John 9:4

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. I MUST WORK THE WORKS OF HIM THAT SENT ME, WHILE IT IS DAY: THE NIGHT COMETH, WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK - a most interesting statement this, from the mouth of Christ; intimating, first, that He had a precise work to do upon earth, with every particular of it arranged and laid out to Him; next, that all He did upon earth was just "the works of God" - particularly "going about doing good," though not exclusively by miracles; further, that each work had its precise time and place in His programme of instructions, so to speak; hence, again, that as His period for work had a 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; finally, that as man He acted ever under the impulse...

4._I must work the works of him who hath sent me. _He now testifies that he has been sent for the purpose of manifesting the kindness of God in giving sight to the blind man. He borrows also a comparison from the ordinary custom of life; for, when the sun is risen, man rises to labor, but the night is allotted to repose, as it is said, The sun riseth; man goeth forth to his work, and to his labor, till the evening (Psalms 104:22.) He therefore employs the word _Day _to denote the time which the Father had fixed, during which he must finish _the work _assigned him; in the same manner as every man who has been called to some public office ought to be employed in what may be called his _daily _task, to perform what the nature of his office demands. Hence too we ought to deduce a universal rule, that to eve

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...

Verse John 9:4. _WHILE IT IS DAY_] Though I plainly perceive that the cure of this man will draw down upon me the malice of the Jewish rulers, yet I must accomplish the work for which I came into the world whole it is day-while the term of this life of mine shall last. It was about six months after this that our Lord was crucified. It is very likely that the day was now declining, and night coming on; and he took occasion from this circumstance to introduce the elegant metaphor immediately following. By this we are taught that no opportunity for doing good should be omitted - DAY representing the _opportunity_: NIGHT, the loss of that _opportunity_....

THE WORKS OF HIM ... - The works of beneficence and mercy which God has commissioned me to do, and which are expressive of his goodness and power. This was on the Sabbath day John 9:14; and though Jesus had endangered his life (John 5:1 by working a similar miracle on the Sabbath, yet he knew that this was the will of God that he should do good, and that he would take care of his life. WHILE IT IS DAY - The day is the proper time for work - night is not. This is the general, the universal sentiment. While the day lasts it is proper to labor. The term “day” here refers to the life of Jesus, and to the opportunity thus afforded of working miracles. His life was drawing to a close. It was probably but about six months after this when he was put to dea

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

I MUST WORK THE WORKS OF HIM THAT SENT ME,.... This shows, that the works of God, that were to be manifest, were to be done by Christ: many were the works which the Father gave him to do, and which he undertook to perform; and therefore there was a necessity of doing them, as principally the work of redemption, by fulfilling the law, and satisfying justice: and besides this, there were the preaching of the Gospel, and doing of miracles, and among these was this of giving sight to the blind, see Isaiah 35:5, both in a natural and spiritual sense: and with a view to this he speaks of the works he mast do, WHILE IT IS DAY; while the day of life lasts, for in the grave there is no work nor device: THE NIGHT COMETH WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK; meaning the night of death, and of the grave, and suggesting his own death hereby, that he had but a little time to be in thi

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...

JOHN 9:4 h`ma/j dei/ … pe,myanto,j me {C} Although it is difficult to choose among the readings, a majority of the Committee preferred h`ma/j dei/, (_a_) because of its somewhat superior external support, and (_b_) because it is slightly more probable that copyists would have altered h`ma/j to evme, than vice versa. The reading pe,myantoj h`ma/j, which is a non-Johannine expression, appears to have been introduced into several witnesses (î66, 75 a* L W copbo _al_) as correlative with h`ma/j dei/ at the beginning of the sentence....

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. ...