John 9:25

He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
He	ἐκεῖνος ekeinos	G1565	that one (or (neuter) thing) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
answered	Ἀπεκρίθη Apekrithē	G611	to conclude for oneself · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
and	καί kaí	G2532	and
said	ἔπω épō	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing)
Whether	εἰ ei	G1487	if · conditional particle
be	ἐστί estí	G2076	he (she or it) is
sinner	ἁμαρτωλός hamartōlos	G268	sinful · adjective — nominative singular masculine
know	εἴδω eídō	G1492	used only in certain past tenses
not	οὐκ ouk	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
thing	ἓν hen	G1520	one · adjective — accusative singular neuter
know	εἴδω eídō	G1492	used only in certain past tenses
that	ὅτι hoti	G3754	demonstrative · conjunction
was	ὤν ṓn	G5607	being
blind	τυφλὸς tuphlos	G5185	opaque (as if smoky) · adjective — nominative singular masculine
now	ἄρτι arti	G737	just now · adverb
see	βλέπω. blepō	G991	to look at (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 9:30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not th…
John 5:11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 9:13-34

One would have expected that such a miracle as Christ wrought upon the blind man would have settled his reputation, and silenced and shamed all opposition, but it had the contrary effect; instead of being embraced as a prophet for it, he is prosecuted as a criminal. I. Here is the information that was given in to the Pharisees concerning this matter: They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind, Joh 9:13. They brought him to the great sanhedrim, which consisted chiefly of Pharisees, at least the Pharisees in the sanhedrim were most active against Christ. 1. Some think that those who brought this man to the Pharisees did it with a good design, to show them that this Jesus, whom…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 9:25

He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, &c.--Not that the man meant to insinuate any doubt in his own mind on the point of His being "a sinner," but as his opinion on such a point would be of no consequence to others, he would speak only to what he knew as fact in his own case.

Adam Clarke on John 9:25

Whereas I was blind, now I see - He pays no attention to their cavils, nor to their perversion of justice; but, in the simplicity of his heart, speaks to the fact, of the reality of which he was ready to give them the most substantial evidence.

John Gill on John 9:25

He answered and said,.... That is, the man who had been blind, who takes no notice of the confession they pressed him to, which is what he could not do; there being no collusion in this case, he only replies to the reproachful character they had given of his benefactor. Whether he be a sinner or not, I know not: or "if he is a sinner I know not", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, suggesting that he did not know he was a sinner; he could not charge him with being one; nor could he join with them in saying he was a sinner; nor did he think and believe he was: however, he was sure he had done a good thing to him, and in that he was no sinner; and what proof they had of his being one he…

The Church Fathers

The man, that he might neither expose himself to calumny, nor at the same time conceal the truth, answers not that he knew Him to be righteous, but, Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not.
— Alcuin of York ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

He says, in effect, I do not want to declare what I do not know; nor can I keep silent or hide what I know. I really do not know whether he is what you say he is. In fact, I did not come to know him as a sinner. I was blind, and through my hope I received sight; I know this first of all. It is up to you to judge whether a sinner can do that, because this is what you assert he is.He gave a quite prudent answer by moderating his words so that he might not appear to be in disagreement with those who questioned him. Through his silence he nonetheless suggested that [Jesus] could not have done what he did if he really were a sinner.
— Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON JOHN 4.9.25

"He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." Surely the blind man was not terrified? That be far from him. How then doth he who said, "He is a Prophet", now say, "Whether he be a sinner, I know not"? He said so, not as being in such a state of mind, nor as having persuaded himself of this thing, but desiring to clear Him from their charges by the testimony of the fact, not by his own declaration, and to make the defense credible, when the testimony of the good deed done should decide the matter against them. Since if after many words when the blind man said, "Except this were a righteous man he could not do such miracles", they were so enraged as to reply, "Thou wast altogether born in sin, and dost thou teach us?" what would they not have said, if he had spoken so from the beginning; what would they not have done? "Whether he be a sinner or not, I know not"; as though he had said, "I say nothing in this man's favor, I make no declaration at present, yet this I certainly know and would affirm, that if he were a sinner he could not have done such things." Thus he kept himself free from suspicion, and his testimony uncorrupted, as not speaking from partiality, but as bearing witness according to the fact.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 58

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Sabbath — (Heb. verb shabbath, meaning “to rest from labour”), the day of rest. It is first mentioned as having been instituted in Paradise, when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:2). “The sabbath was made for…
Blindness, Spiritual · Removal of, illustrated — Removal of, illustrated
Confessing Christ · Exemplified: Man born blind — Exemplified: Man born blind
Converts · .The blind men — .The blind men
Sabbath · 9:13,14;10:31;13:15-22; — 9:13,14;10:31;13:15-22;

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

John 9:25

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 9:13-34

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 9:25

Adam Clarke on John 9:25

John Gill on John 9:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 9:25

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 9:13-34

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 9:25

Adam Clarke on John 9:25

John Gill on John 9:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on John 9:24-33

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 9:24