John 9

Part of Light of the World and the Good Shepherd📖 John introduction

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¹As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. ²And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” ✦ ³Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ✦ ⁴We must carry out the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; 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 spit on the ground, and made mud from the saliva, and applied the mud to his eyes, ✦ ⁷and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he left and washed, and came back seeing. ✦ ⁸So the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?” ✦ ⁹Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” The man himself kept saying, “I am the one.” ¹⁰So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?” ✦ ¹¹He answered, “The Man who is called Jesus made mud, and spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” ✦ ¹²And they said to him, “Where is He?” He *said, “I do not know.” ✦ ¹³They *brought the man who was previously blind to the Pharisees. ✦ ¹⁴Now it was a Sabbath on the day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ✦ ¹⁵Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied mud to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ✦ ¹⁶Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was dissension among them. ✦ ¹⁷So they *said again to the man who was blind, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” ✦ ¹⁸The Jews then did not believe it about him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, ✦ ¹⁹and they questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” ✦ ²⁰His parents then answered and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already reached the decision that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be excommunicated from the synagogue. ✦ ²³It was for this reason that his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” ✦ ²⁴So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this Man is a sinner.” ✦ ²⁵He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ✦ ²⁶So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” ²⁷He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” ✦ ²⁸They spoke abusively to 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 do not know where He is from.” ✦ ³⁰The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is the amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes! ✦ ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. ✦ ³²Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ✦ ³³If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” ✦ ³⁴They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and yet you are teaching us?” So they put him out. ✦ ³⁵Jesus heard that they had put him out, and upon finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ✦ ³⁶He answered by saying, “And who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?” ✦ ³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the One who is talking with you.” ✦ ³⁸And he said, “I believe, Lord.” And he worshiped Him. ✦ ³⁹And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” ✦ ⁴⁰Those who were with Him from the Pharisees heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” ✦ ⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

John 9 ·30 John 7 ·14 John 5 ·12 John 12 ·10 John 3 ·9 John 11 ·8 John 8 ·8 Luke 13 ·7

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 9YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 9David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 9Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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