So
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.” He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He 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?” They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
John 9:24-29
John 9 [20.] His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but 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.” His 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. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
John 9 [24.] So 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.”
John 9 [25.] He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
John 9 [26.] They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
John 9 [27.] He 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?”
John 9 [28.] They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”
John 9 [30.] The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Meaning:
The parents have confirmed that their son was born blind, but out of fear they refused to say who opened his eyes (John 9:20-23). So the authorities call the man back for a second interrogation. This time they come with their verdict already decided, and they want him to agree with it. Instead, the man who once begged by the roadside becomes a fearless witness.
- “Give glory to God”:
This was a solemn formula used to put someone under oath to tell the truth and confess. When Achan was found guilty after Jericho, Joshua said to him, “My son, please give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him” (Joshua 7:19). The leaders are telling the man: speak the truth before God, and the truth is that Jesus is a sinner. Ironically, they urge him to glorify God while refusing to glorify God for the very miracle he has done.
- “One thing I do know”:
“I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.” The man refuses to be drawn into a debate he cannot settle. He does not claim to be a theologian. He stands on his own experience, which no one can take from him. These words have become one of the best-loved testimonies in Scripture, later echoed in John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace.
His answer is a model of honest witness. He does not say more than he knows, and he will not say less. Jesus later told his disciples that the Spirit would help them testify, and that they too would bear witness “because you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27).
- “Why do you want to hear it again?”
“What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” They ask for the story a third time, perhaps hoping to find a contradiction. The man’s patience runs out, and his reply is bold and even humorous: “You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” The word “also” is telling. Without saying it directly, he places himself among the disciples of Jesus.
- “We are disciples of Moses”:
The leaders respond with insults. To them, being Moses’ disciple and being Jesus’ disciple are opposites. They are proud that “God has spoken to Moses,” and rightly so: God said of Moses, “With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles” (Numbers 12:8). But Moses himself had promised, “Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus told these same leaders, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me” (John 5:46). True discipleship to Moses leads to Christ, because “the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
- “We don’t know where he comes from”:
Earlier some in Jerusalem had said the opposite: “However we know where this man comes from” (John 7:27). Jesus answered the Pharisees, “you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going” (John 8:14). Their ignorance about his origin is the heart of their blindness. They know Nazareth and his family, but they do not know that he has come from the Father.
The Significance of John 9:24-29
- The power of personal testimony:
The man could not out-argue the experts, but he did not need to. “Though I was blind, now I see” was enough. Every believer can say what Christ has done in their life. Such testimony is simple, honest and hard to refute.
- Courage under pressure:
His parents gave in to fear, but he grew bolder with every question. Jesus warned that his followers would be insulted, and he called them blessed: “Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you” (Luke 6:22).
- Old and new together:
Some imagine that loyalty to the Old Testament means rejecting Jesus. Scripture teaches the opposite. Moses and the prophets point to him, and those who honour Moses are called to listen to the Prophet he foretold.
Cross-References:
Joshua 7:19: "My son, please give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him." The oath formula used here.
Deuteronomy 18:15: "Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him." Moses points to Christ.
John 5:46: "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me." Moses bears witness to Jesus.
Luke 6:22: "Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you" Blessing on those insulted for Christ.
Conclusion: Pressed to call Jesus a sinner, the healed man held to the one thing he knew: “though I was blind, now I see.” His bold question about becoming disciples drew insults, as the leaders claimed Moses while rejecting the Prophet Moses foretold. His example teaches us to give honest, courageous testimony and to see that the whole of Scripture leads to Christ.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible