# John 09 📖: The Man Born Blind [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-John Overview]] | [[John 08]] | [[John 10]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind **Principle**: When Jesus heals, multiple miracles happen. God heals our bodies, but more importantly, He is after our hearts. [[#Verse 01.]] Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. [[#Verse 02.]] His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” [[#Verse 03.]] Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him. [[#Verse 04.]] We must perform the deeds of the one who sent me as long as it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work. [[#Verse 05.]] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” [[#Verse 06.]] Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man’s eyes [[#Verse 07.]] and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So the blind man went away and washed, and came back seeing. [[#Verse 08.]] Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously as a beggar began saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” [[#Verse 09.]] Some people said, “This is the man!” while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” The man himself kept insisting, “I am the one!” [[#Verse 10.]] So they asked him, “How then were you made to see?” [[#Verse 11.]] He replied, “The man called Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and was able to see.” [[#Verse 12.]] They said to him, “Where is that man?” He replied, “I don’t know.” ## The Healed Man's Testimony **Principle**: Your testimony will not always be received. [[#Verse 13.]] They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees. [[#Verse 14.]] (Now the day on which Jesus made the mud and caused him to see was a Sabbath.) [[#Verse 15.]] So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. He replied, “He put mud on my eyes and I washed, and now I am able to see.” [[#Verse 16.]] Then some of the Pharisees began to say, “This man is not from God because he does not observe the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division among them. [[#Verse 17.]] So again they asked the man who used to be blind, “What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?” “He is a prophet,” the man replied. The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.” [[#Verse 18.]] Now the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned the parents of the man who had become able to see. [[#Verse 19.]] They asked the parents, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” [[#Verse 20.]] So his parents replied, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. [[#Verse 21.]] But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. Ask him, he is a mature adult. He will speak for himself.” [[#Verse 22.]] (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. [[#Verse 23.]] For this reason his parents said, “He is a mature adult, ask him.”) [[#Verse 24.]] Then they summoned the man who used to be blind a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth. We know that this man is a sinner.” [[#Verse 25.]] He replied, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing—that although I was blind, now I can see.” [[#Verse 26.]] Then they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he cause you to see?” [[#Verse 27.]] He answered, “I told you already and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You people don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” [[#Verse 28.]] They heaped insults on him, saying, “You are his disciple! We are disciples of Moses! [[#Verse 29.]] We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man comes from!” [[#Verse 30.]] The man replied, “This is a remarkable thing that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see! [[#Verse 31.]] We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is devout and does his will, God listens to him. [[#Verse 32.]] Never before has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see. [[#Verse 33.]] If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” [[#Verse 34.]] They replied, “You were born completely in sinfulness, and yet you presume to teach us?” So they threw him out. ### Spiritual Blindness **Principle**: It's possible to know theology and not know Jesus. [[#Verse 35.]] Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the man and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [[#Verse 36.]] The man replied, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” [[#Verse 37.]] Jesus told him, “You have seen him; he is the one speaking with you.” [ [[#Verse 38.]] He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. [[#Verse 39.]] Jesus said,] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind.” [[#Verse 40.]] Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, “We are not blind too, are we?” [[#Verse 41.]] Jesus replied, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ###### Verse 39. ###### Verse 40. ###### Verse 41. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Many people in Jesus' day believed disability was punishment for sin, even sin committed by parents. 2. Jesus made mud with saliva (9:6). Later rabbinic tradition counted kneading as work forbidden on the Sabbath. 3. John explains that Siloam means "sent" (9:7), fitting for a man healed by the One sent from the Father. 4. The Pool of Siloam from Jesus' time was rediscovered in 2004 during work on a sewer line in Jerusalem, including stone steps leading down to the water. 5. The Old Testament records no healing of someone blind from birth, which is why the man says no one has ever heard of such a thing (9:32). 6. Being put out of the synagogue (9:22) meant being cut off from the religious and social life of the community. 7. The parents said, "He is a mature adult" (9:21), meaning he was old enough to give legal testimony for himself. 8. "Promise before God to tell the truth" (9:24) translates a phrase that was a formal call to tell the truth, as in Joshua 7:19. 9. The man's view of Jesus grows through the chapter: a man (9:11), a prophet (9:17), one from God (9:33), and Lord whom he worships (9:38). 10. Isaiah promised that in the age of God's salvation the eyes of the blind would be opened (Isaiah 35:5). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the light of the world who opens blind eyes (9:5-7). He gives sight to those who know they are blind and exposes the blindness of the proud (9:39), and He still shines in our hearts today (2 Corinthians 4:6). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. The disciples assumed the man's blindness was caused by someone's sin (9:2). How do we sometimes make wrong assumptions about suffering? 2. The man's understanding of Jesus grew from "the man called Jesus" (9:11) to worshiping Him (9:38). How has your understanding of Jesus grown? 3. The Pharisees thought they could see but were spiritually blind (9:40-41). How can we guard against spiritual pride? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 3: The man was born blind so that the works of God could be revealed in him. - 📖 verse 5: While He is in the world, Jesus is the light of the world. - 📖 verse 25: The man's testimony: I was blind, and now I can see. - 📖 verse 38: The man believes in Jesus and worships Him. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[Isaiah 35#Verse 05.|Isaiah 35:5]] - The eyes of the blind will be opened. - 🔗 [[John 08#Verse 12.|John 8:12]] - Jesus is the light of the world. - 🔗 [[2 Kings 05#Verse 10.|2 Kings 5:10-14]] - Naaman washes and is healed. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 06#Verse 09.|Isaiah 6:9-10]] - Eyes that see but do not perceive. - 🔗 [[2 Corinthians 04#Verse 06.|2 Corinthians 4:6]] - God shines His light in our hearts. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[John 09 - SOAP|The Best Testimony]] 📝 SOAP: [[John 09- SOAP|The Greatest Testimony]] --- ## 📂 Internal Notes