Many might recognize from where part of the title of this article initiated. It was spoken by the blind man featured in Chapter 9 of the gospel of John, verse 25: … I was blind, now I see. Several times in this chapter, we are reminded that this man was born blind which sadly gave rise to additional painful, untruthful statements spoken about him and to him; both in his presence and elsewhere. Those statements falsely indicated that the CAUSE of his blindness was because of sin either in the lives of his parents or by some sin this man indulged in while in the womb of his mother. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? John 9:2
Judging sin and inheriting sin are two very different things.
It’s not uncommon, even today, to hear people make similar statements. Such statements must be very carefully considered and NOT taken out of context. God does judge sin; however, that is not the same as indicating that sin is inherited. Many were wrongly taught that sin could be passed on to children because of trespasses of the parents or even sin committed by a child in the womb of the mother. However, Jesus clearly stated that this man’s blindness had nothing to do with sin in his life nor in the life of his parents.
Job’s three friends made the same error.
Also, recall that Job’s three friends pressured him repeatedly to confess sin in his life that they wrongly concluded was the reason for his body being covered with painful boils, for all of his children being killed, for his assets being stolen and destroyed. However, God made it very clear these were all false accusations by Job’s friends. Quite to the contrary, God stated of Job as recorded in Job 1:1:
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job;
and that man was perfect and upright,
and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Study what God says about the responsibility for sin.
How many times have you heard people say that the sins of the fathers pass onto the children? They, too, take another Scripture out of context—that from Exodus 20:5, even though there is an entire chapter (Ezekiel 18) devoted to clarify such a wrongful interpretation of Exodus 20:5. Review these two portions of Scripture. You will find that it’s solely the person who sins who pays for his own sins. Retribution for a father’s sins are not charged to the children.
Notice the qualifying phrase in Exodus 20:5: … I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Many fail to consider the entire verse including the qualifying statement “of them that hate me.” Even more importantly, the prophet Ezekiel repeatedly gives a fuller explanation of the proper application of the responsibility for sinful acts. The LORD not only clearly specifically disavows the misapplication of the sins of parents being passed onto the children, but He also warns that no one should teach such apostasy.
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not
have occasion any more to use this proverb … Ezekiel 18:3
It’s the soul (person) who sins that will be judged.
Set aside the time to study the entire chapter of Ezekiel 18. Notice the numerous times God clearly states that the sins of the fathers are not passed on to the sons (children). If you have taught that the sins of the fathers are passed on to the children, please carefully study the entire chapter of Ezekiel 18 in which you will find repeated in several different ways the following: The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Ezekiel 18:20
If I sin and do not repent, I will be the one for whom God will mete out judgment. My sins are not inherited by our children. It’s true that sinful actions of the parents can be “taught” to children; however, this is not sin being inherited. It is, instead, the choice of children to adapt these sins into their lifestyles, especially if the children do not depend on the Word of God as the directive for their choices when they come of age.
The religious leaders (Pharisees) wrongly also taught false doctrine about sin.
Returning to John 9 and the blind man, readers should know that the statements made throughout this chapter about sins being passed down to this newly converted blind man are disavowed by God, not only because of the words of Jesus, but also as noted above. Sadly, it was the church leaders who not only tried their best to get the healed blind man to discredit this miracle by the Hand of Jesus but also to get him to call Jesus a sinner because He healed on the Sabbath:
Therefore said some of the Pharisees [to the healed man], This man [Jesus] is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? … John 9:16 However, the newly sighted man responded: Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Verse 25 Even so, they kept the pressure on by asking him the same thing repeatedly; but this man refused to discredit Jesus.
The Pharisees also tried to divert him by focusing on asking him HOW his sight was restored—not WHO healed his blindness. They even called his parents in to try to discredit this work of God manifest in the flesh.
There were heated confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees, as recorded in John 8, which carried over to the healing of the blind man.
Chapter 9 of John was not an isolated incident where the Pharisees blasphemed Jesus. One only needs to review John 8 to see that these acts by the Pharisees as recorded in Chapter 9 were fomented by continuing efforts of the Pharisees to trap Jesus so He would be arrested and murdered. In fact, these religious leaders were so angered at Jesus by the end of Chapter 8 that … they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. John 8:59
Chapter 8 laid groundwork in which the Pharisees were trying to find a way to incarcerate Jesus as He was telling them that He was God through such statements that He was the I Am; that He was sent; that He was the Light of the world. Again, so enraged were the Pharisees that … took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. John 8:59-9:1 Jesus not only healed this blind man, but He performed this miracle on the Sabbath which the Pharisees falsely taught was sin—that is, to heal on their Sabbath. The religious leaders had added to the Law of Moses many such prohibitions which were not what Moses had proclaimed was part of God’s law. Jesus honored the Sabbath; however, what He did not honor were all the prohibitions man put in place for the Sabbath.
We’re told in John 9:14 that Jesus did this on the Sabbath; thus, the Pharisees stated: Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? … John 9:16 Keeping the Sabbath had nothing to do with this man-made prohibition against healing on the Sabbath!
What was it in John, Chapter 8 that so angered the Pharisees?
First, it was the mock trial of the woman taken in an act of adultery. Instead of stoning her, those who brought her (without the man who committed this sin with her), her accusers, were brought to shame by Jesus and left the treasury embarrassed. He forgave the woman but made it clear that sin is not forgiven if the transgressor continues to engage in the sinful act.
Thus, Jesus reminds all of a principle many avoid. The adulteress received forgiveness instead of the death penalty of which the religious leaders were hoping; however, the mercy of forgiveness was conditional—as is the prerequisite of all forgiveness. She could not continue in her sin of adultery. Jesus told her that she must turn from the sin as He clearly directed: … go, and sin no more. John 8:11 This act of forgiving sin was another proof that Jesus was God as only God can ultimately forgive sin and absolve its eternal death penalty.
I AM!
However, one might say “the icing on the cake” which brought the Pharisees to pick up stones and hurl them at Jesus was His telling them (as recorded in John 8) they were of the Devil and that He was the “I Am”—God. This was reflective of how God identified himself not only to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but also to Moses: And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:14
Jesus was the same God as He was in the Old Testament.
Review the encounter from John 8:44 in which Jesus verified that He was the same God as He Who spoke to the Old Testament prophets and fathers: Ye [Pharisees] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do … Jesus continued His rebuke and statement that He was God: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:56-58 Then they picked up the stones to murder Jesus, but He disappeared.
The issue that the Pharisees had with Jesus was His claim to be the Son of God and being so, He was also God. Jesus was both fully man and fully God. The inability of the Pharisees to disprove the deity of Jesus publicly so enraged them that by the end of Chapter 8, the Pharisees took up stones to kill Jesus.
Jesus continued, as recorded in Chapter 9, to give even more proof of His deity with the healing of this man born blind from his birth. Sadly, this man would be brought before these same wicked religious leaders who then had to deal with the yet another attribute of God—not only the healing of the sight of the blind man but that this merciful act was done on the Sabbath. (As with the forgiveness of sin, it is also only God who ultimately heals.)
God didn’t cause the blind man’s handicap, but this healing would work for His good—for His purpose—to prove again Who He is. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1 Timothy 3:16
I wasn’t born blind so what does this have to do with my life?
Each of us is born into this world spiritually blind. This is a type of handicap many misunderstand, especially those who are not saved—those who live in a lifestyle of sin and refuse to make Jesus LORD of their lives. Even though the unsaved can see physically, they are blind spiritually. This is the essence of what may seem like a strange concluding statement in the last verse of Chapter 9: Jesus said unto them [to the Pharisees], If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. John 9:41
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils?
and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:
depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23
Do you state you are a Christian, but you are spiritually blinded by living in a lifestyle that the Scripture states is sin; or do you have a loved one or friend living in a lifestyle that God says is sin? Consider John 9:41 and review Ezekiel 18. There’s one sure-proof way to receive Jesus as savior: … Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Ezekiel 18:30
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die …? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Ezekiel 18:31-32
He went … He washed … and he came seeing.
The power of healing the blind man was not in the clay that Jesus put on the blind man’s eyes but in this man following the words of Jesus. It took real faith on the part of the blind man to follow the directive of Jesus: And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam … He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. John 9:7 We, too, must believe and receive by obeying the Scripture. If the blind man had not followed the directives of Jesus, he would still be sitting as a blind beggar and missed a redeemed life with eternal blessings. If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15
Self-evaluation—assessing Spiritual blindness
Study 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Use these verses to complete the table below. Recall that repentance means you have nothing to do with the sin. Our attitude should be as was Joseph’s when he rejected the sinful advances of Potiphar’s wife: … how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Genesis 39:9
If you have questions or would like prayer or to be added to our periodic email teachings, please let us know. We are blessed when we hear from you.
In Christ’s Service,
Judith Brumbaugh,
Founder/President
Restoration of the Family PO Box 621342 Oviedo, FL 372762-1342;
www.RestorationOfTheFamily.org; RestorationOfTheFamily@gmail.com
Add some fun to your study. Complete the puzzle below. Go to the link for an online view and answers:
https://crossword-puzzles123.neocities.org/healing-the-blind-man
