Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

Lightfoot said this was the first worshipper and confessor of Christ to suffer for the Lord's sake, as John the Baptist was the first martyr. Trench pointed out that the Pharisees in their rage made contradictory allegations against the formerly blind man, first denying that he had been born blind (John 9:18) and later declaring that he had been born blind due to sins (John 9:34). This foreshadowed the type of charges that group would bring against the Lord in the trials, of which it is written, "And not even so did their witness agree together" (Mark 14:59).

The healed man confessed Christ at once and worshipped him. The Lord's acceptance of his worship thus adds his own sacred testimony to that of the healed man that Jesus is indeed God come in the flesh.

This narrative, coupled with that of the Samaritan woman in John 4, reveals a pattern in the type of events John selected for his gospel. Both here and there Christ declared in the most emphatic manner possible that he was indeed the Christ; and, in both instances, the persons to whom such declarations were made could not have been allowed as the basis for any charges the Sanhedrin might have brought against Jesus before secular authorities, this being due to the fact of the woman's being a Samaritan, and the previously blind man an excommunicated person.

John Gill's Exposition of 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, John 4:26.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him — the new sense of sight having at that moment its highest exercise, in gazing upon “the Light of the world.”

Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament

Thou hast both seen him (και εωρακας αυτον — kai heōrakas auton). Perfect active indicative (double reduplication) of οραω — horaō Since his eyes were opened.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

Lord, I believe — What an excellent spirit was this man of! Of so deep and strong an understanding; (as he had just shown to the confusion of the Pharisees,) and yet of so teachable a temper!

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

И видел ты Его. Эти слова Христа могли внушить слепому лишь холодную и слабую веру. Ведь Он не упомянул ничего о Своей силе, и том, зачем послан от Отца, и что именно принес людям. Однако главное в вере то, чтобы мы знали: Он Своей жертвой изгладил наши грехи и примирил нас с Богом, воскресением восторжествовал над побежденной смертью, обновил нас Своим Духом, дабы, умерев для плоти и греха, мы жили для праведности. Кроме того, Он есть единственный Посредник, Дух Святой есть залог нашего усыновления, и в Нем, то есть во Христе, заключена вся наша вечная жизнь. Однако Евангелист либо не приводит всю речь Христову, либо указывает лишь на то, что слепой уверовал во Христа, чтобы потом стать одним из Его учеников. Я же не сомневаюсь: Иисус хотел, чтобы слепой признал Его Христом и, начав с этих азов веры, привести к более полному знанию о Себе.

John Trapp Complete 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, John 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."

Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary

37.] These words καὶ ἑώρακας αὐτ. serve to remind the man of the benefit he has received, and to awaken in him the liveliest gratitude: compare Luke 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.

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament

John 9:37. ἑώρακας, thou hast seen) Thou hast begun to see with these eyes of thine, which have been opened for thee.— ὁ λαλῶν, He who speaks) A lowly speech, being framed in the third person.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

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, John 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.

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

‘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.

Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament

John 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.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

seen. Greek. horao. App-133.

with. Greek. meta. App-104.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And Jesus said unto him Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. The new sense of sight imparted to him had at that moment its highest exercise, in gazing upon "The Light of the world."

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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” (John 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.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Thou

4:26; 7:17; 14:21-23; Psalms 25:8,9,14; Matthew 11:25; 13:11,12; Acts 10:31-33

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

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.