John 9 - NIV Quest Study Bible

The rabbis at the time taught that “there is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity.” An undue focus on sin and failure led many people to believe that even a child in the womb could somehow incur God’s wrath. Jesus refuted this erroneous belief. In our fallen and sinful world, bad things sometimes happen for no reason that is apparent to us. Sometimes they occur simply because we live in a sin-sick world.

In a sense, yes. Throughout the Bible we see God’s work contrasted with the work of Satan. Satan kills, steals and destroys; Jesus, in contrast, gives abundant life (10:10). While Satan’s aim is destruction, Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work (1Jn 3:8). The evil that God permits Satan to inflict, as well as the pain and suffering caused by our own sin, somehow figures into God’s sovereign purpose and plan. See the articles Is God responsible for Satan’s actions or people’s sins? (Job 19:8 – 12) and Does God use evil to do good? (Hab 1:6).

Some of life’s negative circumstances occur simply because we live in a fallen world. The entire creation was affected when sin entered the world, opening the door for illness and natural disaster (Ro 8:19 – 22). In John 9, neither the man nor his parents had done anything to deserve the man’s blindness from birth. Their suffering came as a consequence of living in a world plagued by sin. Nevertheless, God used their painful experience to display his work in the man’s life.

God receives glory when he miraculously intervenes with his healing power. But he also receives glory when people endure suffering through the power of his grace (see the book of Job and 2Co 12:7 – 10) In both cases, God is glorified as the giver of life in an otherwise futile and destructive world.

Three applications of this passage deserve our attention: (1) Jesus was referring to himself as the light of the world (v. 5) and reminding the disciples that he would not always be on Earth. (2) Jesus was reminding his followers that they also were the light of the world (Mt 5:16) and needed to submit their lives to God. (3) Jesus was referring to the time between his appearance in Bethlehem and the end of time (when all evangelistic opportunities will end).Jesus was illustrating his ability to use whatever was available to accomplish the impossible. Jesus’ use of the mud drew the onlookers’ attention to the man’s eyes and presented a clear demonstration of the power of God. It’s also possible that Jesus did this to strengthen the blind man’s faith in preparation to receive the miracle. See Why did Jesus spit on the blind man’s eyes? (Mk 8:23). In any case, Jesus did not have to spit and make mud to heal the man’s eyes, although he chose to do so on this occasion.The Pharisees settled controversial religious matters. Once the case of the blind man was presented to them, they were obligated to investigate the details. The investigation turned sour when they discovered Jesus had made mud on the Sabbath. In their view, this was not keeping the Sabbath law and proved that Jesus was not from God (v. 16). The Pharisees first questioned the man and then his parents to determine whether the man had really been born blind; if he hadn’t been blind from birth, then the miracle could have been disputed.The synagogue was the center of Jewish life. Socially, spiritually and politically, the synagogue stood for all that was Jewish. To be put out of the synagogue was to be cut off from one’s Jewish identity and ostracized from one’s neighbors. It made a person an outcast.Rabbis at that time thought that terrible punishments came on certain people because of the sin of their parents. The Jewish leaders refused to believe that Jesus was truly sent from God. They considered Jesus an imposter. When the formerly blind man testified that Jesus had healed him, something only God could do, the leaders couldn’t refute him. In their exasperation, they threw him out, which may mean they banned the man from worshiping in the synagogue. See Why were the man’s parents afraid of being put out of the synagogue? (9:22).In John’s Gospel, the title Son of Man is most commonly tied to Jesus’ role as the incarnate revealer of God (1:51; 6:27; 8:28) or to Jesus’ divinely appointed role as the judge of all (5:27).To be forgiven we must recognize that we are guilty because of our sins and that we are in need of God’s forgiveness. However, if we say we have no sin, we call God a liar and live in self-deception (1Jn 1:9 – 10). Claiming we can see — that is, that we can perceive our own spiritual condition — when in fact we cannot keeps us from receiving the healing of forgiveness.