JOHN 9

“The story of the healing of the man born blind is one of John's most masterfully crafted narratives.” (M.M. Thompson) And so the best place to begin analysis of this chapter is to recognize that ch. 9 constitutes a literary unity. The healing of the man born blind can be seen as a playlet consisting of seven scenes which form a symmetrical set. Within this chapter, the phrase “eyes opened” appears exactly seven times. In addition, there are exactly 17 (i.e. 7 + 10, another favorite symbolic number in John's writings) questions posed in this chapter. This emphasis on the “symbolically perfect” number seven is pervasive in all John's writings.

    a. Jesus and the blind man (9:1-7)

        b. blind man and his neighbors (9:8-12)

            c. blind man and the Pharisees (9:13-17)

                d. Pharisees and man’s parents (9:18-23)

            c'. blind man and the Pharisees (9:24-34)

        b'. blind man and Jesus (9:35-38)

    a'. Jesus and the Pharisees (9:39-41)

But this chapter does not exist in a total vacuum. Ellis sees 10:1-21 as a continuation of events and ideas introduced in ch. 9. Patte diagrams the specific relationship between chs. 9 and 10 as follows:

    1. Blind man and blindness (9:1-41)

        2. Sheep and the Shepherd (10:1-18)

    1'. Healing of the blind man (10:19-21)

But there is also a forward motion in this story in that the blind man's spiritual eyes are also progressively opened as the story proceeds. This can be seen in the way the man refers to Jesus:

    Verse 11: “the man called Jesus”

    Verse 17: “He is a prophet.”

    Verse 33: “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

    Verse 38: “Lord, I believe” and he worshiped him

At the same time, however, there are downward trends in this narrative also. Thus, as the story proceeds, the Pharisees become more and more blinded to the truth and more oppositional. They refuse to recognize the truth when it is plain as day since to do so would jeopardize their status in the community. This is very close to committing the unforgivable sin. Even the blind man's parents refuse to support their own son because they are afraid of being ostracized by these same men in power.

I would like to turn next to the question of the appropriate Greek text that lies behind our present English translations. This could be an important issue since Bruce Metzger discusses ten places within the chapter where the various ancient documents disagree somewhat from one another. I realize that this sort of fact disturbs some Christians. But fortunately, in almost all of these cases scholars are pretty much in agreement as to the original wording or the textual variations are so minor that they have little effect on the overall meaning. Some of these minority readings will be listed as footnotes in any good study Bible in case you are interested. But here is a typical sampling so that you can see the sort of things that are being discussed in scholarly circles:

John 9:4 – This is a rather familiar saying which reads in KJV, I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day.” By contrast, NRSV replaces the first underlined pronoun with “we” instead. And to confuse the issue a little more, there are even manuscripts which replace “me” with “us.” Metzger admits that “it is difficult to choose among the readings,” and so NRSV is wise to include variant readings in the footnotes in case you are interested.

John 9:6 (KJV) has Jesus “anointing” the eyes of the blind man with clay. This is a literal rendering of the Greek word epichrisen. However, a few other early copyists substituted what appeared to be a more appropriate verb. And you may notice that modern versions tend to convey the same idea through their translations (cf. “spread” in NRSV).

John 9:21 – Whereas the KJV transposed some clauses in the Greek to make it read more smoothly, modern translations retain the original order. Thus, the repeated, “We do not know” in this verse appears in the KJV at the end of their respective clauses instead of at the beginning.

John 38-39a – Whereas the above examples hardly seem worth discussing, this case is a little more important since all of this text is omitted in a few early copies. Raymond Brown is in favor of treating them as a later addition by another author, especially since there are two Greek words in it not found elsewhere in John's writings. But most modern translators do not even mention this possibility since they feel that it is an unlikely scenario. However, The Jerusalem Bible does include that variation in a footnote. Oh, and the Anchor Bible puts these words in brackets to indicate their dubious status. This is not at all surprising given the fact that the AB translation of John's Gospel was prepared by Raymond Brown.

So you can see that there is no reason to be alarmed by the variety of different manuscripts here, or in any other portion of the OT or NT, since even the most drastic variations in readings have little to no appreciable effect on any key doctrine of Scripture.

With that long introduction, I would like to conclude with a few tidbits that you may find of interest regarding individual verses in John 9:

John 9:1 – “It is worth knowing that the healing miracles in John are specifically stated to concern people in a chronic condition (cf. 5:5). The power of Jesus is thus seen to be capable of acts of restoration even in extreme cases.” (Guthrie)

John 9:2 – See Exodus 20:5 for the idea of suffering being due to sins committed by either the parents or the person before birth. The latter concept was part and parcel of Mormon theology for some time until they received a “new revelation.”

John 9:4 – The “night” in this verse probably refers to the close of Jesus' mission on earth, not the spiritual blindness of his opponents as some believe. (Guthrie)

John 9:5 – This is actually a repetition of Jesus' earlier statement in 8:12.

John 9:6-7 – Bishop points to the OT overtones in the process of healing, notably the relation of something new out of dirt (Genesis 2:7) as well as Elisha telling Naaman the leper to bathe in the Jordan River to be healed (II Kings 5:19). By contrast, Derrett feels that “anointing” with mud may be an allusion to Isaiah 6:10; 29:9.

John 9:7 – This pool has been uncovered by archeologists and is located at the southern end of the long tunnel dug about 100 ft. below ground during the reign of King Hezekiah.

John 9:14 – Making mud or clay was considered by the rabbis to be a violation of the Sabbath law not to work on that day or perform any non-urgent healing.

John 9:16 – Westerholm and Evans feel that the Jews' blindness was “induced by their insistence that a divine representative must conform to the niceties of the old code.” And Kostenberger points out that this division of opinion among the Jews is analogous to the sorts of rabbinical reasoning used at the time by the school of Shammai (based on basic theological principles) and that of Hillel (reasoning from established facts instead).

John 9:22 – We should keep in mind that in John's Gospel, the word “Jews” almost always refers to the Jewish authorities who opposed Jesus and did not apply to the people as a whole.

John 9:24 – “Give glory to God!” is another way of saying, “Tell the truth” as in Joshua 7:19 (O.M. Hendricks)

John 9:24-25 shows the contrast between the theological certainty of the opponents and the personal testimony of the man (“we know” vs. “I know”).

John 9:28 – This is a common response exhibited by many groups (whether social, political, or religious) which demand absolute unity on all issues, even the minor ones, or the “dissident” will be excommunicated from their midst.

John 9:30-33 – In these verses, the former beggar does a very credible job of logically proving his case against the rather illogical arguments of the Jewish religious authorities.

John 9:31 – According to Hendricks, “We know that God does not listen to sinners” may come from Psalm 66:18 or Proverbs 15:29.

John 9:34 – “They are...more concerned to show contempt for his former condition than pleasure in his present restoration.” (Guthrie) In marked contrast, the man “offers a positive paradigm for John's audience, who probably likewise have faced expulsion for the synagogue.” (Keener)

John 9:35 – After a whole series of questions appearing throughout the story, “finally, Jesus asks only one question, but it is the climax of the whole story, the point to which all the other questions are building: 'Do you believe in the Son of man?'” (Thompson)

John 9:36, 38 – Both NIV and NRSV translate the same Greek word kyrie as “sir in v. 36 and “Lord” in v. 38. Witherington agrees with these translation decisions and says that “the different nuances of the vocative kyrie are appropriately reflected.”

John 9:39 – Guthrie feels that this unexpected introduction of the concept of judgment by Jesus probably refers to the fact that the very coming of Jesus into the world forces mankind into making a decisive judgment for or against Him.

John 9:41 – It isn't when we admit our faults that we are condemned but when we refuse to admit that we have any.