Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 9:37
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
37. Thou hast both seen him ] Better, Thou hast even seen Him, and He that speaketh with thee is He. The latter half of the sentence is similar to the declaration in Joh 4:26. “This spontaneous revelation to the outcast from the synagogue finds its only parallel in the similar revelation to the outcast from the nation.” Westcott. Not even Apostles are told so speedily.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This is as much as, I am he. Thou hast not only seen him with the eyes of thy body, but thou hast had experience of his Divine virtue and power, in giving thee sight who wert born blind: thus seeing also signifieth, Joh 14:9. It is very observable here, that miracles do not work faith, but confirm it. The blind man had experienced here a miracle wrought upon himself, but yet he is an unbeliever, until the Lord cometh to give him the revelation of his word: faith cometh by hearing: but together with this word we must also conceive a mighty power to have flowed from Christ, inwardly enlightening him, and enabling him to discern the truth of what he told him, and making him yet further willing to receive him, and close with him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37. Jesus said unto him, Thou hastboth seen himthe new sense of sight having at that moment itshighest exercise, in gazing upon “the Light of the world.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jesus said unto him,…. Giving him the tokens by which he might know him: thou hast both seen him; not that he had seen him before now, with his bodily eyes; for he was blind when Christ anointed him, and sent him to Siloam to wash; nor when he came back, since Jesus was gone, and he knew not where he was; but he had seen him, that is, he had perceived and felt the power of him in restoring him to sight; and now he had seen him bodily, and did at this present time: but as this was not sufficient to distinguish him from other persons in company, he adds,
and it is he that talketh with thee; in like manner he made himself known to the woman of Samaria, Joh 4:26.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Thou hast both seen him ( ). Perfect active indicative (double reduplication) of . Since his eyes were opened.
And he it is that speaketh with thee ( ). “And the one speaking with thee is that man.” See 19:35 for used of the speaker. In 4:26 Jesus reveals himself in like manner to the Samaritan woman as Messiah while here as the Son of Man (or the Son of God).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then Jesus said unto him,” (eipen auto ho lesous) “Jesus said directly to him,” in response to his appeal, as He had answered questions that had helped both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman to be saved, Joh 9:3-4.
2) ”Thou hast both seen him,” (kai heorakas auton) ”You have even seen him,” already, when Jesus had searched for and found Him, taken the initiative that the man might be saved, Joh 9:35. Jesus was more anxious to give him eternal life than physical sight, 1Jn 5:13. Much as the disclosure to the Samaritan woman, Joh 4:26.
3) “And it is he that talketh with thee.” (kai ho lalon meta sou ekemos estin) “And he is that one who is speaking to you,” or communicating with you, right now, the one who healed you. This is much like He revealed His identity to the Samaritan woman, Joh 4:26. Further light burst forth upon the former blind man at this moment, more light than at the moment his blind eyes had been opened, for he now saw himself as a sinner and Jesus as the “Light of the world,” who lightens and enlightens 11 every man that cometh into the world,” Joh 1:9; Luk 2:32, Joh 8:12; 2Co 4:3-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
37. Thou hast both seen him. By these words of Christ the blind man could not be carried higher than to a very small and cold portion of faith. For Christ does not mention his power, or the reason why he was sent by the Father, or what he has brought to men. But what principally belongs to faith is, to know that, by the sacrifice of his death, atonement has been made for our sins, and we are reconciled to God; that his resurrection was a triumph over vanquished death; that we are renewed by his Spirit, in order that, being dead to the flesh and to sin, we may live to righteousness; that he is the only Mediator; that the Spirit is the earnest of our adoption; in short, that in him is found every thing that belongs to eternal life. But the Evangelist either does not relate the whole of the conversation which Christ held with him, or he only means that the blind man professed his attachment to Christ, so that henceforth he began to be one of his disciples. For my own part, I have no doubt that Jesus intended to be acknowledged by him as the Christ, that from this beginning of faith he might afterwards lead him forward to a more intimate knowledge of himself.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.The answer reminds us of that to the woman of Samaria, I that speak unto thee am He (Joh. 4:26); but here both the sense of sight and that of hearing are appealed to as conveying knowledge to the mind. There is a special fitness in the emphasis thus laid upon the seeing Him, in the case of one whose very power to see was witness to the presence of the Messiah. The words do not refer to any earlier meeting, but the perfect tense refers to the completion of the act of vision and the abiding impression.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him and He is the one who speaks with you”.’
Jesus wanted him to know that He was not talking of some far off figure in Heaven, but someone seeable. Indeed the man himself had seen him and talked with him, for it was He Himself.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 9:37-38. Jesus said, &c. This passage of the gospel well deserves serious attention, as it is of great force to prove theDivinity of our Saviour, who here declares himself in express terms , the true, eternal, only-begotten Son of God, so of necessity equal with God, even upon the concession of the Pharisees; as he abundantly proved himself by this mighty work, openingthe eyes of a man born blind, by his own, and not any delegated power, a work the like to which was never even supposed to have been wrought by any man since the world began. See on Joh 9:32. Jesus here, too, requires of the blind man to believe in him, the Son of God; but he who believes and puts his confidence in any creature, however great, however exalted, is accursed by the declaration of God himself. See Jer 27:15. Jesus therefore was God: moreover, he admitted the worship and adoration of this man, which is due, and must be paid only to the one true God; Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. The God-man corporeally present to the eyes of this person, not only required his faith, but admitted his worship; he must therefore either have been a notorious impostor, or the very and true God; God and man in one person.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 9:37-38 . ] thou hast actually seen Him, and , etc. Comp. on Joh 6:36 . The substantial meaning of the second clause is: and hearest Him speak with thee ; but it has a more concrete and lively turn.
] refers to the present interview, not to a former one; for he had not seen Jesus whilst the act of healing was being performed, and he had not returned to Him from Siloam (see on Joh 9:7 ). The use of the perf . as the present, of completed action (thou hast a view of Him), need not surprise (Bernhardy, p. 378).
] is not predicate (Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschrift , 1859, p. 416); but, as John’s very favourite manner is, subject , demonstratively comprehending the foregoing participial designation of the same, as in Joh 1:18 ; Joh 1:33 , Joh 5:11 . Comp. 2Co 10:18 . So also in the Classics, although they more frequently use in this way (see Krger on Thuc. 2. 15. 4). The connection alone, then, shows whether the person intended is some one else, or, as in this case, and in Joh 9:35 , the speaker himself , who presents himself objectively as a third person , and thus introduces himself to the individual addressed with special emphasis. At the same time, the force of is not thus transformed into that of idem or ipse . [52]
] “jam augustiore sensu ita dicit, quam dixerat,” Joh 9:36 , Bengel.
] John uses solely of divine worship, Joh 4:20 ff., Joh 12:20 . The man was seized by the feeling as yet indeed vague and indistinct of the divine , the bearer of which, the Messiah, the object of his newly awakened faith and confession, stands before him. The higher conception of . has struck him.
[52] In relation to the erroneous assertion that in Joh 19:35 betrays an author different from the Apostle John (see on the passage), the Johannine use of the word was discussed at length by Steitz in d. Stud. u. Krit. 1859, p. 497 ff.; Buttmann in the same journal for 1860, p. 505 ff.; and then again by Steitz in the Stud. u. Krit. for 1861, p. 368 ff. These controversial discussions (see, finally, Steitz in Hilgenfeld’s ZeitsChr. 1862, p. 264 ff.) were in so far unnecessary, as the use of in John does not deviate from the genuine Greek usage; and as the context of Joh 19:35 shows, as clearly as that of the present passage that the person who speaks is pointed to, being presented objectively as though he were a third person.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
Ver. 37. Thou hast both seen him ] This seems to have been but some part of the discourse that passed between them, to make the man believe. Or if it were all, then we see as in a mirror the mighty power of Christ’s word. Well might he say, Joh 6:63 ; “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Well might Mr Fox say in his Acts and Monuments, speaking of the people of God here in England in the reign of Henry VIII, when they began to lift up their heads out of the puddle of Popery, “This one thing I greatly marvel and muse at, to note in the registers, and consider how the word of God did multiply so exceedingly as it did among them. For I find that one neighbour resorting and conferring with another, again with a few words of their first or second talk did win and turn their minds to that wherein they desired to persuade them, touching the truth of God’s word and sacraments.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
37. ] These words . serve to remind the man of the benefit he has received, and to awaken in him the liveliest gratitude: compare Luk 2:30 . They do not refer to a former seeing , when he was healed: this was the first time that he had seen his Benefactor.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
seen. Greek. horao. App-133.
with. Greek. meta. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
37.] These words . serve to remind the man of the benefit he has received, and to awaken in him the liveliest gratitude: compare Luk 2:30. They do not refer to a former seeing, when he was healed: this was the first time that he had seen his Benefactor.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 9:37. , thou hast seen) Thou hast begun to see with these eyes of thine, which have been opened for thee.- , He who speaks) A lowly speech, being framed in the third person.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 9:37
Joh 9:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee.-Jesus then assured the man that he himself was the Son of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Thou: Joh 4:26, Joh 7:17, Joh 14:21-23, Psa 25:8, Psa 25:9, Psa 25:14, Mat 11:25, Mat 13:11, Mat 13:12, Act 10:31-33
Reciprocal: Isa 42:20 – Seeing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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The conversation had continued far enough for Jesus to make his claim. Thou bast both seen!him must have been a thrilling reminder for one who had been blind all of his life until that day. How gracious it was in Jesus to seek for the man on whom he had bestowed the blessing of sight, and make it a point that among the first, if not the first, real friend he was enabled to see, was the very One who had healed him and who was his Lord in the form of man.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 9:37. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaketh with thee is he. This manifestation is now given; both in word (he that speaketh . .) and in the half-veiled, yet clear, reference to the work that had been wrought on him (thou hast seen Him) in the gift of physical (and we may certainly add spiritual) eyesight.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Jesus then identified Himself as the Son of Man (cf. Joh 4:26). Perhaps He said that the man had seen Him to connect the miracle with the miracle-worker. The man may have suspected that Jesus was his healer because of the sound of His voice, but seeing made the identification certain. The man had seen Him with the eyes of faith previously, but now he also saw Him physically. Similarly modern believers see Him by faith, but in the future faith will give way to sight.
Jesus removed all possibility of misunderstanding by also identifying Himself as the One who then spoke to the man. The beggar confessed His faith in Jesus and appropriately proceeded to prostrate himself (Gr. proskyneo) in worship before Him. This is the only place in this Gospel where we read that anyone worshipped Jesus. Now the respectful address "Lord" took on deeper meaning for him (Joh 9:36). However the man still had much to learn about the full identity of Jesus and its implications, as all new believers do. This man was no longer welcome in his synagogue, but he took a new place of worship at Jesus’ feet. Worship means acknowledging and ascribing worthiness to someone or something.
This blind man’s pilgrimage from darkness to light is clear from the terms he used to describe Jesus. First, he called Him "the man called Jesus" (Joh 9:11). Second, he referred to Jesus as a prophet (Joh 9:17). Third, he came to believe that Jesus was a prophet who had come from God (Joh 9:33). Finally, he acknowledged Jesus as Lord (Joh 9:38). This man’s progress from dark unbelief to the light of faith is very significant in view of John’s stated purpose to bring his readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ (Joh 20:31). It shows that this process sometimes, indeed usually, involves stages of illumination. It is also interesting that the problems that this man had with the Pharisees were what God used to open his eyes to who Jesus really was. It is often through difficulties that God teaches us more about Himself.