John 9:22

9:22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ¹  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ²  to be the Christ ³  would be put out ⁴  of the synagogue. ⁵ 

John 9:34-35

9:34 They replied, ⁶  “You were born completely in sinfulness, ⁷  and yet you presume to teach us?” ⁸  So they threw him out.

The Man’s Response to Jesus

9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, so he found the man ⁹  and said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ¹⁰ 

[9:22]  ¹ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Twice in this verse the phrase refers to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. The second occurrence is shortened to “the Jewish leaders” for stylistic reasons. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish religious leaders” in v. 18.

[9:22]  ² tn Grk “confessed him.”

[9:22]  ³ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[9:22]  ⁴ tn Or “would be expelled from.”

[9:22]  ⁵ sn This reference to excommunication from the Jewish synagogue for those who had made some sort of confession about Jesus being the Messiah is dismissed as anachronistic by some (e.g., Barrett) and nonhistorical by others. In later Jewish practice there were at least two forms of excommunication: a temporary ban for thirty days, and a permanent ban. But whether these applied in NT times is far from certain. There is no substantial evidence for a formal ban on Christians until later than this Gospel could possibly have been written. This may be a reference to some form of excommunication adopted as a contingency to deal with those who were proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. If so, there is no other record of the procedure than here. It was probably local, limited to the area around Jerusalem. See also the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[9:34]  ⁶ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “They replied.”

[9:34]  ⁷ tn Or “From birth you have been evil.” The implication of this insult, in the context of John 9, is that the man whom Jesus caused to see had not previously adhered rigorously to all the conventional requirements of the OT law as interpreted by the Pharisees. Thus he had no right to instruct them about who Jesus was.

[9:34]  ⁸ tn Grk “and are you teaching us?”

[9:35]  ⁹ tn Grk “found him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:35]  ¹⁰ tc Although most witnesses (A L Θ Ψ 070 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) have θεοῦ (qeou, “of God”) instead of ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou, “of man”) here, the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D W sy^s) have ἀνθρώπου. Not only is the external evidence decidedly on the side of ἀνθρώπου, but it is difficult to see such early and diverse witnesses changing θεοῦ to ἀνθρώπου. The wording “Son of Man” is thus virtually certain.