John 9:24Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

So, when the parents sent them back to the healed man himself, they summoned him again a second time. Here they do not say to him directly and shamelessly, “Deny that Christ healed you.” Rather, they wish to arrange this under the appearance of piety.

“Give glory to God,” they say. To say to the parents, “Say that this is not your son and that he was not born blind,” appeared utterly ridiculous. To say the same thing to the man himself would have been manifest shamelessness. Therefore they do not say this, but choose another path.

“Give glory to God,” they say. That is, confess that He did nothing. “We know that this man is a sinner.” Why, then, did you not convict Him when He said, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” And how do you know that He is a sinner?

As the parents insisted that their son should be asked, so the arrogant men do. They bring him, not in order to ask, but to suggest an accusation against the Healer. For the suggestion, "Give glory to God," means, "Confess that Jesus did nothing for you." They locate the glory of God in attributing nothing good to Jesus. "We know," they say, "that He is a sinner." Why, then, did you not convict Him when He challenged you, saying, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (Jn 8:46)

Since they were unable to turn this man away from rendering glory to Christ, they attempt to achieve this by another means. They try somehow to draw him to their aim through flattery.

They strive by many words to make him stop mentioning Christ entirely and stop proclaiming Him as healer. Very deceitfully they say that glory for the miracle ought to be rendered to God.

Here they present themselves as caring for piety. They also try to incline him to their side and to make him believe them. Yet they reach the highest degree of impiety if they say that He who came for the destruction of sin is a sinner.

Say that you did not receive it. This is precisely what it means not to give glory to God, but rather to blaspheme God. What does "Give glory to God" mean? In their mouths it meant: "Deny what you have received." This is not giving glory to God at all, but rather blasphemy against God.

"So they called a second time the man who had been blind, and said to him, 'Give glory to God.'" Give glory to God, because you were healed by Him, not by Jesus Christ. "We know that this Man is a sinner." When He is absent, you impious men speak so. But when He was present and had lately asked you, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (Jn 8:46), you could say nothing, because truth forced you to be silent.

As a second device for denying the miracle that had taken place, an attempt was undertaken to prove that Christ had not performed the healing.

Since they saw that they had not succeeded in hiding the miracle, they adopt another feigned and crafty means. They do not take the blind man and shamelessly say, "Deny that Christ healed you." Instead, under the appearance of piety, they try to persuade him that Jesus Christ, as a transgressor of the law, is a sinful man. "Glorify God," they command, "for He gave you light. Christ did nothing. He did not heal you. We know that He is a sinful man, because He breaks the Sabbath." Do you see their blindness and madness? They command the blind man to glorify God for the miracle that was done, yet to accuse Jesus Christ, who performed the miracle, as a transgressor of the law and a sinner.

Having thus assured themselves that the healed man truly had been blind from birth, the Jews summon him a second time. During the interrogation of his parents he had been removed. The enemies of Christ now try to impress on the man who had been blind that they had made a careful investigation of that Man, whom he does not know and has not even seen.

They claim to have reached the certain conviction that that Man is a sinner. Their hatred for Jesus was so great that they did not even call Him by name. Believe us, then, they said. Give glory to God and acknowledge on your part that He is a sinner, violating the law of Sabbath rest.

“Give glory to God” is the usual formula of adjuration to speak the truth under oath (Bishop Michael, Explanatory Gospel, 3:299).

Then the Pharisees, in terrible confusion almost worthy of pity, turned again to the blind man. The Jewish authorities had already decreed excommunication from the synagogue against anyone who dared recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Therefore the Pharisees evidently hoped that the man being questioned would be satisfied with their advice to give glory to God. That is, they wanted him to reject or refuse to acknowledge the miracle, and to accept their decision that Jesus is a sinner.

But the blind man was more courageous than his parents. He could not be frightened by authority or confused by empty assurances. He felt completely free in the artificial atmosphere of their supposed holiness.

“We know,” the Pharisees said, “that this man is a sinner.” “Whether He is a sinner,” the man who had been blind answered, “I do not know. One thing I know: that I was blind, and now I see.”

So they called the man a second time, and so forth. Because of the parents' evasiveness and the healed man's persistent confession, a consultation followed. It was decided to force from the man who had been blind a denial of the miraculous nature of his receiving sight, in the name of the holiness of the Sabbath law. In other words, they sought to reinterpret the fact by means of a dogmatic principle, though an incorrect one.

Verses 24-34. "We know," they say, "that this Man is a sinner." From where do they know this? From the fact that He does not keep the Sabbath. But did not the Maccabees break the Sabbath in defense of their fatherland? 1 Macc 2:41, 47. Are they sinners because of this? Malice does not wish to reason soundly. "Give glory to God," they say to the healed man. These were words used to call someone to speak the exact truth, Josh 7:19; 1 Kgdms 6:5; Is 9:8, and to prove by deed that we reverence the majesty and truth of God, Rom 4:20.

But bookish learning does not wish to see this faithfulness and seeks to evade its consequences. Since it did not succeed, it turns to unlearned simplicity with its suggestion: "Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner."