And Jesus said, For judgment am I come into this world, that they which see not may see, and they which see may become blind.
Jesus has just found the man He healed, and that man has worshipped Him. Now the Lord says why He came — and the words sound like a contradiction: how can the Saviour of the world also leave men blind?
The word "judgment" in this verse does not carry its usual courtroom sense.
The judgment is a sifting process. Compare Luke 2:34: "for the fall and rising of many in Israel," leaving men either better or worse.
This sorting reached deeper than what people showed on the outside.
He had come into the world for judgment — not in the sense of condemning men, but in the sense of producing a separation. That separation cut down beneath surface appearances and reached men as they really were.
Why He came and what His coming produced are two different things.
The object of His mission was not judgment but salvation, yet the effect of His life was judgment upon everyone with whom He came in contact. It was impossible for anyone to stand in the light of Christ's moral glory and not be judged in the very centre and source of His being. When Peter saw himself in that light, he exclaimed, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5).
The Lord named two classes of people. Both were standing in front of Him as He spoke.
That beggar was an illustration of the first of these classes. Unbelieving Pharisees were clearly in the second.
The beggar's story shows how a person moves from blindness to sight.
To own one's blindness and submit to God is the way to sight, as the blind man of John's Gospel found.
The healing itself pictures how that works. The clay Jesus put on the man's eyes changed nothing by itself; everything turned on the washing.
This operation in itself produces no effect; but the moment he washes in Siloam (which, the apostle says, means "sent"), he sees. That is, the moment he, by the purifying word and Spirit, recognises that Christ is the sent One, all is clear.
The second half of the verse is the more frightening one. Light does not help a man who refuses it — it hardens him.
The leaders among the Jews are those described as "those who see." These were made blind. They professed that they knew God. But when He was presented to them in Jesus, they did not know Him. They took the ground of men qualified to judge what was of God, and so they became more than ever confirmed in their blindness. What hope is there for men who set themselves up as able to judge everything put before them, and yet reject the only light there is?
Refusing mercy does not leave a person where he was.
It was dangerous for them to trifle with God's offers of mercy. Grace and truth had come in His Person. To reject Him was to bring down on them the judicial blindness that the prophet Isaiah spoke of… The Lord was the Great Physician come to heal them. And of His power and readiness to do so He had given repeated proofs. But they "would not" (Matt. 23:37), and so their blind eyes were blinded further.
The Pharisees put the question to Him directly, and the answer turns it back on them.
The Pharisees ask where they are to be classed — with the blind or with the seeing. The Lord answers that they have classed themselves: they say, "We see." If they had been blind, the sin that was now theirs would not have remained.
The Lord does not treat the two kinds of blindness alike.
Their sin lay in their hypocrisy. They had intellectual sight yet were spiritually blind, and their sin remained. But those who were really blind, and admitted it, are rather objects of compassion.
- Sifting, not sentencing. "Judgment" here is a sorting process, not the final verdict — it leaves men either better or worse.
- Aim versus outcome. His purpose was to save; the outcome, wherever He went, was that His presence showed people up for what they were.
- Confession opens eyes. The one who admits he cannot see is the one who receives sight; that is the whole point of the beggar's story.
- Claiming opens nothing. "We see" is the one claim that shuts a person out, because a man who needs no physician gets none.
- You classify yourself. The Lord labelled nobody in the chapter. Each man showed what he was by what he did with the Light standing in front of him.
And [some] of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and they said to him, Are we blind also?
The Pharisees standing near Jesus have just heard Him say that His coming makes the blind see and turns those who see into blind men. Their reply is a question about themselves. That question decides their own case, and the Lord's answer in the next verse tells them why.
These were not casual bystanders. They were the men most confident that if anyone in Israel could see, they could.
This searching testimony of our Lord stung the Pharisees so deeply that they said, "Are we also blind?" They felt sure they had all the learning of the day. They were the most intelligent people when it came to knowledge of Scripture. Is it possible, then, that such as they could be blind?
They had a choice: own their blindness, or defend themselves. Their question shows which one they took.
The Pharisees cannot escape what this implies. But instead of confessing their blindness, they indignantly ask, "Are we also blind?" The Lord's answer is solemn. If they would honestly take the place of being blind, they would have no sin — that is, His grace would take their sin away. But they would admit no such thing, and proudly assumed themselves to be without imperfection. Very well, they saw no need of change: their sin therefore remained, with no one but themselves to blame.
The Lord does not condemn them for being unable to see. He condemns the claim that they can.
The pride of the Pharisees refuses to bow to Jesus for charging them with blindness, as they thought. But if that pride speaks, it must hear its most withering sentence from the Judge of all mankind. For blindness there is all grace and power in Christ. But what is left for those who are stone-blind and say they see? Their sin remains, as well as their blindness — which in itself is not sin, though it is the result of sin.
Their knowledge made the case worse, not better.
In the awful mystery of our fallen nature there is a blindness that is all the more intense because it is deliberate. It is an ignorance that grows out of knowledge. Such was the misery of these unhappy men. The very light in them was darkness. They did not know because they would not know, and for that very reason they stood condemned.
Blind eyes can be opened. But no one can cure a patient who insists he is well.
Now, the Lord Jesus expressly tells the Pharisees in this chapter that their sin was not their real blindness, but their imagined sight. "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains." A blind man could have his eyes opened. But one who claimed to see needed no remedy. A sick man may be made whole. One who claims to be whole needs neither medicine nor physician. The most hopeless feature in the condition of the Jews was their imagining that all was right… The permanence of sin is bound up with a mere claim to see. What a principle for an age of religious knowledge!
(In the ESV, verse 41 ends "your guilt remains.")
Saying "we see" is a claim with consequences.
Here the Lord states that they were responsible for the profession they were making about themselves. If they confessed their blindness, they would have no sin. For penitent sinners there was mercy and forgiveness. But if they said, We see, they were responsible to walk in the light and would be judged accordingly. If they could see, as they said, they should have recognised the Good Shepherd when He came.
The chapter break hides the fact that Jesus never stopped speaking. What follows about the shepherd and the sheep is still addressed to the men who asked this question.
Openly, and in the hearing of all around Him, the Lord was still speaking; for what follows, in 10:1-18, is a continuation of His address in reply to the question of some Pharisees, "Are we blind also?" (9:40). Having answered His questioners plainly, as He had done, about their real condition before God, He now makes known a special mission entrusted to Him.
Commentators apply the warning well beyond the Pharisees of that day.
To reject Christ on purpose while claiming to see is a sin that remains on them. It has plunged the nation into a darkness they will not leave until, through the great tribulation, a remnant is brought into the light. In the same way the corrupt Christian world is passing into darkness. While it boasts in light and riches, it puts Christ outside its door.
- Heard — They stood near enough to hear every word. They had all the learning of the day. The idea that they could be blind struck them as absurd.
- Asked — The question was indignation, not enquiry. Confessing blindness would have opened the way for grace to take their sin away.
- Blindness — Being unable to see is not itself the sin. For blindness there is all grace and power in Christ; the ruin comes from saying "We see."
- Cure refused — A blind man can have his eyes opened. One who claims to be whole needs no physician. Sin stays as long as the claim to see stays.
- Sin remains — Their claim put them under a duty to walk in the light. Had they really seen, they would have recognised the Good Shepherd when He came.
Jesus said to them, If ye were blind ye would not have sin; but now ye say, We see, your sin remains.
A man born blind has just received his sight, and the religious leaders nearby are stung by Jesus' words about seeing and not seeing. They ask whether He means them. His reply closes the chapter: blindness would have left them without sin, but their claim to see is what fixes their sin in place. (Where older translations read "sin," as the writers below quote it, the ESV reads "guilt.")
The Pharisees asked to be sorted into a category. The Lord pointed out that their own words had already done it.
The Lord did not come into the world to judge it, but to save it. Yet His presence in it has still brought judgment into it. The necessary effect is this: the blind — those who know they are blind, and who therefore seek light — are brought to see. The pretentious seers, the men of this world's wisdom, are made blind. The Pharisees ask where they belong: with the blind or with the seeing. The Lord answers that they have classed themselves. They say, "We see."
"No sin" is not a reward for being blind. It is what follows when someone stops pretending and takes the place of need.
He replied, "If you were blind, you would have no sin." That is, if they took their true position before God as completely helpless and needy, He would make the sin-forgiving Saviour known to their souls in blessing. Instead they took the ground of their own competence to judge and teach divine things. That was the clearest possible proof that they were still in their sins.
Blindness can be cured. A claim to see shuts the door on the cure, because a person who feels no need will not send for help.
In this chapter the Lord Jesus tells the Pharisees straight out that their sin was not their real blindness. It was their imagined sight. "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains." A blind man could have his eyes opened. But for one who claimed to see, no remedy was needed. A sick man may be made whole, but one who claims to be whole needs neither medicine nor doctor. The most hopeless feature of the condition of the Jews was their imagining that all was right.
There is a further distinction. Blindness is a result of sin, not sin itself.
For blindness there is all grace and power in Christ. But what can be the portion of those who are stone-blind and say they see? Their sin remains, and so does their blindness — which in itself is not sin, though it is a consequence of sin.
John's Gospel does not use the word "forgiveness," yet the idea is there. Sin that "remains" is sin still attached to the person.
John 9:41. — Compare John 15:22. "Remains" means attaches, is unforgiven. "Forgiveness" is not a term used in this Gospel. Still, this Gospel expresses the idea in other ways, as in 8:32, "the truth will set you free."
A claim carries duties. Saying "we see" put them under the standard they had set for themselves.
Here the Lord says they were responsible for what they claimed about themselves. If they confessed their blindness, they would have no sin. For penitent sinners there was mercy and forgiveness. But if they said, We see, they were responsible to walk in the light, and they would be judged by that claim. If they could see as they said, they should have recognised the Good Shepherd when He came.
This refusal had consequences far beyond one conversation.
To reject Christ on purpose while claiming to see is a sin that remains on them. It has plunged the nation into darkness. They will not come out of it until, through the great tribulation, a remnant is brought into the light. In the same way corrupt Christendom is passing into darkness. It boasts of light and riches, yet it puts Christ outside its door.
- Classed — They asked where they belonged. Their own words "We see" placed them, and the Lord confirmed the sentence they had passed on themselves.
- Confessed — Owning blindness is not the obstacle to blessing; it is the doorway. Taking the place of the helpless and needy is how the sin-forgiving Saviour becomes known.
- Claimed — Their guilt lay in imagined sight, not in real darkness. Blindness itself is a consequence of sin, not sin; only those who admit they are sick send for the doctor.
- Clinging — "Remains" means attaches, unforgiven. What is never confessed is never removed, and the sin stays fastened to the one who denies it.
- Convicted — Anyone who claims light is then judged by that light. Real sight would have recognised the Good Shepherd. The same warning falls on any group that boasts of light while keeping Christ outside the door.