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Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:1-3

Manifesting the works of God. Jesus had just been, as we should reckon, in danger. If a furious crowd had taken up stones to cast at us, we should have been too much concerned for our safety to notice people by the way. Of course Jesus was in no real danger. His time was not yet come. His whole demeanor was worthy of the sublime utterance, "Before Abraham was, I am." Notice— I. WHAT SORT OF OBJECT ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION OF JESUS . A blind man, blind from birth, so... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:1-7

(8) The Lord confirms by a sign the declaration that he is the Light of the world , by giving eyesight as well as light . That which had been proclaimed as a great truth of his Being and mission, viz. that he was the Light of the world, was now to be established and confirmed to the disciples by a signal miracle. The "higher criticism" finds explanation of this and other similar miracles at Bethsaida and Jericho, in the prophecy of Isaiah 42:19 ; Isaiah 43:8 ; Isaiah 35:5 ; ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:1-7

The blind man and the sight-giving Savior. Notice this blind man— I. IN RELATION TO THE DISCIPLES . 1. To them he was a notorious object of retributive justice . His blindness they regarded as a special punishment for some particular sin; they looked upon him, as Lot's wife of old, as a standing monument of iniquity, only with this difference, he was alive, bearing his punishment on this side. Their notion is, upon the whole, correct. Sin is punished, and sometimes... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:1-12

Cure of the man born blind. This new miracle caused a fresh outburst of Jewish hatred against our Lord. Of the six miracles of blindness recorded in the Gospels, this only is a case of blindness from birth. I. THE CURIOUS QUESTION OF THE DISCIPLES . "Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" 1. Their conviction was that affliction was in all cases the consequence of sin . II. OUR LORD 'S ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTION .... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:1-41

The removal of the closing words of John 8:59 from the text as a gloss, favors a pause between the attempt to stone Jesus and the miracle. Lange has the inconsistent remark that the παράγων is "the participle of the preceding though doubtful παρῆγεν ." If it were a gloss, the παρῆγεν had been introduced by some copyist from the παράγων , and therefore the latter can derive no meaning from the former. Admitting the spuriousness of the gloss, the connection between the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:1-41

The passage of a soul from darkness into light. This graphic and dramatic narrative begins with the healing of a bodily privation by the exercise el Christ's miraculous power. But its chief interest lies in the spiritual process which it unfolds. It relates how a young man, poor and blind, but intelligent, candid, and brave, received spiritual as well as bodily illumination, and how he displayed insight in apprehending Christ's character, courage in resisting Christ's adversaries, and ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:2

And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi. This honorific appellation is found in John 1:38 , John 1:49 ; John 3:2 ; John 4:31 ; John 6:25 ; John 11:8 ; but very rarely in the other Gospels. It is applied to John the Baptist ( John 3:26 ). The question seems to denote a very different frame of mind from that with which the previous chapter terminated. Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind? It was the current idea and popular doctrine, not only... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:3

Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents (that he should be born blind). There was no immediate connection between the special sin of the parents and this particular calamity. Our Lord does not assert in those words the sinlessness of those people, but severs the supposed link between their conduct and the specific affliction before them. But (he was born blind) that the works of God should be made manifest in him. The disciples will soon see in the history of this man... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 9:3

The final cause of human suffering. No man, with an eye to observe and a heart to feel, can look abroad upon human life without being impressed and saddened by the spectacle presented to his view. There is so much of privation, of pain, of weariness, of disappointment, of distress, that it sometimes seems as if "the whole head were sick, and the whole heart faint." "Life," it has been said, "is a tragedy to those who feel." But men are so constituted that they cannot be satisfied to... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 9:2

Master, who did sin? ... - It was a universal opinion among the Jews that calamities of all kinds were the effects of sin. See the notes at Luke 13:1-4. The case, however, of this man was that of one that was blind from his birth, and it was a question which the disciples could not determine whether it was his fault or that of his parents. Many of the Jews, as it appears from their writings (see Lightfoot), believed in the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; or that the soul of a man, in... read more

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