John 9:15

Joh 9:15-16. Then again the Pharisees asked him, &c. — They hoped to find something in the manner of the cure, which would show it to be no miracle, or, at least, which would prove Jesus to be a bad man. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, &c. — He honestly and plainly told them the whole matter, as he had before declared it to the people. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, &c. — “On hearing the man’s account of the miracle, the Pharisees declare that the author of it was certainly an impostor, because he had violated the sabbath in performing of it. Nevertheless, others of them, more candid in their way of thinking, gave it as their opinion, that no deceiver could possibly do a miracle of that kind, because it was too great and beneficial for any evil being to have either the inclination or the power to perform.” — Macknight. How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? — This seems to intimate, that there were at least some miracles so glorious and so benevolent, that no evil agent would have either inclination or power to perform them; and that they reckoned this in that number. And there was a division — Or schism, Greek, σχισμα; among them — On this important question. The council was divided into two parties, which contended one against the other, although they continued in the same place. Thus discord, debate, and strife arose in the councils of Christ’s enemies, by which their designs against him were, for the present, defeated. If Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both members of the sanhedrim, were now present, they would naturally distinguish themselves on this occasion; and Gamaliel too, on the principles he afterward avowed, (Act 5:38-39,) must have been on their side.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 9:15. Καὶ οἱ) Και, also.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_9:15-16. Πάλιν] Glancing back at the same question asked by others (hence καὶ οἱ Φαρ.) in Joh_9:10.

πηλὸν, etc.] a clay He laid on mine eyes (μου ἐπὶ τ. ὀφθ.), etc. Comp. on Joh_11:32. Note how the man only states what he himself felt; hence there is no mention of the spittle. Compare already Joh_9:11.

ὅτι τὸ σάββ. οὐ τηρεῖ] A Rabbinical precept specially forbids the anointing of the eyes with spittle on the Sabbath. Maimonides Schabb. 21. Even if this were not yet in existence or recognised as binding, still the general principle was admitted that healing should take place on the Sabbath solely in case of danger to life (Schoettgen and Wetstein ad Mat_12:9).

ἄλλοι] who judged more candidly and conscientiously. Grotius well remarks: Qui nondum occaluerant. They conclude from the miraculous element in the healing, so far as it implied a special divine help, which would not be vouchsafed to a sinner who disregarded Gods commands, that there must be something peculiar in this action performed on the Sabbath, rendering it unfair to pass the judgment in question on its performer without further consideration.

The Hyperbaton in the position, οὐκ ἐστὶν οὗτος παρὰ θεο͂ ὁ ἄνθρ., serves to lay stronger emphasis first on οὗτος, and then on παρὰ θεοῦ. Comp. in general Bernhardy, p. 460.

σχίσμα] comp. Joh_7:43.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 9:15 . πάλιν … ἀνέβλεψεν . πάλιν looks back to the same question put by the people, Joh 9:10 ; the καὶ serving the same purpose. Their first question admits the man’s original blindness. The man’s reply is simple and straightforward.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. The Pharisees also asked him. The people had already heard this confession from the mouth of the blind man; and now the Pharisees also are made witnesses of it, who might have objected that a report had been groundlessly circulated by the common people, and had been as groundlessly believed. And, first, leaving out of view the question as to the fact, they dispute only about the law of the case; for they do not deny that Christ restored sight to the blind man, but they find a crime in the circumstance of the time when it was done, and assert that it is not a work of God, because it violated the Sabbath. But we ought first to inquire if a work of God was a violation of the Sabbath. And what hinders them from seeing this, but that, in consequence of having been blinded by sinful motives and by malice, they see nothing? Besides, they had already been abundantly instructed by Christ, that the benefits which God bestows on men are not more inconsistent with the Sabbath than circumcision; and the words of the Law enjoin men to abstain from their own works only, and not from the works of God, (Exodus 20:8; 23:12.) When they take for granted an error which has been so frequently refuted, it must be imputed to obstinate malice; or at least there is no other reason why they go wrong but because they choose to go wrong.

Thus the Palmists do not cease to bring forward, with hardened effrontery, their idle and foolish slanders, which have been answered a hundred times. What, then, must we do with them? When an opportunity occurs, we must endeavor, as far as lies in our power, to oppose the wicked attempts of those who, actuated by false zeal, reproach and slander the gospel. If no defense, however just, shut their mouth, we have no reason to be discouraged, but ought to trample under foot, with boldness and magnanimity, that eagerness to slander by which they wish to oppress us. They take up maxims which we readily grant to them, that we ought not to listen to those who revolt from the Church, and break up the unity of the faith. But they pass by, and pretend not to have observed — that which ought to form the principal subject of inquiry, and which we have explained clearly in many passages — that nothing can be farther removed from the Church than the Pope with all his band; that a medley composed of lies and impositions, and stained by so many superstitious inventions, is widely distant from the purity of faith. But with all their furious arrogance, they will never hinder the truth, which has been so frequently and so firmly maintained by us, from being at length successful. In like manner, the Pharisees brought against Christ a plausible maxim, That he who does not keep the Sabbath is not from God; but they unjustly and falsely asserted that the work of God is a violation of the Sabbath.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) Then again the Pharisees also asked.—As the neighbours and acquaintances had done before (Joh_9:10).

He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes.—The answer is the same as before, but briefer. It is that of a man who is answering against his will (comp. Joh_9:27) and does not care to say more than he is obliged to.

And do see.—This differs from “I received sight” (Joh_9:11). He now speaks as in conscious possession of the power to see. (Comp. Joh_9:25.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. Then again] Better, Again, therefore. The man is becoming impatient of this cross-questioning: he answers much more briefly than at first (Joh_9:11).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then again the Pharisees asked him,.... Not that they had put any question of this kind to him before; but they also, as well as the neighbours, inquired of him,

how he had received his sight; from whom, and by what means:

he said unto them, he put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed and do see. This account agrees with the matter of fact, and with that he gave to his neighbours: he did not vary as to the truth of the relation, but this is somewhat more concise and short; and it is reasonable to suppose, that the Pharisees had talked much with him before, which made it less necessary to be more particular; for he makes no mention of the name of Jesus, nor of his making the clay, and the manner of it, nor of the Pool of Siloam, or his orders to go there and wash; See Gill on Joh 9:6; see Gill on Joh 9:7.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

Ver. 15. How he had received his sight] Gr. how he had recovered his sight. It may be that (to lessen the miracle) they would have had it, that the man had not been born blind, but only recovered that sight that once he had enjoyed. αναβλεπειν proprie est eorum qui videndi facultatem aliquando habuerunt. Malevolence ever strives to deteriorate and deprave that good which it cannot for shame absolutely deny. "An ungodly man diggeth up evil," Pro 16:27, and a froward fellow forgeth strife, Pro 16:28; he digs, and then sows the seed of sedition in every furrow where he can find footing.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pharisees asked him how ... - The proper question to have been asked in the case was whether he had in fact done it, and not in what way. The question, also, about a sinner’s conversion is whether in fact it has been done, and not about the mode or manner in which it is effected; yet it is remarkable that no small part of the disputes and inquiries among men are about the mode in which the Spirit renews the heart, and not about the evidence that it is done.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight; they had before heard it from others, but they now desire to hear it from himself; not (as appears) out of any good design, that they might be convinced of the truth of the thing, or that he who had wrought this miracle was the Son of God; but that they might have something to object against Christ, and to quarrel with him for, upon their traditions, with reference to the observation of the sabbath; of which we are told this was one. That it was unlawful for any to anoint their eyes with spittle on the sabbath day; they having a conceit that it was a medicinal application. The blind man is not ashamed to own the goodness of God to him to the Pharisees, but relates the same story which he before had related to the people.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Again—In addition to the previous questioning by the neighbours. The man doggedly reiterates the methods which formed the body, and the supernatural affect which formed the soul, of the miracle. He evidently sees that there is a demand for firmness, and he braces himself for the trial. Nothing shall induce him to deny his benefactor’s mercy. Thus there may be a heroic and martyr-like spirit of faith before the object of faith is clearly discovered and made known.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Again therefore the Pharisees, before whom the blind man had been brought, unwilling to rest with mere hearsay evidence of such grievous transgression of the Law, themselves also or, in their turnasked him (hrwtwn , imperfect, were interrogating) how he received (recovered) his sight (see note on ver. 11). Not the miracle itself, but the manner of it interested and excited them. And he said to them, (He) put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and I see. This is a shorter and significant abridgment of the process already described. The healed man seems to guess, by their manner, that some charge was being meditated against his Benefactor, and he shrewdly omits the saliva and the making of the clay, and the order of the Savior, and the place whither he had been sent to wash.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15, 16. This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. The Pharisees questioned the man, learned that his eyes had been smeared with spittle, and then declared that Jesus had broken the Sabbath. Even this was a violation, not of the law, but of their tradition. See notes on Matt. 15:2 .

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

15. πηλὸν ἐπ. The man is becoming impatient of this cross-questioning and answers more briefly than at first. He omits the aggravating circumstance of making the clay as well as the sending to Siloam.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15.] πάλιν refers to ver. 10. The enquiry was official, as addressed to the chief witness in the matter. We cannot hence infer with Lücke that no one else was present at the healing but Jesus and His disciples.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. πάλιν οὖν ἠρώτων κτλ. The questioning (see v. 10) had to begin all over again, for this was an official inquiry, and the brevity and sharpness of the man’s answers now show that he is tired of replying to queries as to the manner and circumstances of his cure.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.