Swindoll Study Bible - Book of John - Flipbook - Page 33
J ohn 8 : 5 1
to glorify me. He is the true judge. 51 I tell you the
truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”
52 The people said, “Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets
died, but you say, ‘Anyone who obeys my teaching will
never die!’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abra
ham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you
think you are?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I want glory for myself, it
doesn’t count. But it is my Father who will glorify me.
You say, ‘He is our God,’* 55 but you don’t even know
him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as
great a liar as you! But I do know him and obey him.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward
to my coming. He saw it and was glad.”
57 The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old.
How can you say you have seen Abraham?*”
58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before
Abraham was even born, I Am!*” 59 At that point they
picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9
LIVING INSIGHTS
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who
had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples
asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”
3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,”
Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God
could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the
tasks assigned us by the one who sent us.* The night
is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am
here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the
saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes.
7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Si
loam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and
washed and came back seeing!
8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a
blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man
who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said he was, and
others said, “No, he just looks like him!”
But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”
10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”
11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus made
SEEING GOD John 9:3 Here Jesus heals a man
born blind in order to show God’s power. But God
doesn’t send Jesus in person to heal every disabled
person. In part, that’s because we wouldn’t know what
God looks like if we didn’t have the disabled—we
wouldn’t understand His compassion if we didn’t
have them. There would be great gaps of ignorance,
hardness, and coldness in our theology if it weren’t
for these very precious people God continues to send
through the ranks of His family. He does this, without a
miracle, for all of us to see a part of His face that we
would otherwise miss.
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mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to
the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and
washed, and now I can see!”
12 “Where is he now?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
13 Then they took the man who had been blind to
the Pharis ees, 14 because it was on the Sabbath that
Jesus had made the mud and healed him. 15 The Phar
isees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He
put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away,
I could see!”
16 Some of the Pharis
ees said, “This man Jesus is
not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.”
Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do
such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division
of opinion among them.
17 Then the Pharisees again questioned the man
who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your
opinion about this man who healed you?”
The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.”
18 The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the
man had been blind and could now see, so they called
in his parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son?
Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”
20 His parents replied, “We know this is our son and
that he was born blind, 21 but we don’t know how he
can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough
to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because
they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah
would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 That’s why
they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
24 So for the second time they called in the man
who had been blind and told him, “God should get
the glory for this,* because we know this man Jesus
is a sinner.”
25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”
26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he
heal you?”
27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once.
Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again?
Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God
spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this
man comes from.”
30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He
healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he
comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to
sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship
him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no
one has been able to open the eyes of someone born
blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t
have done it.”
8:54 Some manuscripts read You say he is your God. 8:57 Some manuscripts read
How can you say Abraham has seen you? 8:58 Or before Abraham was even born,
I have always been alive; Greek reads before Abraham was, I am. See Exod 3:14.
9:4 Other manuscripts read I must quickly carry out the tasks assigned me by the
one who sent me; still others read We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us
by the one who sent me. 9:24 Or Give glory to God, not to Jesus; Greek reads Give
glory to God.
