Commentary on the Four Gospel Books
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
G089 The Lord Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
John 9:1-23

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All New Testament verses quoted in this article are from the English Majority Text Version, and Old Testament verses are from the King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

John 9:1-23

1 And passing by, He saw a man blind from birth.

2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but so that the works of *God should be manifest in him.

4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 Having said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay from the saliva; and He applied the clay on the eyes of the blind man.

7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously saw him, that he was blind, were saying, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.”

10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ When I had gone and washed, I received my sight.”

12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

13 They brought him who was once blind to the Pharisees.

14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

15 Then again the Pharisees were asking him how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This Man is not from *God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he was blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

20 And his parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.”

22 These things his parents said because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone should confess that He was Christ, he would be excommunicated.

23 On account of this his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

In this lesson, we will learn together about the Lord Jesus healing a man who had been blind since birth. The healing took place on a Sabbath, which further intensified the Pharisees’ opposition to the Lord Jesus.

John 9:1-3

1 And passing by, He saw a man blind from birth.

2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but so that the works of *God should be manifest in him.

On the solemn Sabbath following the Feast of Tabernacles, the Lord Jesus testified about Himself before a large crowd at the Temple, which included Pharisees who opposed Him. He referred to these Pharisees as children of the Devil and declared that they would die in their sins. Three times, He identified Himself as “I Am,” implying that He is God, The Eternal Self-Existing One. As a result, the Pharisees picked up stones to throw at Him, but He concealed Himself from them and left the Temple.

A few days later, on the weekend Sabbath, the Lord Jesus returned to the Temple, likely to participate in prayer there. It is possible that as He passed through the Beautiful Gate on the eastern wall of the Temple and by a man who had been blind from birth, sitting and begging, He noticed him.

The man likely sat begging near the Beautiful Gate regularly and was well-known to many. The disciples of the Lord were also aware of him, prompting them to ask Jesus about the cause of his congenital blindness.

The disciples addressed the Lord Jesus as “Rabbi” (G4461), a title used by the Israelites for teachers of Scripture. It means “The Great One, The Honorable One, My Teacher.” This title is equivalent to the English term “Reverend,” commonly used by religious organizations bearing the name of the Lord to refer to certain individuals in their clergy. Those addressed by this title often take pride in it and refer to themselves as “Reverend.” However, the Lord Jesus commanded the Israelites, including His disciples, not to allow anyone to call them Rabbi. They have only one “Teacher,” the Christ, and they are all brothers and sisters with the same Father (Matthew 23:8, 10). Only the Lord Jesus is worthy of being called Rabbi or Reverend. In Chinese and Vietnamese, there is also the title “牧師/Mục Sư,” which means “Master Shepherd.” Only the Lord Jesus, the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), is worthy of being called by the title “牧師/Mục Sư.” The Traditional Translation of the Vietnamese Bible by the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, the first complete translation of the Bible into Vietnamese, made a significant error by translating the term “ποιμήν” (poimēn) /poy-mane’ – poi-men/ (G4166) as “người chăn” (shepherd) for the Lord Jesus (John 10:11) but as “mục sư” (master shepherd) for the role of shepherding within the Church (Ephesians 4:11). This mistake needs to be corrected.

The disciples of the Lord had the concept that illness and disability were consequences of sin. Therefore, they asked the Lord whether the blindness of the man was due to his parents’ sin or his own sin, which caused him to be born blind. The Lord Jesus’ response revealed a truth to His disciples. He explained that sometimes illness is not the result of sin, but rather a means for the God to reveal His works among humanity.

As we know, the Bible records four great calamities that befell Job, causing the death of all his ten children, his complete financial ruin, and the addition of painful sores all over his body. But this was not due to his sin; it was because the God allowed Satan to test him (Job 1-2). Similarly, the death of Lazarus was to reveal the glory of the God, when the Lord Jesus called him back to life after he had been dead for four days (John 11:40).

The fact that a man was born blind is not a result of anyone’s sin but the work of the God, from which we can draw several lessons.

We learn that the God is sovereign in His calling, choosing, and using anyone for His works.

We learn that when the God’s works are revealed in a person, His glory is also manifested in that person.

We learn that there are works of the God that take decades to complete before they are finished and display His glory.

We do not know how old the blind man was when he was healed by the Lord Jesus, except that he was an adult. According to the Bible’s standards, a person at the age of 20 is considered an adult. Therefore, at the very least, he had been blind for 20 years, since birth. We can say that during all those years of blindness, he was chosen by the God to be an instrument of His. Thus, his blindness was part of his service to the God. Being blind is an immense suffering. During the decades of suffering due to blindness, he was a vessel in the hands of the God. Surely, the God will reward him justly.

We are taught by the Word of God that God’s people must suffer for His name. It is not that the God lacks the power to remove all suffering from His people. But suffering is necessary to train God’s people in faith and patience, helping them empathize with the sufferings of Christ and their brothers and sisters in the Church, and increasing their wisdom in living according to God’s Word. The suffering of God’s people is an act of worship to the God. Suffering due to hardship, lack, illness, injustice, persecution of faith, and even death all manifest the glory of the God through their physical bodies, through their lives, if they remain steadfast in faith like Job. Their reward will be great in the Heavenly Kingdom.

Here are the Bible verses about God’s people suffering that every believer should remember and use to comfort themselves in every trial:

“For to you it has been granted for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” (Philippians 1:29)

“You therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Timothy 2:3)

“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving behind an example for you, that you should follow in His footsteps. [“This” refers to suffering for the name of the Lord.]” (1 Peter 2:21)

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same mind, because he who suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the remaining time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1-2)

“But may the God of all grace, the One having called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, may He Himself make you complete–He will establish, strengthen, and firmly ground you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

The disciples of the Lord questioned whether the blind man had been born blind because of his own sin, perhaps influenced by the Greek philosophy of the “transmigration of souls.” This philosophy existed about 500 years prior and shares similarities with the concept of “reincarnation” in Hinduism and Buddhism. The similarity lies in the belief that souls can move from one being to another, including between humans and animals. Souls that do good are believed to be reborn in a more favorable environment, while those who do evil are reborn in a more difficult environment. Thus, a person born with a congenital illness or disability would be considered a bad person or one who sinned in a past life. The Western philosophy of “transmigration of souls” and the Eastern concept of “reincarnation” are merely schemes of the Devil, meant to deceive humanity into following a path of self-salvation, which no one can achieve. A person can only be saved, freed from the power and consequences of sin, by truly repenting of their sins and fully trusting in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Humanity’s sin is a transgression against the God, against the conscience He has placed within each person. Therefore, humanity can only be saved by the grace of the God. The Bible affirms:

“Nor is there salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven which has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

The “name” refers to the name “Jesus Christ.” The Lord Jesus Christ gave His life to the God as a sacrifice for the atonement of humanity’s sins. Apart from truly repenting for sins and fully trusting in the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no other way for a person to be saved.

There are several questions we can ask ourselves when learning this lesson: Do we believe that every suffering, if not a natural consequence of our own wrongs but something the God has allowed to happen to us, is an opportunity for the God to display His works and glory in us? Have we ever suffered for the name of the Lord for something, for at least 20 years? Is there any suffering we have experienced that compares to the suffering of being blind from birth for at least 20 years? Is there any suffering that compares to being imprisoned for 20 years until death, like the Shepherd Watchman Nee in China? Is there any suffering that can compare to the hardships the Apostle Paul went through, as he recounted in his letter to the Corinthians?

2 Corinthians 11:23-28

23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am even more: in labors far more, in beatings immeasurably, in imprisonments far more, in deaths often.

24 By the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have spent in the depth of the sea.

26 In journeys often, in dangers of rivers, in dangers of robbers, in dangers from my own race, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers in the sea, in dangers among false brothers;

27 in labor and hardship, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness– 

28 apart from what I leave unmentioned, what comes against me daily: the anxiety for all the Churches.

Has anyone among us ever gone through such suffering? May the God help us to always rejoice and give thanks to Him whenever we suffer for the Lord’s name.

John 9:4-5

4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The Lord Jesus knew beforehand that He would heal the man born blind. He knew that the God had prepared the blind man for Him to perform a miracle and heal him, thereby showing that He was indeed the Christ. That day was the Sabbath at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Temple was crowded with people. The visitors and Israelites who had come from afar for the festival were still staying in Jerusalem. The Feast of Tabernacles that year, in 26 AD, was a great opportunity for the Lord Jesus to reveal to the people of Israel that He was the Christ through His teachings and the miracles He performed in Jerusalem, especially at the Temple.

“I must work the works of Him who sent Me” means that the Lord Jesus had to proclaim the salvation of the God to the people of Israel, including performing miracles of healing and casting out demons to prove He was the Christ. Ultimately, He had to be arrested and crucified, offering His life to the God as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

“While it is day” refers to the time when the Lord Jesus was still in the world.

“The night is coming when no one can work” refers to when the Lord Jesus would leave the world after completing His mission.

The Lord Jesus came into the world, lived in the world, and He is the light of the world. This means that He is the presence of the God among humanity in the world. He helps humanity understand the glory of the God. He is the salvation of mankind. He is the life of mankind. He is God the Word, the guide and the direction for humanity. And He is the One who exposes all the evil and all the good deeds of mankind.

John 9:6-7

6 Having said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay from the saliva; and He applied the clay on the eyes of the blind man.

7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

In moments when performing miracles to heal diseases for humanity, the Lord Jesus often used only words. However, there were exceptions when He performed certain actions alongside His words. We have learned about how He healed a deaf and mute man in a special way, as recorded in Mark 7:31-35, and how He healed a blind man in Bethsaida in a special way, as recorded in Mark 8:22-24. In this passage, we again see Him healing a man born blind in a special way. We can understand that in the case of the deaf and mute man, the blind man in Bethsaida, and the man born blind at the temple gate, the Lord Jesus used His saliva, meaning He used His DNA, a human DNA that was not corrupted by sin, as the healing agent. His use of clay mixed with saliva to anoint the eyes of the man born blind may have been to emphasize the thought that the physical body of humanity is made from the dust of the earth. However, due to the imperfections in the formation of the blind man’s eyes in the womb, the Lord Jesus acted as though He were using dust to complete the creation of that person’s physical body.

However, the healing did not happen immediately but only after the blind man obeyed the Lord Jesus and went to the Pool of Siloam to wash his eyes. The brief Bible verse: “So he went and washed, and came back seeing,” includes the expression of faith and obedience from the blind man, which led to the result of blessing him and glorifying the God.

The phrase translated as “came back seeing” in verse 7 carries the implication of returning to the previous place, helping us understand that the man went, washed, and returned to the Temple with the ability to see.

God’s people need to completely trust in every word and work of the Lord and fully obey and diligently follow the Word of God in order to receive all of God’s promises.

The term “Siloam” means “sent.” Perhaps the event was arranged so that the man born blind could be confirmed as one who was sent by the God to be a witness, to prove that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, and to glorify the name of the God. The one who is sent must demonstrate faith and obedience.

The Pool of Siloam is located to the south of the Temple, near the City of David, about 600 meters from the Temple, as the crow flies. From the Temple, one must go down a slope, through the crowded streets, to reach the pool.

John 9:8-9

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously saw him, that he was blind, were saying, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.”

When the man returned to the Temple area, his neighbors, along with those who regularly visited the Temple, recognized his familiar figure, only now with bright eyes. Some recognized him as the same person, while others thought he was someone who looked like him. But the man confirmed, “I am he!” Meaning, it is I, the one who was blind and used to sit and beg here.

We do not know why he returned to the Temple. It could have been to find the one who healed him, or to enter the Temple to give thanks to the God, or perhaps both reasons. However, it is hard for us to fully understand his emotions when, for the first time, he was able to see everything: to see the faces of his neighbors whose voices he had come to recognize and to see the magnificent splendor of the Temple.

John 9:10-12

10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ When I had gone and washed, I received my sight.”

12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

Of course, everyone present there wanted to know how a man who had been blind from birth for many years could suddenly see. The man truthfully recounted what had happened to him.

We do not know how the man knew that the one who had healed him was named Jesus. Because from the beginning of the story, we do not see anyone mention the name of the Lord. However, it is possible that while the Lord Jesus was performing the act of mixing saliva with dust to make mud and applying it to the man’s eyes, the crowd surrounding them may have spoken His name.

When the man left the Temple and went to the Pool of Siloam to wash his eyes, he was still blind and could not see where the Lord Jesus had gone. When he returned to the Temple with his sight restored, he had not yet encountered the Lord Jesus again. Therefore, when the crowd asked, “Where is He?” the man replied, “I do not know.”

John 9:13-15

13 They brought him who was once blind to the Pharisees.

14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

15 Then again the Pharisees were asking him how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

The people who heard the testimony of the man who was supernaturally healed of his blindness did what they thought was reasonable and necessary in Israelite society at that time. They brought him before the Pharisees. For in those days, the Pharisees held religious authority over the people of Israel. They were the ones who assumed the right to validate what came from the God and what did not.

We should remember that among the crowd, there were those who believed in the Lord Jesus and those who opposed Him. Perhaps they wanted to observe the reaction and hear the explanation from the Pharisees. They may have reported to the Pharisees that the Lord Jesus had healed the man born blind.

If not all, then many of the Pharisees recognized that the man brought before them was the beggar they had often seen sitting at the gate of the Temple. They asked the man who had received his sight the same question as the others and received a definite answer. It is very likely that they approached him and carefully examined his eyes.

John 9:16-17

16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This Man is not from *God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

Once again, within the Pharisees, there was a division into two factions: the opposition and those who defended the Lord Jesus. The opposition denied that the Lord Jesus was sent by the God because they believed He had violated the Sabbath by healing on that day. They defined for themselves what constituted a violation of the Sabbath. The defending faction argued that a sinner could not perform miracles, such as healing a man who had been blind for many years. This meant that healing on the Sabbath was not a violation of the God’s commandment.

The Pharisees turned to ask the man who had received his sight what he thought about the one who had healed him. He responded confidently and briefly: “He is a prophet.”

Acknowledging the Lord Jesus as a prophet also meant acknowledging that He was greater than all the rabbis. This confession implied that the Lord Jesus was the Christ, because the Israelites believed that the Christ would be a leader who was also a prophet, based on the prophecy Moses proclaimed and recorded in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19.

John 9:18-19

18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he was blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

We see that the Apostle John uses the term “the Jews” to refer to the Pharisees, emphasizing the fact that they belong to the chosen people of the God in a physical sense but lack spiritual awareness. Perhaps these Pharisees examined the eyes of the man who had received his sight and found no trace of his having been blind for many years. Therefore, they suspected that the man was merely someone who resembled the blind man. They called for the blind man’s parents to question them. They wanted the parents to confirm that the person standing before them was indeed their son and had been blind from birth. And if that was the case, why was he now able to see?

John 9:20-21

20 And his parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.”

Based on verse 22, we think that three possible scenarios could have occurred. The first case is that when the man, who had been blind from birth, was healed by the Lord Jesus, his parents were nearby and witnessed the healing; they might have even guided him to the Pool of Siloam to wash his eyes. The second case is that they were not present and did not witness the healing, but after he was healed, the man returned home to share the news, and then they went together to the Temple to give thanks to the God and search for the Lord Jesus. The third case is that they did not know their son had been healed until messengers, sent by the Pharisees, came to inform them that their son had been healed by the Lord Jesus. Regardless of the scenario, they knew that the Lord Jesus had healed their son.

However, the parents of the man who had been blind from birth did not dare to tell the Pharisees that their son had been healed by the Lord Jesus. They cleverly directed the Pharisees to accept their son’s answer.

John 9:22-23

22 These things his parents said because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone should confess that He was Christ, he would be excommunicated.

23 On account of this his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

The Apostle John explained the reason why the parents of the man who had been blind from birth answered the Pharisees as recorded in verses 20 and 21. It is possible that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle John to understand this, or perhaps the story was relayed by those who witnessed it, or even by the parents themselves to the Apostle John.

Being “excommunicated” meant being prohibited from entering the Temple and synagogues, as well as being barred from participating in social activities within the Jewish community. This form of excommunication could have severe consequences socially, economically, and spiritually. It was not only a religious punishment but also a social isolation, as in a relatively small and close-knit community like the Jewish one, such isolation could affect all aspects of a person’s life.

We will conclude this lesson here.

May the Holy Spirit guide us into all the truths of God’s Word (John 16:13). May the Word of God sanctify us (John 17:17). May the Faithful *God of Peace Himself sanctify our spirit, soul, and body entirely, without blame (1 Thessalonians 5:23), at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior. Amen!

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
12/07/2024

Note:

About Using “*God” and “holy spirit”

Wherever the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible use a definite article with a noun to denote GOD, we translate it into English as *God or “the God” to refer to God the Father. We understand that “God,” without a definite article, was used as a collective noun for all and any of the three Persons of the Godhead. And “God,” with a definite article, was used to refer to God the Father.

In the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the term “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) without the definite article “the” (το) is used to denote the power of God, which is given by God the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit” (το πνευματι το αγιω) is God, and “holy spirit” (πνευματι αγιω) is the power that comes from God.