John 9:1

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. The connection between the close of the preceding chapter and the opening of this one appears so close, that one is apt to conclude that all happened on one day, and that a Sabbath (). But the violence with which the former chapter closes, and the tranquillity with which this one opens, renders that somewhat doubtful. At all events, the transactions of both chapters could not have been far apart in time. AND AS JESUS PASSED BY, HE SAW A MAN WHICH WAS BLIND FROM HIS BIRTH - and who "sat and begged" ()....

1._Jesus saw a man blind. _In this chapter, the Evangelist describes the restoration of sight to the blind man, at the same time mingling doctrine, to point out the fruit of the miracle. _From his birth. _This circumstance gives an additional display of the power of Christ; for _blindness_, which he had brought from his mother’s womb, and which he had endured till he arrived at the age of a man, could not be cured by human remedies. This gave occasion to the disciples to propose a question, Of whose sin was this the punishment?...

1-7 Christ cured many who were blind by disease or accident; here he cured one born blind. Thus he showed his power to help in the most desperate cases, and the work of his grace upon the souls of sinners, which gives sight to those blind by nature. This poor man could not see Christ, but Christ saw him. And if we know or apprehend anything of Christ, it is because we were first known of him. Christ says of uncommon calamities, that they are not always to be looked on as special punishments of sin; sometimes they are for the glory of God, and to manifest his works. Our life is our day, in which it concerns us to do the work of the day. We must be busy, and not waste day-time; it will be time to rest when our day is done, for it is but a day. The approach of death should quicken us to improve all our opportunities of doing and getting good. What good we have an opportunity to do, we shou...

CHAPTER IX. _Account of the man who was born blind_, 1-5. _Christ heals him_, 6, 7. _The man is questioned by his neighbours_, 8-12. _He is brought to the Pharisees, who question him_, 13-17, _and then his parents_, 18-23. _They again interrogate the man, who, vindicating the conduct_ _of Christ, is excommunicated by them_, 24-34. _Jesus, hearing of the conduct of the Pharisees, afterwards_ _finds the man, and reveals himself to him_, 35-38. _He passes sentence on the obduracy and blindness of the_...

AS JESUS PASSED BY - As he was leaving the temple, John 8:59. This man was in the way in which Jesus was going to escape from the Jews....

EXPOSITION These chapters (9. and 10.) bring the conflict with the Jews to a climax before the commencement of the Peraean ministry. They are doubtless closely connected with what has preceded; but the note of time (John 10:22) implies an interval of some months of intense activity elsewhere—to have carried on the ministry of Christ from the Feast of Tabernacles to the winter. If John 10:22 points back, as Westcott argues by alteration of the Received Text and by special translation, to the preceding discourse, we are compelled to dissociate the cure of the blind man from the teaching of John 8:1., and to regard the opening verse of John 9:1. a

AND AS [JESUS] PASSED BY,.... The word "Jesus" is not in the Greek text, but is rightly supplied by us, as it is in the Vulgate Latin, and as the word "Christ" is in the Persic version; for of his passing from the temple, and by the multitude that were there, and on his way to the place he designed to make to, is this said, as appears from the close of the preceding chapter; though some think this is to be understood of his passing by at another time and place, since the preceding fact of the woman's being taken in adultery, and the discourse of our Lord with the Jews, were quickly after the feast of tabernacles; whereas the following ones, both in this, and the next chapter, seem to be at the feast of dedication, John 10:22, which was some months after: but it may be, that the parable of the sheep, though it runs in connection with what is said in this chapter, might be delivered then;...

John 9:1. _And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way before, and washed, and came seeing._ I will not say anything now about this miracle, as it will form the subject of my discourse. This exposition consisted of readings from...

CHAPTER 9 _ 1. The Man Born Blind, Healed. (John 9:1 .)_ 2. The Healed Man Questioned. (John 9:8 .) 3. Reviled and Cast Out. (John 9:27 .) 4. Jesus Reveals Himself to Him. (John 9:35 .) The healing of the man born blind is a type and an illustration of how Christ, the Light, communicates light and how he who follows the Light walks no more in darkness, but has the light of life. (John 8:12 .) And before He healed the man He testified that His day of activity on earth as Man was rapidly drawing to its close. ...

JOHN 9. THE HEALING OF THE MAN BORN BLIND. JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. HOSTILITY TO HIS FOLLOWERS. John 9:1. The Miracle. The expression passed by (_cf._ Mark 1:16) does not necessarily connect the incident with the preceding chapter. In subject-matter it is more closely connected with the first part of ch. 10. It belongs to the period between the Feasts of Tabernacles and the Dedication. The encounter with a man born blind suggests the question of sin and suffering, so often raised in the OT and especially in Job. The disciples see the difficulty of the orthodox Jewish explanation. Can this man's suffering be due either to his own or his parents'sin? There is probably a reference, either to the Greek view of the soul's pre-existence (_cf._ Wis_8:19 f., being good I came into a body undefiled), or to th