John 9:26

Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? THEN SAID THEY ('THEY SAID') TO HIM AGAIN, WHAT DID HE TO THEE? HOW OPENED HE THINE EYES? - hoping by repeated questions to ensnare him; but the youth is more than a match for them....

26._Again, therefore, they said to him. _When we see wicked men so delighted in performing their own base actions, we ought to be ashamed of our slothfulness, in acting with such coolness about the affairs of Christ. Though they search on all sides to obtain grounds of slander, the Lord defeats their attempts, in a remarkable manner, by the unshaken firmness of the blind man; for not only does he persist in his opinion, but he freely and severely reproaches them, that after having abundantly ascertained and known the truth, they endeavor to bury it by their continual inquiries. He charges them also with wicked hatred of Christ, when he says, _Do you also wish to become his disciples? _For he means that, though they were a hundred times convinced, they are so strongly prejudiced by wicked and hostile dispositions, that they will never yield. It is an astonishing display of freedom, when a...

24-34 As Christ's mercies are most valued by those who have felt the want of them, that have been blind, and now see; so the most powerful and lasting affections to Christ, arise from actual knowledge of him. In the work of grace in the soul, though we cannot tell when, and how, and by what steps the blessed change was wrought, yet we may take the comfort, if we can say, through grace, Whereas I was blind, now I see. I did live a worldly, sensual life, but, thanks be to God, it is now otherwise with me, Ephesians 5:8. The unbelief of those who enjoy the means of knowledge and conviction, is indeed marvellous. All who have felt the power and grace of the Lord Jesus, wonder at the wilfulness of others who reject him. He argues strongly against them, not only that Jesus was not a sinner, but that he was of God. We may each of us know by this, whether we are of God or not. What do we? What...

HOW OPENED HE THINE EYES? - The reason why they asked this so often was doubtless to attempt to draw him into a contradiction; either to intimidate him, or throw him off his guard, so that he might be detected in denying what he had before affirmed. But God gave to this poor man grace and strength to make a bold confession of the truth, and sufficient common sense completely to confound his proud and subtle examiners....

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

THEN SAID THEY TO HIM AGAIN,.... Finding they could not bring him to deny the fact, or cause him to entertain an ill opinion of him that did it, they examine him again about the manner of it: WHAT DID HE TO THEE? HOW OPENED HE THINE EYES? These questions they had put before, John 9:15, and propose them again, in hope he would vary in the account, which they would not fail of improving against him; or that it would appear that he had not been really blind, at least from his birth; or that Christ made use of some unlawful means, as magic art, which they were always ready to charge him with, and to impute his miracles to a diabolical familiarity and influence; and they would have been glad to have had something to support such a calumny....

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_ Christ's disciples were often inquisitive even when their Master was bent upon giving proofs of his practical benevolence. Fools may sometimes ask questions which wise men may not think it proper to answer; but on this occasion, our Saviour gave an answer to the enquiry which his disciples had put to him. John 9:3. _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._ Think of our Lord being under the necessity of working: «I mus

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. ...

THE INCOMPETENCE AND ANGER OF THE AUTHORITIES. In what follows the actors are described first as Pharisees, then as Jews, the larger party of whom the Pharisees are one section. In John 9:13 the attempt is made to get evidence out of the man to disprove the fact of the healing, which they refuse to believe, on the ground that a Sabbath-breaker could not do so great a work. They only elicit the man's view that Jesus is a prophet. Interest in the matter spreads. The Jews now question the man's parents, in the hopes of being able to deny his identity. They assert that it is undoubtedly their son, and for the rest they are cautious, knowing the hostility of the authorities to the claims of Jesus. So the man himself is called again, in the hope that his admissions may be made to point to demoniac agency, as the fact of the healing can no longer be denied. He is solemnly adjured to confess the...

WHAT DID HE TO THEE? They begin. cross examination in the hope that some flaw in the chain of proof might be developed....