ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

John 9.25

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

23. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. 24. So they called a second time the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give glory to God: we know that this man is a sinner.

25. He therefore answered, Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

  1. They said therefore unto him, What did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? 27. He answered them, I told you even now, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? would ye also become his disciples? (John 9:23-27, ASV)
WEB

23. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.” 24. So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

25. He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

  1. They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27. He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” (John 9:23-27, WEB)
KJV

23. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. 24. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

25. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

  1. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27. He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? (John 9:23-27, KJV)
YLT

23. because of this his parents said, 'He is of age, ask him.' 24. They called, therefore, a second time the man who was blind, and they said to him, 'Give glory to God, we have known that this man is a sinner;'

25. he answered, therefore, and said, 'If he be a sinner, I have not known, one thing I have known, that, being blind, now I see.'

  1. And they said to him again, 'What did he to thee? how did he open thine eyes?' 27. He answered them, 'I told you already, and ye did not hear; why again do ye wish to hear? do ye also wish to become his disciples?' (John 9:23-27, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the man born blind, under interrogation
  • Audience: the Pharisees conducting the inquiry
  • Location: Jerusalem, following the healing at the pool of Siloam
  • Time period: around the Feast of Tabernacles, during the Jerusalem ministry

Theological reading

The most quotable testimony in the New Testament, and the most misused. "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."

The structure is a careful refusal followed by a firm assertion. The man declines the theological question he has not been given grounds to answer, and holds the perceptual fact he has. That combination is the whole force of the verse: he is not claiming more than he knows, and he is not surrendering what he does.

Why the interrogation is the point. John 9 is the longest sustained cross-examination in the Gospels. The man is questioned by neighbors (verses 8 to 12), by the Pharisees (13 to 17), then his parents are questioned (18 to 23), then he is questioned again (24 to 34). The narrative goes out of its way to show the claim being tested by hostile parties who had every institutional motive to break it and who instead expel him. Whatever one concludes about the event, the text is not naive about verification; it stages it.

Against the misuse. The verse is often deployed to mean that personal experience settles questions that argument cannot, and that testimony needs no defense. That reading inverts the passage. The man's testimony is defended, at length, by argument: verses 30 to 33 contain a compact piece of reasoning from the premise that God does not hear sinners to the conclusion that this man must be from God. He does not say experience exempts him from arguing. He argues, and the argument is what gets him thrown out.

Apologetic use. Two solid uses. First, as a model of calibrated testimony: assert what you know, decline what you do not, and do not let the second be traded for the first. Second, in the perception cluster, as the biblical case where the fact at issue is a change in perceptual capacity itself and the dispute is over what follows from it, not over whether it occurred, since even the interrogators concede the man now sees.

Key words

  • oida (G1492), to know; used twice in the verse, once negated and once affirmed, structuring the whole reply.

  • hamartōlos (G0268), sinner; the theological category the man declines to adjudicate.

  • blepō (G0991), to see; the plain verb of the restored capacity.

  • typhlos (G5185), blind.

  • G1520 - heis, heis, Strong's G1520

  • G1492 - oida, oida, Strong's G1492

Cross-references

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.