John 9:9 - Exposition

Some said, It is he: others , No £ but he is like him. So great a change might well have provoked inquiry as to his identity, and the two classes of speakers add amazing vivacity to the picture. He ( ἐκείνος )—the man who now stood forth as the central object of the excited group (see Westcott for the use of ἐκεῖνος elsewhere in St. John: John 2:21 ; John 5:11 ; John 10:6 ; John 13:30 ; John 19:21 )—rather than "he himself"— he said, I am ( he ) that sat and begged. The man settles the doubt offhand, I am he . The evidence of identity, if the question be raised, is at once settled. The vivacity and verisimilitude of the scene reduce the labored parallel with St. Paul to literary trifling.