John 9:11

A man that is called Jesus This looks as if he had heard little of the fame of Jesus. But the better reading gives, -The man that is called Jesus," which points the other way.

made clay He does not say how, for this he had not seen. The rest he tells in order. Omit the words -the pool of."

I received sight The Greek may mean either -I looked up," as in Mark 6:41; Mark 7:34; Mark 16:4, &c.; or -I recovered sight," as 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 bornblind, 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?