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Sin in the Gospel of John isn’t the “moral category about behavior,” that’s right and that’s

wrong, sin customarily thought of. It is rather “a theological category about one’s response to the

revelation of God in Jesus,” meaning sin in this book is defined as not having the correct reaction

to the idea Jesus is the son of God (Ministry MattersTM). The beginning of John 9 (verses 1-7) is

the story of Jesus walking along with his disciples and coming across a blind man, who regains

his sight through a miracle performed by Jesus. John 9 embodies an atypical outlook on sin, and

repeatedly demonstrates the Bible shouldn’t be read literally. Though John 9:1-7 is a mere 12

lines out of my 2240 page NRSV Bible, there’s much to extract from it.

The opening verse of John 9, at first glance, will most likely seem simple and self

explanatory, but there is surprisingly knowledge to gain about God’s character. First of all, the

man’s blindness is stated here, but the man himself is not a live character until verse 7; he was

present the whole time but never asked for Jesus to help him (Ministry MattersTM). Though you

are supposed to ask God for help, the blind man’s silence demonstrates Jesus may help out his

people in need without them even having to ask; He will not leave us all alone.

Though the man is silent, one purpose of him is he acts as a “catalyst” and stimulates the

disciples’ conversation with Jesus (Ministry Matters TM). The disciples’ question, “’Rabbi, who

sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” can be interpreted as being rooted in

multiple different ideas (New Revised Standard Version, John 9.2). The inquiry could be

suggestive of the customary Jewish belief that parents’ sins would be punished in their children

(presented in the form of flaws) (Ministry MattersTM). It could originate out of some Jewish

theologians’ belief in prenatal sin, meaning one could start sinning while still in the womb, then

be cursed from birth (such as blind or diseased) (Barclay, William). It could even stem from the
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popular idea in that region at the time of reincarnation, thinking previous life decisions affect the

next life, and the man therefore sinned in a past life (Guzik, David). Jesus ignored these ideas

which didn’t align with his faith practices.

The point is not how the man obtained his blindness, the point is the blindness is the

“need” which requires a miracle of God to be fixed (Ministry MattersTM). Verse 3, as stated in the

New Revised Standard Version, says: “Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned;

he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him’” (John 9.3). The disciples

“connected suffering and sin;” they hadn’t escaped the “assumption that wherever there was

suffering, somewhere there was sin” (Barclay, William). However, this is not always the case;

suffering can be a stage to exhibit the work of the Lord. It is pretty safe to assume that the man

did not want to be blind; in life things will often happen to us that we do not like, but as

displayed here, things happen for a reason and God is in control. The man was “‘...born blind so

that God’s works might be revealed in him’” (John 9.3); this was the purpose for his suffering.

Verse 4 should not be breezed over and interpreted literally; it is not merely about seizing

daylight, but about seizing the chance to accept God. It would indeed have been difficult or

impossible to work at night with lack of light. Therefore, the practical application would be one

should aim to complete work prior to nightfall; the underlying meaning is not so worldly. One

interpretation is “our opportunity of laying hold on Him is limited” (Barclay, William). Everyone

has the chance to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, but according to research in Edwin

Starbuck’s The Psychology of Religion, there’s a window of time (age) where “conversion

normally occurs,” with a drastic drop in chance following (Barclay, William). The implication is

“if we put off the great decision we become ever less able to take it as the years go on” (Barclay,
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William). We are called to accept Him and not waste time before the sun sets on our opportunity

to choose Him (Barclay, William).

An alternative way to view verse 4 is “Jesus understood opportunities for service and

doing good don’t last forever” (Guzik, David). This way of interpreting does not state it is our

time to choose Jesus that is limited, but it is the time we have to serve which is limited. The line

highlights that Jesus, like any other person, “had a limited earthly life with which to follow

God’s will” ("Home."). The verse demonstrates Jesus is aware He will not forever be on Earth,

but has limitations on His time ("Home."). He, therefore, must make the most of the time and

opportunity He does have to carry out God’s commands, as should we.

Reading from multiple different translations of the Bible, there’s one verse which remains

translated nearly identically throughout; therefore, urging concentration on a single core meaning

to realize from it. In the New Revised Standard Version, King James Version, and the Christian

Standard Bible, verse 5, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” stands

consistently (John 9.5). Other versions only differ by a “while” or “but while,” which aren’t

highly significant words to the meaning overall. There seems to be little dispute concerning how

John 9:5 should be translated, allowing less room for interpretation and encouraging focus on a

sole meaning. The first part of the verse is reiterating an idea from verse four - that His time is

limited, and He knows it. The latter half of the verse is Jesus pronouncing He is there for - the

light for - everyone. This meant He brought truth; the idea of “light” was characterized by

righteousness and wisdom in the ancient Hebrew world ("Home."). The majority of Bible

translations agree on John 9:5, collectively announcing the notion Jesus brings truth to all.
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The miracle finally occurs in verses 6 and 7 in order to reveal more about the type of

person Jesus is. Jesus uses mud and saliva over the man’s eyes and tells him to “‘Go, wash in the

pool of Siloam’” (John 9.7); he returned with his blindness cured. The use of spittle seems

unsanitary today, but in ancient times it was a usual method of healing. Jesus used spittle because

that was what a physician would have been expected to do; He “kindled expectation” so the

patient would feel confident in the treatment (Barclay, William). Consider the placebo effect and

its demonstration of how important believing in a treatment is; “the efficacy of any medicine or

treatment depends at least as much on the patient's faith in it as in the treatment or the drug

itself” (Barclay, William). This is not the only blind man Jesus heals; He cures three blind men

because “scripture uses blindness as a spiritual metaphor” ("Home."). If you are blind, you

cannot see the light right in front of you; when you are spiritually blind, you reject God, even

when He is right in front of you, making it “impossible...to perceive his truth” ("Home."). Even

when we cannot - or do not - see Christ, he still sees us (Henry, Matthew). People always sin,

turning their backs to God so that they may not see him, but a theme throughout the Bible is He

continues to see them and provide for them anyway.

There’s connections to make if John 9 is considered as a whole and viewed in

comparison to other areas of the Bible. If John chapters 9 and 10 are considered together, the

Johannine pattern is apparent (Ministry MattersTM). The trend orders event, followed by

dialogue, followed by discourse. Moreover, John 9 mirrors John 5’s framework of healing to

dialogue to discourse (Ministry MattersTM). The parallelism is apparent: in John 5, Jesus

commanded a man who had been disabled for 38 years to stand and walk. Not even knowing it

was Jesus who spoke to him, he miraculously stood and walked. It was not until later that Jesus
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talked to him and revealed himself (Ministry MattersTM). Similarly, in John 9, Jesus commanded

a man who had been blind since birth to rinse his eyes which he had just smeared with mud and

spit. There’s no line where Jesus announces himself, but the man does as told and is healed.

Later, the man tells others it was Jesus who did it. Honing in on specific detail in John 9, it is

noticeable that after Jesus heals the man, he disappears. In verse 7, the man returns from the pool

healed, but there’s no mention of Jesus, which “turns the focus of the story to people’s response

to Jesus” (Ministry MattersTM). This shift opens the door to an example of one emphasis present

throughout the entirety of the Gospel of John: sin’s relationship with reactions to Jesus, as

opposed to sin referring to behavior in general. (The man tells others about what happened to

him, and they judge Jesus, but this occurs outside of verses 1-7.)

There’s no possible way to prove if the story in John 9 actually happened or not, which is

true for essentially all of the Bible. The point is not whether the readings are historically

accurate, rather to teach us who God is. Moreover, John 9 and many other readings alike are not

to be glazed over with too literal of a light. John 9 is not just a story about Jesus seeing a blind

man, his disciples asking him why he was blind, and Jesus performing the miracle of healing

him, unless you read it too literally. If you read it correctly, there is plenty more to grasp. These

verses offered hope to me - and can to anyone. They call us to believe Jesus is the son of God, to

know He will not abandon us, and to trust everything happens for a reason.
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Works Cited

Barclay, William. "John 9 Commentary - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible."

Studylight.org. 1956. Web. 20 Sept. 2020.

Guzik, David. "John Chapter 9." Enduring Word. 20 Aug. 2018. Web. 20 Sept. 2020.

Henry, Matthew. "Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary (concise)." Matthew Henry's Bible

Commentary (concise) - Bible Study Online. Web. 20 Sept. 2020.

"Home." BibleRef.com. Got Questions Ministries, 2002. Web. 20 Sept. 2020.

https://www.bibleref.com/John/9/John-9-5.html#commentary

"Ministry Matters™." MinistryMatters. Web. 20 Sept. 2020.

https://www.ministrymatters.com/library/-the-healing-of-the-blind-man-miracle-an

d-discourse.html

The New Interpreter's Bible: General Articles & Introduction, Commentary, & Reflections

for Each Book of the Bible, including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books.

Abingdon, 1994. Print.