John 9:34

Contemporary English Version

ERROR : An error happened: 7 Couldn't connect to server Failed to connect to ::1: No route to host

Contextual Overview

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wast: John 9:2, John 8:41, Job 14:4, Job 15:14-16, Job 25:4, Psalms 51:5, Galatians 2:15, Ephesians 2:3

and dost: John 9:40, John 7:48, John 7:49, Genesis 19:9, Exodus 2:14, 2 Chronicles 25:16, Proverbs 9:7, Proverbs 9:8, Proverbs 26:12, Proverbs 29:1, Isaiah 65:5, Luke 11:45, Luke 14:11, Luke 18:10-14, Luke 18:17, 1 Peter 5:5

And they: John 9:22, John 6:37, Proverbs 22:10, Isaiah 66:5, Luke 6:22, 3 John 1:9, Revelation 13:17

cast him out: or, excommunicated him, Matthew 18:17, Matthew 18:18, 1 Corinthians 5:4, 1 Corinthians 5:5, 1 Corinthians 5:13

Reciprocal: Ezra 10:8 - himself separated Job 19:5 - plead Matthew 23:13 - for ye shut Mark 2:17 - They that are whole Luke 18:9 - which John 5:15 - which John 7:13 - spake John 7:52 - Art John 9:28 - they John 12:42 - lest John 16:2 - shall Romans 2:19 - art confident Galatians 5:12 - cut 1 Peter 4:14 - reproached 3 John 1:10 - and casteth

Cross-References

:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They answered and said unto him,.... Being nettled, and stung at what he said, and not able to confute his reasoning; and it is amazing that a man that could never read the Scriptures, who had had no education, was not only blind, but a beggar from his youth, should be able to reason in so strong and nervous a manner, and should have that boldness and presence of mind, and freedom of speech before the whole sanhedrim. Certainly it was God that gave him a mouth and wisdom which these learned doctors could not resist, and therefore they reply in the following manner,

thou wast altogether born in sins; meaning not in original sin, as all mankind are, for this might have been retorted on themselves; but having imbibed the Pythagorean notion of a transmigration of souls into other bodies, and of sinning in a pre-existent state, or a notion of infants sinning actually in the womb, and so punished with blindness, lameness, or some deformity or another for it, they reproach this man, calling him vile miscreant, saying, thou vile, sinful creature, who came into the world covered with sin, with the visible marks of having sinned, either in another body, or in the womb before birth, and therefore wast born blind:

and dost thou teach us, holy, wise, and learned men! which breathes out the true pharisaical spirit they were possessed of, and which appeared in their ancestors before them; see Isaiah 65:5.

And they cast him out; not merely out of the place where the sanhedrim sat, or out of the temple; this would have been no great matter, nor have made any great noise in the city, or have been taken notice of by Christ, or moved his compassion towards him; nor merely out of any particular synagogue, or was the excommunication called "Niddui", which was a separation for thirty days, and for the space of four cubits only; but was what they call "Cherem", which was a cutting him off from the whole congregation of Israel;

Isaiah 65:5- :; an anathematizing him, and a devoting him to ruin and destruction: and now in part was fulfilled, Isaiah 66:5, for this was done in pretence of zeal, for the honour and glory of God; and Christ appeared to the joy and comfort of this man, and to the shame and confusion of those that cast him out, as the following verses show.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wast born in sins - That is, thou wast born in a state of blindness a state which proved that either thou or thy parents had sinned, and that this was the punishment for it. See John 9:2. Thou wast cursed by God with blindness for crime, and yet thou dost set up for a religious teacher! When people have no arguments, they attempt to supply their place by revilings. When they are pressed by argument, they reproach their adversaries with crime, and especially with being blind, perverse, heretical, disposed to speculation, and regardless of the authority of God. And especially do they consider it great presumption that one of an inferior age or rank should presume to advance an argument in opposition to prevailing opinions.

They cast him out - Out of the synagogue. They excommunicated him. See the notes at John 9:22.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 34. Thou wast altogether born in sins — Thou hast not only been a vile wretch in some other pre-existent state, but thy parents also have been grossly iniquitous; therefore thou and they are punished by this blindness: Thou wast altogether born in sins-thou art no other than a sinful lump of deformity, and utterly unfit to have any connection with those who worship God.

And they cast him out. — They immediately excommunicated him, as the margin properly reads-drove him from their assembly with disdain, and forbade his farther appearing in the worship of God. Thus a simple man, guided by the Spirit of truth, and continuing steady in his testimony, utterly confounded the most eminent Jewish doctors. When they had no longer either reason or argument to oppose to him, as a proof of their discomfiture and a monument of their reproach and shame, they had recourse to the secular arm, and thus silenced by political power a person whom they had neither reason nor religion to withstand. They have had since many followers in their crimes. A false religion, supported by the state, has, by fire and sword silenced those whose truth in the end annihilated the system of their opponents.