John 9:25 - Printer Friendly

ESV: He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

NIV: He replied, 'Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!'

NASB: He then answered, 'Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.'

CSB: He answered, "Whether or not he's a sinner, I don't know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I can see! "

NLT: I don’t know whether he is a sinner,' the man replied. 'But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!'

KJV: He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

NKJV: He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

When Jesus first approached him, this man had been blind from birth (John 9:1–1). After applying mud to his eyes, Jesus' instructions were for the man to go elsewhere to wash off (John 9:6–7). As a result, to this point, the formerly-blind man has still not physically seen the One who healed him. There is no indication that this man sought Jesus out, or knew anything about Him prior to this incident. Local religious leaders cannot accept that Jesus has performed a miracle, so they have been interrogating the man and his parents, insisting that Jesus must be a sinner.

The man's response here is an excellent summary of how saving faith operates. Scripture often uses sight—or light—as a metaphor for faith. This man is not a trained scholar, or wealthy, or well-read. He knows nothing about Jesus' prior ministry, or the details of Jesus ministry. But what he does know, he knows for sure: he had been blind, and now he can see! The profound, inexplicable change brought by an encounter with Christ was beyond debate. For Christians, this is the cornerstone of our testimony: the influence of Christ in our own lives. This is what opens our conversation with others about the reality of the gospel (Mark 5:19), and which leads into all of our other evidence and arguments (1 Peter 3:15–16).

John 9:13–34 describes the Pharisees' reaction to Jesus' healing of a man born blind. Rather than being swayed by an obvious sign of divine power, they look for excuses and criticisms. Seeking to discredit the miracle, they interrogate the man's parents, who timidly defer back to their son. The healed man knows nothing more than this: ''though I was blind, now I see.'' His matter-of-fact responses to the Pharisees highlight their obvious prejudice. As a result, they excommunicate the healed man from the synagogue. Jesus will meet with the man in the next passage to give more context for the miracle.

Jesus encounters a man who has been blind his entire life. In typical fashion for that era, the disciples assume this condition is due to some specific sin--either the man's sin or his parents' sin. Jesus challenges this idea, and heals the man. His restoration leads to interrogation, as the Pharisees try to discredit Jesus' miraculous work. The healed man's simple, straightforward perspective embarrasses the religious leaders, who excommunicate him in frustration. Jesus is able to meet with the man, explaining more about His identity and the purpose of His ministry. Jesus also reminds the Pharisees that those who ought to know better, spiritually, will be held more accountable as a result.

Jesus has begun to actively confront the false teachings of local religious leaders. His most recent debate included a heated exchange with the Pharisees, where Jesus claimed to have existed before Abraham. This resulted in an attempted stoning for blasphemy. Here, Jesus continues to antagonize religious hypocrites by healing a man who was born blind. The ensuing ruckus further exposes Jerusalem's religious leaders as shallow, prejudiced, and false. This event launches Jesus into another lengthy discussion of His ministry, recorded in chapter 10, including several crucial teachings on His role as Shepherd.

The gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls “signs”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.