Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 9:11

11. After ἐκεῖνος omit καὶ εἶπεν with אBCDL against A. ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ λεγόμενος (אBL) for ἄνθρ. λεγ. (AD). τὸν (אBDLX) for τὴν κολυμβήθραν τοῦ (A).

11. ἐκεῖνος. S. John’s fondness for this pronoun has been remarked. Here and in John 9:25; John 9:36 it marks the man’s prominence in the scene. Comp. John 1:8; John 2:21; John 13:25; John 18:17; John 18:25; John 20:15-16.

ὁ ἄνθρ. ὁ λεγ. The man that is called; implying that Jesus was well known. Was he thinking of the meaning of the name ‘Jesus’?

πηλὸν ἐπ. He had not seen how: the rest he tells in order.

ἀνέβλεψα. This may mean either ‘I looked up’ (Mark 6:41; Mark 7:34; Mark 16:4, &c.); or ‘I recovered sight’ (Matthew 11:5; Mark 10:51-52, &c.). ‘I looked up’ does not suit John 9:15; John 9:18, where the word occurs again: and though ‘I recovered sight’ is not strictly accurate of a man born blind, yet it is admissible, as sight is natural to man.

Note the gradual development of faith in the man’s soul, and compare it with that of the Samaritan woman (see on John 4:19) and of Martha (see on John 11:21). Here he merely knows Jesus’ name and the miracle; in John 9:17 he thinks Him ‘a Prophet;’ in John 9:33 He is ‘of God;’ in John 9:39 He is ‘the Son of God.’ What writer of fiction in the second century could have executed such a study in psychology?

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 9:11

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