothing can budge the man who can say with conviction “one thing I know”. …
John 9:24
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” “We know” = Ironically, the Pharisees say this phrase many times. It is indeed an indication of their real problem — pride. They think they know the answers and are therefore …
John 9:22-23
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” “acknowledged” = is used in the broad sense of giving …
John 9:21
But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” “He is of age” = he is an adult and capable of answering for himself. The Jews recognized adulthood as beginning at the age of thirteen and one day, but …
John 9:20
“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. The parents answer the 2 questions to which they are legitimate witnesses. Although they are in great fear and have not anyways near the boldness of their son, they remain unshaken as to the facts of which they are …
John 9:19
“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” The Jews put 3 questions to the parents, probably to confuse them and give their questioners the upper hand. The first 2 are relevant to the area of knowledge of the parents, …
John 9:18
The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. The Jews (or Pharisees) operated off the premise that Jesus did not come from God. He said and did things they didn’t like and that did not agree with the theology they …
John 9:17
Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” Morris observes that “It is a measure of their perplexity and division that they ask the man what he thinks of Jesus. Normally they would not have …
John 9:16
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided. “signs” = Men of God were often tested by the signs they could produce. Exodus 4:8 Then the LORD said, “If they …
John 9:15
Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” The Pharisees do not congratulate the man on being healed and given sight; they are not joining him in his joy. In fact, they don’t really care …
John 9:14
Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, perhaps intentionally to accomplish His purposes, and thus broke the Sabbath law in at least 3 ways: Working on the Sabbath = Jesus made clay which was work, even the simplest …
John 9:13
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. His neighbors brought him before those who claimed to be experts in the law.
John 9:12
“Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. Jesus has left the area and is not to be found. Sometimes after having accomplished a work of grace in our hearts, Jesus leaves us to think about and apply that which we have learned before He returns to give us a greater …
John 9:11
He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” On his way home from the Pool of Siloam, he has apparantly been asking as to the personage of his …
John 9:10
“How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. When we first accepted Christ and received spiritual sight in exchange for our blindness, we had many friends who saw a difference in us and asked us what it was. Our greatest opportunities to witness come after first being saved, when we still have the same set …
John 9:9
Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” The context makes it plain that there are no divine overtones in the manner in which he responded. There is division over whether he is the former blind man or not, but he dispels …
John 9:8
His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” “sit and beg” = There was little that a blind man could do in those days to earn a living except beg. Some beggars walked about and sometimes went from house to house; …
John 9:7
“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. “Go, wash” = the man’s faith was tested by a command. He responded readily, unlike Naaman when challenged similarly by Elisha in (2 Kings 5:10-11). He has believed without first seeing …
John 9:6
Having said this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. It is a disgusting thought for us to imagine Jesus spitting on the ground, mixing it with the dirt to produce mud, and applying this concoction to the blind man’s eyes, but saliva was …
John 9:5
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” There is no definite article in front of “light” as there is in John 8:12 so this could read “While I am in the world, I am light to the world.” The darkness would soon come when Jesus was no longer in the world …
John 9:4
As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
John 9:3
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. Jesus rejects both possibilities. Although suffering may be the result of personal sin (John 5:14) or of the sin of parents (or ancestors to the 3rd and 4th generation), this is …
John 9:2
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The Jews connected suffering with sin. Rabbi Ammi stated, “There is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity” which he proved from (Psalms 89:32). (qt’d by Morris) The Book of Job had shown that …
John 9:1
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. This healing followed the events recorded in chapter 7, but we are not told exactly when. The indication is that it was on a Sabbath soon after the Feast of Tabernacles. Edersheim, among others, feels that it occurred on the day after the Octave …