John 9:2
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and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind--not in a former state of existence, in which, as respects the wicked, the Jews did not believe; but, perhaps, expressing loosely that sin somewhere had surely been the cause of this calamity.
Open source ↗After Christ's departure out of the temple, in the close of the foregoing chapter, and before this happened which is recorded in this chapter, he had been for some time abroad in the country, it is supposed about two or three months; in which interval of time Dr. Lightfoot and other harmonists place all the passages that occur from Luk 10:17 to Luk 13:17. What is recorded in ch. 7 and 8 was at the feast of tabernacles, in September; what is recorded in this and the following chapter was at the feast of dedication in December, Joh 10:22. Mr. Clark and others place this immediately after the foregoing chapter. In this chapter we have, I. The miraculous cure of a man that was born blind (Joh 9:1-7). II. The discourses which were occasioned by it. 1. A discourse of the neighbours among themselves, and with the man (Joh 9:8-12). 2. Between the Pharisees and the man (v. 13-34). 3. Between Christ and the poor man (Joh 9:35-38). 4. Between Christ and the Pharisees (Joh 9:39 to the end).
Open source ↗9:2 The disciples assumed that someone’s sin—the man’s or his parents’—had caused him to be born blind. Jesus corrected this common belief (9:3).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate?
They replied, “You were born in utter sin, and you are instructing us?” And they threw him out.
When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.