John 9:41Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore, showing that it would have been better for them to be blind than to have sight, Christ says, "If you were blind, you would have no sin."

Since they considered this misfortune a disgrace, He turned it back upon their own head, saying that blindness would have lightened their punishment.

Thus everywhere He destroys human thoughts and raises them up to a great and wondrous understanding.

"But now you say, 'We see.'" As He had said before, "He of whom you say that He is your God" (Jn 8:54), so also now He says, "But now you say, 'We see,'" because in fact you do not see.

Thus what they considered a great boast for themselves He presents here as the occasion of their punishment. At the same time He consoles the man born blind for his former blindness.

Then He speaks concerning their blindness. For they could have said that they do not come to Him because of their blindness, but flee and turn away from Him as a deceiver.

Against this He directs His whole discourse.

The Lord wished to show them that it is better to be blind in body than unbelieving, and said, "If you were blind, you would have no sin."

For if, by necessity and by nature, you were blind, forgiveness could be granted for the unbelief with which you are infected.

But now you say that you see, and yet, having been eyewitnesses of the miracle upon the blind man, you still remain in unbelief. Therefore you are unworthy of forgiveness.

For your sin remains unerased, and you will be punished all the more because you do not come to faith when the miracles are evident.

These words, "If you were blind, you would have no sin," may also be understood in this way.

You ask about bodily blindness, of which alone you are ashamed. But I speak of the blindness of your soul.

Again the Savior moderates them, skillfully blending rebuke. He avoids every insult, yet puts them to shame by setting forth the meaning of the truth.

He shows that possessing sight not only gives them no benefit. More than this, they will fall into a worse state than the one in which a man who sees nothing finds himself.

For a blind man, He says, since he does not see the miracles being performed, remains outside the sin and is innocent in this respect.

But those who behold and see the miracles, and yet through great foolishness and evil disposition do not receive faith because of them, have an indelible sin and unavoidable condemnation for it.

This is how one should naturally understand bodily blindness and receiving sight.

Now there is the day that separates light from darkness. Rightly so, for You are the light. Rightly so, for You are the day. Rightly so, for You deliver from darkness.

Every soul accepts this. Everyone understands it. What then does the following mean: "that those who see may become blind"?

Does it mean that, because You have come, those who saw will be blind? Hear what follows, and perhaps you will understand.

Some of the Pharisees were stung by these words and said to Him, "Are we also blind?" Hear what He said: "that those who see may become blind."

Jesus said to them: "If you were blind, you would have no sin." If you were blind, that is, if you said that you were blind and turned to the physician.

For I came to destroy sin. But now you say that you see, and your sin remains.

Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin," namely, the sin of unbelief. You could say in your defense that you had not seen the miracles.

"But now you say, 'We see.'" You say this, not I. If you saw, you would believe the miracles that I perform before you.

It only seems to you that you see. In reality you do not see, being blinded in mind.

The mind sees and the mind hears, while everything else is blind and deaf, as the proverb says.

"Therefore your sin remains." It remains without forgiveness, because, saying that you see while not seeing, you willfully blind yourselves through envy and malice.

Thus Jesus Christ showed that the bodily sight in which the Pharisees so greatly boast itself condemns them.

Who, then, are these wretched blind men? Do You not mean us too under the name of the blind? Thus the Pharisees present there asked Him with offense.

Yes. And you have no reason to take offense at this name. I would prefer that you yourselves recognize yourselves as such. Then you would have no sin.

But this is the trouble: you say that you see. Therefore your sin remains upon you. Here is the key to explaining Jn 9:3 as well.

When Jesus Christ met the former blind man, the Pharisees, among others, witnessed their meeting.

Jesus Christ now reveals the relation to Himself of these latter men and of the former blind man, who now stood before Him in faith.

This man was at first blind both bodily and spiritually, uneducated, and poor in spirit. Now, together with his bodily eyes, the eyes of his spirit have also been opened.

Those men had bodily sight, and spiritually they were proud of their knowledge, considering themselves the spiritual guides of the people.

The appearance of Jesus Christ was accompanied by opposite results. He was set for the fall and rising of many in Israel.

"No, you are not blind," Christ said to them. "But it is all the worse for you that, not being blind, you do not wish to see what is taking place before you.

If you truly were blind, then your unbelief, as a consequence of blindness, would not be imputed to you, and you would have no sin upon you.

But since you say that you are not blind and that you can see, the sin of your unbelief remains upon you, because you look and do not see."

All who have been enlightened by the light of His teaching ought to remember these words of the Lord more often.

Those who through Him have come to know the will of God, that is, righteousness and truth, have thereby received the possibility of becoming free from error and sin.

To the words of the Lord they answered with a question in which indignation, self-opinion, mockery, and hatred of the Lord were all expressed, joined with contempt for Him.

"Are we also blind?" they said.

In His answer to the Pharisees' question, the Lord portrayed for them the spiritual state that served as the original cause of the question.

"If you were blind," that is, if you recognized your blindness, "you would have no sin. But now," being blind, "you say, 'We see'; therefore your sin remains."

You have appropriated it to yourselves and sealed it within yourselves by your self-opinion.

The Pharisees considered themselves to see. That is, they considered themselves adequately and supremely acquainted with true knowledge of God, needing no further progress or instruction.

On this basis they rejected the teaching about God that was being given directly by God.

This fervent faith of the former blind man, poor and unlearned, stood in contrast with the unbelief and negative obstinacy of the scribes and Pharisees. They ascribed knowledge and light only to themselves.

This gave Christ occasion to pronounce His concluding word about spiritual blindness: "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."

The heavenly Father gave men, besides bodily eyes, the eyes of the soul, so that they might see His works and glorify them.

But men themselves divided themselves into those who see and those who do not see. The former treat the latter with arrogant disdain, as dark, ignorant, and foolish people.

Christ came to judge between them and to show how deceptive human judgments are.

"But you say that you see." You consider yourselves interpreters of divine revelation. You have at hand the law and the prophets, in which you can see the truth, yet you oppose it.

Therefore your sin is not a sin of ignorance and weakness, but a sin of obstinacy and hardened opposition to the truth. This sin remains upon you.

It is not forgiven and will not be forgiven you, because with such a disposition you cannot turn to the truth and faith and receive the wiping away of this sin.

It remains and will remain upon you.

The sin of ignorance and weakness is a sin against the Son of Man, and every sin, even blasphemy against the Son of Man, will be forgiven.

Verses 40-41. "Are we also blind?" said the Pharisees who had heard the Savior's words.

They understood that the Lord was speaking of their spiritual blindness. Yet, pretending not to understand, they ask, "Are we also blind?"

Yes, the Savior answers. If they were blind, if they knew little from the law of God, yet recognized their spiritual needs and felt their deficiencies, their sin would be curable.

But when they regard themselves as entirely healthy, sighted, and strong, needing nothing, proud self-love remains dominant in their soul. In such a state eternal condemnation awaits them.

"Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight," said the prophet (Is 5:21). The same thought appears in Mt 11:25 and Jer 8:8.

The very question of the Pharisees about their blindness, a question of ironic self-satisfaction, proves how highly they thought of themselves.

You see, says the Lord, that I open the eyes of the blind who recognize their blindness.

But for those who say that they see everything and know everything, and that they need no Teacher, the light will not shine. They will remain in their blindness.

Until now the darkness in which they remain is not counted to them as sin. But after seeing the great light, they deny it.

They do not come to the light, because their works are evil, and they have hated the Lord. Therefore they have no excuse for their sin (Mt 4:16; Jn 3:20; Jn 15:22, 24).

This hatred of the Lord and of the words of grace proceeding from His mouth, this struggle of a worthless mortal against God and His Word, was in essence blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:28, 31, 32).