Yohanes 9:41

9:41 Jesus replied, ¹  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ²  but now because you claim that you can see, ³  your guilt ⁴  remains.” ⁵ 

Yohanes 13:17

13:17 If you understand ⁶  these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Yohanes 15:22

15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. ⁷  But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.

[9:41]  ¹ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ² tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ³ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ⁴ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ⁵ sn Because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. The blind man received sight physically, and this led him to see spiritually as well. But the Pharisees, who claimed to possess spiritual sight, were spiritually blinded. The reader might recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in 3:10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and don’t understand these things?” In other words, to receive Jesus was to receive the light of the world, to reject him was to reject the light, close one’s eyes, and become blind. This is the serious sin of which Jesus had warned before (8:21-24). The blindness of such people was incurable since they had rejected the only cure that exists (cf. 12:39-41).

[13:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “If you know.”

[15:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:22]  sn Jesus now describes the guilt of the world. He came to these people with both words (15:22) and sign-miracles (15:24), yet they remained obstinate in their unbelief, and this sin of unbelief was without excuse. Jesus was not saying that if he had not come and spoken to these people they would be sinless; rather he was saying that if he had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of the sin of rejecting him and the Father he came to reveal. Rejecting Jesus is the one ultimate sin for which there can be no forgiveness, because the one who has committed this sin has at the same time rejected the only cure that exists. Jesus spoke similarly to the Pharisees in 9:41: “If you were blind, you would have no sin (same phrase as here), but now you say ‘We see’ your sin remains.”