John 1:29

1:29 On the next day John ¹  saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God ²  who takes away the sin of the world!

John 9:19

9:19 They asked the parents, ³  “Is this your son, whom you say ⁴  was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

John 9:25

9:25 He replied, ⁵  “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing – that although I was blind, now I can see.”

John 9:41

9:41 Jesus replied, ⁶  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ⁷  but now because you claim that you can see, ⁸  your guilt ⁹  remains.” ¹⁰ 

[1:29]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:29]  ² sn Gen 22:8 is an important passage in the background of the title Lamb of God as applied to Jesus. In Jewish thought this was held to be a supremely important sacrifice. G. Vermès stated: “For the Palestinian Jew, all lamb sacrifice, and especially the Passover lamb and the Tamid offering, was a memorial of the Akedah with its effects of deliverance, forgiveness of sin and messianic salvation” (Scripture and Tradition in Judaism [StPB], 225).

[9:19]  ³ tn Grk “and they asked them, saying”; the referent (the parents) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:19]  ⁴ tn The Greek pronoun and verb are both plural (both parents are addressed).

[9:25]  ⁵ tn Grk “Then that one answered.”

[9:41]  ⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ⁸ tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ⁹ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ¹⁰ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ¹¹ sn Because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. The blind man received sight physically, and this led him to see spiritually as well. But the Pharisees, who claimed to possess spiritual sight, were spiritually blinded. The reader might recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in 3:10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and don’t understand these things?” In other words, to receive Jesus was to receive the light of the world, to reject him was to reject the light, close one’s eyes, and become blind. This is the serious sin of which Jesus had warned before (8:21-24). The blindness of such people was incurable since they had rejected the only cure that exists (cf. 12:39-41).