John 9:37

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:35-38 Christ owns those who own him and his truth and ways. There is particular notice taken of such a suffer in the cause of Christ, and for the testimony of a good conscience. Our Lord Jesus graciously reveals himself to the man. Now he was made sensible what an unspeakable mercy it was, to be cured of his blindness, that he might see the Son of God. None but God is to be worshipped; so that in worshipping Jesus, he owned him to be God. All who believe in him, will worship him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who is he? - It is probable that the man did not know that he who now addressed him was the same who had healed him. He had not yet seen him John 9:7, but he was prepared to acknowledge him when he did see him. He inquired, therefore, who the person was, or wished that he might be pointed out to him, that he might see him. This passage shows that he was disposed to believe, and had a strong desire to see and hear the Son of God.

Lord - This word here, as in many other instances in the New Testament, means "Sir." It is clear that the man did not know that it was the Lord Jesus that addressed him, and he therefore replied to him in the common language of respect, and asked him to point out to him the Son of God. The word translated "Lord" here is rendered "Sir" in John 4:11; John 20:15; John 12:21; Acts 16:30; Matthew 27:63. It should have been also here, and in many other places.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

37. 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."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 9:37-38. Καὶ … καὶ] thou hast actually seen Him, and, etc. Comp. on John 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.

ἑώρακας] 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 John 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).

ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν] ἐκεῖνος 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 John 1:18; John 1:33, John 5:11. Comp. 2 Corinthians 10:18. So also in the Classics, although they more frequently use οὗτος in this way (see Krüger 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 John 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 ἐκεῖνος is not thus transformed into that of idem or ipse.[52]

κύριε] “jam augustiore sensu ita dicit, quam dixerat,” John 9:36, Bengel.

προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ] John uses προσκυνεῖν solely of divine worship, John 4:20 ff., John 12:20. The man was seized by the feeling—as yet indeed vague and indistinct—of the divine δόξα, the bearer of which, the Messiah, the object of his newly awakened faith and confession, stands before him. The higher conception of ὁ υἱὸς τ. θεοῦ has struck him.

[52] In relation to the erroneous assertion that ἐκεῖνος in John 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 ἐκεῖνος in John does not deviate from the genuine Greek usage; and as the context of John 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.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 John 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.

Bengel's Gnomen

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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - [And] Jesus said, Thou hast both seen him, with the eyes so recently opened. Hast thou not found out that I am thy Healer, thy Prophet, thy Messiah? The ἑώρακας refers to the present interview, not to any previous one; for we are not told that he had already sought or found his Benefactor (Lucke, Meyer, Luthardt). Thou hast seen him with the eyes of thy spirit as well as the eyes of flesh, and, in addition, he that talketh with thee, familiarly as man with man, is he - "that sublime Person who seems to stand far off from thought and experience" (Westcott). The ἐκεῖνος of this passage and John 19:35 also is a fairly classical usage for expressing, in the lips of the speaker, a reference to himself pointed at and presented objectively as a third person (see Meyer, and our note on John 19:35, and its bearing on the authorship of the Gospel). Nowhere does our Lord more openly admit that he as the Christ, the Son of God. The disciples scarcely rise beyond the climax of this revelation even on the night of the Passion. The man's faith was waiting for its Object, and the vision comes to his unscaled spiritual vision. John 9:37