John 9:16

Some therefore of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because he keepeth not the sabbath. But others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such things? And there was a division among them.

The bitter schism in the Sanhedrin itself dominates this part of the narrative, a division mentioned in John 7:43, and John 10:19 also. The enemies of Jesus were the dominant majority; and it is clear that they were moving to silence the contrary elements in their own body as well as against any recognition of Jesus' miracle.

Because he keepeth not the sabbath ... The fault of their reasoning here derived from their falsely equating their own traditions of keeping the sabbath with God's true law of keeping it. As Hendriksen noted:

The Pharisees identified their own trifling, hair-splitting sabbath regulations with the law of God. Hence ... "All people who are from God keep our sabbath regulations." ... Because these premises were false, the conclusion was no longer dependable.[6]

Once again in the New Testament is revealed the incredible damage of mingling human traditions with God's word. All of those petty, and even silly, little rules and regulations which they had added to God's true regulations, appear here, not as harmless little embellishments of sacred law, but as flagrant violations of it. The confusion of those men in identifying their own legislation as God's law blinded their eyes to the Sun of righteousness when he arose with healing in his wings!

It is alarming that, even today, the old Pharisaical falsehood that Jesus broke the sabbath is alleged in modern pulpits. Christ kept the law of God perfectly, all of it, not excepting even a jot or a tittle; and yet, in spite of this, such is the mystery of evil, that the old lie of the Pharisees still surfaces in the assemblies of the saints (see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 12:2).