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John 9

John follows a man from blindness to sight and faith, while exposing the blindness of those who reject Jesus.

Jesus encounters a man blind from birth, and his disciples ask whose sin caused the blindness. Jesus rejects their explanation and heals the man with mud and a command to wash in Siloam. Because the healing happens on the Sabbath, the Pharisees question the man and his parents. The dispute exposes fear, divided judgments about Jesus, and growing courage in the healed man. After he is thrown out, Jesus finds him and speaks about faith, sight, and judgment.

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1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.
4I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.
5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,
7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8Therefore the neighbors and those who saw that he was blind before said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”
10They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
13They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.
14It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
15Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them.
17Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
18The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,
19and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
21but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”
22His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
24So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
27He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
30The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he listens to him.
32Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.
33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
36He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”
38He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
John 9:31The healed man appeals to God's regard for worship and obedience as evidence that Jesus comes from God.
John 9:5Jesus identifies himself as the world's light before giving sight to a man who has never seen.
John 9:4The contrast between day and night places the healing within the urgent work Jesus was sent to do.
Where this chapter reaches

Isaiah speaks of blind eyes being opened, and Luke records Jesus restoring sight; John shares this theme through the healing of a man blind from birth. Psalm and Proverbs connect God's hearing of prayer with righteousness, a theme the healed man draws on in his defense of Jesus.

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After reading the whole chapter

What changes in the man's words about Jesus as the questioning becomes more hostile?

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How does Jesus finding the rejected man shape your understanding of the chapter's ending?

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Questions people ask about John 9

Does John 9 say blindness is caused by sin?

The disciples assume this man's blindness must result from his sin or his parents' sin. Jesus rejects that explanation for his condition and points to God's works being revealed in him. His answer addresses this man's blindness; it does not give a complete explanation for every disability or illness.

Does John 9:31 mean God never hears a sinner's prayer?

Verse 31 records the healed man's argument during his interrogation. He reasons that such an extraordinary healing supports Jesus' claim to come from God. His statement concerns God's response to worship and obedience within that argument. The passage does not address every kind of prayer, including a sinner's plea for mercy.

What does spiritual blindness mean in John 9?

At the close, Jesus uses sight and blindness to describe people's response to him. The healed man comes to faith and worships Jesus. The Pharisees addressed in the final exchange claim to see, yet resist what the healing reveals. Jesus connects their claimed insight with their continuing guilt.

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What the Bible says about doubt →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).