Yohanes 9:15-18

9:15 So the Pharisees asked him again how he had gained his sight. ¹  He replied, ²  “He put mud ³  on my eyes and I washed, and now ⁴  I am able to see.”

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ⁵  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ⁶  the Sabbath.” ⁷  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ⁸  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ⁹  among them. 9:17 So again they asked the man who used to be blind, ¹⁰  “What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?” ¹¹  “He is a prophet,” the man replied. ¹² 

9:18 Now the Jewish religious leaders ¹³  refused to believe ¹⁴  that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned ¹⁵  the parents of the man who had become able to see. ¹⁶ 

Yohanes 9:22

9:22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ¹⁷  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ¹⁸  to be the Christ ¹⁹  would be put out ²⁰  of the synagogue. ²¹ 

[9:15]  ¹ tn Or “how he had become able to see.”

[9:15]  sn So the Pharisees asked him. Note the subtlety here: On the surface, the man is being judged. But through him, Jesus is being judged. Yet in reality (as the discerning reader will realize) it is ironically the Pharisees themselves who are being judged by their response to Jesus who is the light of the world (cf. 3:17-21).

[9:15]  ² tn Grk “And he said to them.”

[9:15]  ³ tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).

[9:15]  ⁴ tn The word “now” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate the contrast between the man’s former state (blind) and his present state (able to see).

[9:16]  ⁵ tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).

[9:16]  ⁶ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ⁷ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ⁹ tn Or “So there was discord.”

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the blind man.”

[9:17]  ¹¹ tn Grk “since he opened your eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:17]  ¹² tn Grk “And he said, ‘He is a prophet.’”

[9:17]  sn At this point the man, pressed by the Pharisees, admitted there was something special about Jesus. But here, since prophet is anarthrous (is not accompanied by the Greek article) and since in his initial reply in 9:11-12 the man showed no particular insight into the true identity of Jesus, this probably does not refer to the prophet of Deut 18:15, but merely to an unusual person who is capable of working miracles. The Pharisees had put this man on the spot, and he felt compelled to say something about Jesus, but he still didn’t have a clear conception of who Jesus was, so he labeled him a “prophet.”

[9:18]  ¹³ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers mainly to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. References in this context to Pharisees and to the synagogue (v. 22) suggest an emphasis on the religious nature of the debate which is brought out by the translation “the Jewish religious leaders.”

[9:18]  ¹⁴ tn The Greek text contains the words “about him” at this point: “the Jewish authorities did not believe about him…”

[9:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they called.”

[9:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the man who had gained his sight.”

[9:22]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Twice in this verse the phrase refers to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. The second occurrence is shortened to “the Jewish leaders” for stylistic reasons. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish religious leaders” in v. 18.

[9:22]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “confessed him.”

[9:22]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[9:22]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[9:22]  ²⁰ tn Or “would be expelled from.”

[9:22]  ²¹ sn This reference to excommunication from the Jewish synagogue for those who had made some sort of confession about Jesus being the Messiah is dismissed as anachronistic by some (e.g., Barrett) and nonhistorical by others. In later Jewish practice there were at least two forms of excommunication: a temporary ban for thirty days, and a permanent ban. But whether these applied in NT times is far from certain. There is no substantial evidence for a formal ban on Christians until later than this Gospel could possibly have been written. This may be a reference to some form of excommunication adopted as a contingency to deal with those who were proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. If so, there is no other record of the procedure than here. It was probably local, limited to the area around Jerusalem. See also the note on synagogue in 6:59.