John 9:40 - Exposition

Those of the Pharisees who were with him . This expression does not simply mean who were near him at that moment, but who were to a certain extent siding with him ( John 8:30 , John 8:31 ), while criticizing and rejecting his message; who were incensed with him for promising to them "freedom" and sonship, and whose faith in his claims was of the most superficial and vacillating kind. These wavering, self-satisfied Pharisees heard these things, and they said to him, Are we blind also ? Many commentators, who call attention to the contrast between the τυφλοί and μή βλέποντες of John 9:39 , think that the speakers who made use of this word did not draw the distinction, and meant nothing more than their use μὴ βλέποντες by of τυφλοί . But this is unsatisfactory; whatever it 'means in the one clause, it ought to mean in the other. There is a difference between " becoming blind ," and being "the blind ." They ask whether they are blind also , i . e . as blind as those who have, according to Christ's own dictum, become so. They seem to admit that some who have the power of sight have been blinded by the very light that shines upon them, but they are in doubt with reference to their own case.