---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  John 9"
description: "CHAPTER 9   :-. THE OPENING
OF THE EYES OF ONE
BORN BLIND,
AND WHAT FOLLOWED
ON IT. 1-5. as Jesus passed by, he saw a
man which was blind from birth—and w"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/john/9"
---

CHAPTER 9

. THE OPENING
OF THE EYES OF ONE
BORN BLIND,
AND WHAT FOLLOWED
ON IT.

**1-5. as Jesus passed by, he saw a
man which was blind from birth**—and who "sat begging"
([John 9:8](../../../kjv/john/9/8)).

**2. who did sin, this man or his
parents, that he was born blind**—not in a former state of
existence, in which, as respects the wicked, the Jews did not
believe; but, perhaps, expressing loosely that sin *somewhere*
had surely been the cause of this calamity.

**3. Neither . . . this man,**
&c.—The cause was neither in himself nor his parents, but, in
order to the manifestation of "the works of God," in his
cure.

**4. I must work the works of him that
sent me,** c.—a most interesting statement from the mouth of
Christ intimating, (1) that He had a precise work to do upon earth,
with every particular of it arranged and laid out to Him; (2) that
all He did upon earth was just "the works of God"—particularly
"going about *doing good,*" though not exclusively by
miracles; (3) that each work had its precise *time* and *place*
in His programme of instructions, so to speak; hence, (4) that as His
period for work had definite termination, so by letting any one
service pass by its allotted time, the whole would be disarranged,
marred, and driven beyond its destined period for completion; (5)
that He acted ever under the impulse of these considerations, as
man—"the night cometh when no man (or no one) can work."
What lessons are here for others, and what encouragement from such
Example!

**5. As long as I am in the world, I
am the light of the world**—not as if He would cease, after that,
to be so; but that He must make full proof of His fidelity while His
earthly career lasted by displaying His glory. "As before the
raising of Lazarus ([John 11:25](../../../kjv/john/11/25)),
He announces Himself as *the Resurrection and the Life,* so now
He sets Himself forth as the source of the archetypal spiritual
light, of which the natural, now about to be conferred, is only a
derivation and symbol" [ALFORD].

**6, 7. he spat on the ground, and
made clay . . . and he anointed the eyes of the blind man**—These
operations were not so incongruous in their nature as might appear,
though it were absurd to imagine that they contributed in the least
degree to the effect which followed. (See and see on [John 7:33](../../../kjv/john/7/33).)

**7. Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, .
. . Sent,** c.—(See [2 Kings 5:10](../../../kjv/2-kings/5/10)
[2 Kings 5:14](../../../kjv/2-kings/5/14)). As the prescribed
action was purely symbolical in its design, so in connection with it
the Evangelist notices the symbolical name of the pool as in this
case bearing testimony to him who was *sent* to do what it only
*symbolized.* (See [Isaiah 8:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/8/6),
where this same pool is used figuratively to denote "the streams
that make glad the city of God," and which, humble though they
be, betoken *a present God of Israel*.)

**8-15. The neighbours therefore . . .
said, Is not this he that sat and begged**—Here are a number of
details to identify the newly seeing with the long-known blind
beggar.

**13. They brought to the
Pharisees**—sitting probably in council, and chiefly of that sect
([John 7:47](../../../kjv/john/7/47); [John 7:48](../../../kjv/john/7/48)).

**8-15. The neighbours therefore . . .
said, Is not this he that sat and begged**—Here are a number of
details to identify the newly seeing with the long-known blind
beggar.

**16, 17. This man is not of God,**
c.—(See on [John 5:9](../../../kjv/john/5/9) [John 5:9](../../../kjv/john/5/9)).
**Others said,** &c.—such
as Nicodemus and Joseph.

**17. the blind man . . . said, He is
a prophet**—rightly viewing the miracle as but a "sign"
of His prophetic commission.

**18-23. the Jews did not believe . .
. he had been born blind . . . till they called the parents of him
that had received his sight**—Foiled by the testimony of the
young man himself, they hope to throw doubt on the fact by close
questioning his parents, who, perceiving the snare laid for them,
ingeniously escape it by testifying simply to the identity of their
son, and his birth-blindness, leaving it to himself, as a competent
witness, to speak as to the cure. They prevaricated, however, in
saying they "knew not who had opened his eyes," for "they
feared the Jews," who had come to an understanding (probably
after what is recorded, [John 7:50](../../../kjv/john/7/50),
c. but by this time well known), that whoever owned Him as the Christ
would be put out of the synagogue—that is, not simply *excluded,*
but *excommunicated.*

**24-34. Give God the praise; we know
that this man is a sinner**—not wishing him to own, even to the
praise of God, that a miracle had been wrought upon him, but to show
more regard to the honor of God than ascribe any such act to one who
was a sinner.

**25. He answered and said, Whether he
be a sinner*****or no,******* &c.—Not that the
man meant to insinuate any doubt in his own mind on the point of His
being "a sinner," but as his *opinion* on such a point
would be of no consequence to others, he would speak only to what he
*knew* as *fact* in his *own case.*

**26. Then said they . . . again, What
did he to thee?** &c.—hoping by repeated questions to ensnare
him, but the youth is more than a match for them.

**27. I have told you already . . .
will ye also be his disciples?**—In a vein of keen irony he
treats their questions as those of anxious inquirers, almost ready
for discipleship! Stung by this, they retort upon *him* as the
disciple (and here they plainly were not wrong); for themselves, they
fall back upon Moses; about *him* there could be no doubt; but
who knew about this upstart?

**24-34. Give God the praise; we know
that this man is a sinner**—not wishing him to own, even to the
praise of God, that a miracle had been wrought upon him, but to show
more regard to the honor of God than ascribe any such act to one who
was a sinner.

**30. The man answered, Herein is a
marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath
opened mine eyes**—He had no need to say another word; but waxing
bolder in defense of his Benefactor, and his views brightening by the
very courage which it demanded, he puts it to them how they could
pretend inability to tell whether one who opened the eyes of a man
born blind was "of God" or "a sinner"—from
above or from beneath—and proceeds to argue the case with
remarkable power. So irresistible was his argument that their rage
burst forth in a speech of intense Pharisaism, "Thou wast
altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?"—*thou,*
a base-born, uneducated, impudent youth, teach *us,* the
trained, constituted, recognized guides of the people in the things
of God! Out upon thee!

**31. they cast him out**—judicially,
no doubt, as well in fact. The allusion to his being "born in
sins" seems a tacit admission of his being blind from birth—the
very thing they had been so unwilling to own. But rage and enmity to
truth are seldom consistent in their outbreaks. The friends of this
excommunicated youth, crowding around him with their sympathy, would
probably express surprise that One who could work such a cure should
be unable to protect his patient from the persecution it had raised
against him, or should possess the power without using it. Nor would
it be strange if such thoughts should arise in the youth's own mind.
But if they did, it is certain, from what follows, that they made no
lodgment there, conscious as he was that "whereas he was blind,
now he saw," and satisfied that if his Benefactor "were not
of God, He could do nothing" (). There was a word for him too, which, if whispered in his
ear from the oracles of God, would seem expressly designed to
describe his case, and prepare him for the coming interview with his
gracious Friend. "Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at
His word. *Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My
name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified;* BUT
HE SHALL APPEAR TO YOUR JOY,
*and they shall be ashamed*" (). But how was He engaged to whom such noble testimony had
been given, and for whom such persecution had been borne? Uttering,
perhaps, in secret, "with strong crying and tears," the
words of the prophetic psalm, "Let not them that wait on Thee, O
Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake; let none that seek Thee be
confounded for my sake, O God of Israel; because for Thy sake I have
borne reproach . . . and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee
are fallen upon me" ([Psalms 69:6](../../../kjv/psalms/69/6);
[Psalms 69:7](../../../kjv/psalms/69/7); [Psalms 69:9](../../../kjv/psalms/69/9)).

**24-34. Give God the praise; we know
that this man is a sinner**—not wishing him to own, even to the
praise of God, that a miracle had been wrought upon him, but to show
more regard to the honor of God than ascribe any such act to one who
was a sinner.

**35-38. Jesus heard**—that is, by
intelligence brought Him.
**that they had cast him out;
and when he had found him**—by accident? Not very likely.
Sympathy in that breast could not long keep aloof from its object.
**he said unto him, Dost thou
believe on the Son of God?**—A question stretching purposely
beyond his present attainments, in order the more quickly to lead
him—in his present teachable frame—into the highest truth.

**36. He answered and said, Who is he,
Lord, that I may believe on him?**—"His reply is
affirmative, and believing by anticipation, promising faith as soon
as Jesus shall say who He is" [STIER].

**37. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast
both seen him**—the new sense of sight having at that moment its
highest exercise, in gazing upon "the Light of the world."

**38. he said, Lord, I believe: and he
worshipped him**—a *faith* and a *worship,* beyond
doubt, meant to express far more than he would think proper to any
human "prophet" () —the unstudied, resistless expression, probably of
SUPREME faith and
adoration, though without the full understanding of what that
implied.

**39-41. Jesus said**—perhaps at
the same time, but after a crowd, including some of the skeptical and
scornful rulers, had, on seeing Jesus talking with the healed youth,
hastened to the spot.
**that they which see not might
see,** &c.—rising to that *sight* of which the natural
vision communicated to the youth was but the symbol. (See on , and compare [Luke 4:18](../../../kjv/luke/4/18)).
**that they which see might be
made blind**—judicially incapable of apprehending and receiving
the truth, to which they have wilfully shut their eyes.

**40. Are we blind also?**—We, the
constituted, recognized guides of the people in spiritual things?
pride and rage prompting the question.

**41. If ye were blind**—wanted
light to discern My claims, and only waited to receive it.
**ye should have no sin**—none
of the guilt of shutting out the light.
**ye say, We see; therefore
your sin remaineth**—Your claim to possess light, while rejecting
Me, is that which seals you up in the guilt of unbelief.

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