John 9:37Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He did not say, "It is I," but modestly and humbly, "You have seen Him." And since this was still not clear, He added more plainly, "He who speaks with you is He." And the One who knows the future answers, "You have seen Him. And He who speaks with you is He." The One whom he had defended inside asks him outside, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" And the man enlightened in both body and soul answers. "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" To this the Lord said to him, "You have seen Him, and He who speaks with you is He."

Jesus answers: He is the One whom you have seen and who speaks with you. He did not say, "It is I who healed you, who said to you: Go, wash." Rather, He speaks first in a veiled and unclear way, "You have seen Him," and then more clearly. "He who speaks with you is He." The Lord seems to have said "You have seen Him" intentionally, precisely to remind him of the healing and that from Him he had received the power of sight. If men hostile to the truth cast out its confessor and remove him from what is holy and precious to them, that is, from wealth and glory, Jesus will find him. When he has been dishonored by enemies, then he will be especially honored by Christ with knowledge and a more firmly grounded faith.

When Christ is asked in whom one must believe, He points to Himself. He does not simply say, "I, the One speaking," but calls the Son of God both visible and speaking. He is constantly caring for our benefit and providing varied helps for unchangeable and true faith. Thus we, while considering ourselves pious, may not fall into the nets and snares of the devil, nor senselessly turn away from the truth of the mystery. For some of those regarded as Christians have not accurately understood the purpose of the divine economy with the flesh. They have already dared to separate from God the Word the temple taken from a woman for our sake. They have divided the one true Son into two sons. In their great madness they seem to think it unworthy to confess that the Only-begotten became man.

Indeed, God hears sinners. But the one who said this had not yet washed the face of his heart in the pool of Siloam. The mystery had been accomplished with his eyes, but the mercy of grace had not yet been accomplished in his heart. When did this blind man wash the face of his heart? When the Lord received him to Himself after he had been cast out by the Jews. For He found him and said to him, as we have heard, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" And he said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" He did indeed already see with his eyes. But with his heart? Not yet. Wait. Soon he will see. Jesus said to him, "I who speak with you am He" (Jn 4:26). Did he hesitate? He immediately washed his face. For Siloam was speaking with him, which means "sent." Who was sent, if not Christ?

“You have seen Him,” not before, but now. Jesus Christ did not say, “I am the One who opened your eyes.” He wished to show this man’s readiness to believe.

This was both for the benefit of those present and for the shame of those who had heard much of His teaching and seen many miracles, yet still had not believed.

Having heard only the words, “It is He who speaks with you,” he immediately believed. The words of Jesus Christ at once touched his soul. Finding it good, they moved it to knowledge and faith. See:

Why does the Lord ask him, already healed and cast out of the synagogue, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" It is so that he should not think it a loss to be deprived of the synagogue, since the confession of faith restores immortality to him. And he, still in doubt, says, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" The Lord did not wish ignorance to persist in one who, after the healing of his eyes, had been granted understanding of such faith. Therefore He said, "You have both seen Him, and He who speaks with you is He." Does the Lord demand a confession of faith from him, as from the others who asked for health, so that he might be counted worthy of healing? By no means. Rather, it was only because he answered, "I believe, Lord." For the faith in his answer was to bring healing not to blindness, but to life.

Why did Christ not answer directly, “I am He,” but indirectly, “You have both seen Him, and it is He who speaks with you”? It was to remind him of the miracle through the words, “You have seen Him.”

That is, you recently saw His power and wonderworking when you received the light. It was also to show that the Son of God is not the bodiless Word, but Christ incarnate.

This Man, He says, whom you see and hear speaking with you, is the Son of God.

When the Lord heard that the Pharisees had driven away the former blind man precisely because of his firm acknowledgment of Jesus' divine mission, He saw that the healed man was ready to believe in Him as the Messiah. For this he lacked only the sight of his Healer with his now healthy eyes. Therefore, on once meeting him, Jesus says to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" (Jn 1:49). "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" says the former blind man, probably sensing that the One questioning him is the Messiah. Jesus says to him, "You have both seen Him, and He who speaks with you is He." And he said, "I believe, Lord!" and worshiped Jesus.

And when Jesus revealed Himself to him, he fell before Him, worshiped Him, and cried out with compunction, "I believe, Lord!" Here Christ again called Himself the Son of God. The man born blind, whom He had healed, understood that the Son of God, who had granted him sight, was worthy of the same worship as God Himself. Therefore he worshiped Him. In general, Jesus Christ many times called God His own personal Father, and Himself His Son. Yet, so that no one might think that He considered other people to be sons of God in the same way, in His conversation with Nicodemus He called Himself the Only-begotten Son of God. In other cases, when speaking of Himself as the Son of God, He set Himself in contrast to all people. Thus, from the cited sayings of Jesus Christ, it is clear that He called God His own personal Father, and Himself the Only-begotten Son of God.

Then came the merciful answer, which was also a revelation: “You have both seen Him, and He is speaking with you.” This was enough for the believing soul of the man who had been blind.

“You have seen Him,” and so forth. By the word “seen,” the Lord points the former blind man to the miracle of sight performed upon him.

By the following words He points precisely to Himself as the One who performed this miracle upon him, and at the same time as the Son of God, the wonderworker.

The healed man fully understood this indication from the Lord. He immediately expressed before Him his faith in Him as the Messiah, both by word and by deed.

Heavenly love was pleased to reward with a sign of its own love the man dishonored by human malice. The Savior sought and found the one excommunicated by the unrighteous Sanhedrin. The healed man had acknowledged Jesus as a prophet and an unheard-of wonderworker. He desired to see Him. But first the newness of his own condition held his attention. Then the Sanhedrin tormented him with its interrogations, which ended with such honor for the witness of truth. Heavenly goodness desires to reward his patience. "Do you believe in the Son of God?" the Lord asks him. The whole Gospel of John, and especially Jn 10:33, 36 and Jn 19:7, clearly shows that "Son of God" and "Christ" are by no means synonymous words. The Son of God is a divine person.

In all likelihood, in verse 36 the man who had received sight, when calling the One who found him "Lord," did not yet know that this was the One who had opened his eyes. Chrysostom says of this passage: "The blind man does not yet know the One whom he had so greatly defended, for he had not yet seen Him." Perhaps he was only struck by the Lord's voice, which he must have remembered with the sensitivity of the blind. Therefore he is not surprised by the question. Already as though prepared for it, "with a soul that loves and earnestly seeks," he asks, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" He confesses in advance his readiness to believe in the Son of God, whom he apparently understood rightly to be the One who had healed him.