Passage

John 9.3

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2. And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?

3. Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5. When I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:1-5, ASV)

WEB

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3. Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.

I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1-5, WEB)

KJV

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:1-5, KJV)

YLT

And passing by, he saw a man blind from birth, 2. and his disciples asked him, saying, 'Rabbi, who did sin, this one or his parents, that he should be born blind?'

3. Jesus answered, 'Neither did this one sin nor his parents, but that the works of God may be manifested in him;

it behoveth me to be working the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night doth come, when no one is able to work: 5. when I am in the world, I am a light of the world.' (John 9:1-5, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, answering his disciples
Audience: the disciples, who had asked whose sin caused the man's blindness (9:2), with the man born blind present
Location: Jerusalem, near the temple (8:59; 9:1), not far from the pool of Siloam (9:7)
Time period: c. AD 29 or 30, most likely during or soon after the Feast of Tabernacles of John 7-8; the healing fell on a sabbath (9:14)

Theological reading

"Jesus answered, Neither did this man sin, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." The disciples' question (9:2) assumed that a man blind "from his birth" (9:1) must be paying for someone's sin, either his parents' or his own. Jesus rejects both options.

The disciples' premise. Behind the question is a familiar line of reasoning: suffering is the visible sign of hidden guilt. Job's friends reasoned the same way, and God said they had "not spoken of me the thing that is right" (Job 42:7). Because the man was blind from birth, the option "this man sinned" raises the question of sin before birth. Some writers in the Karma and Reincarnation traditions take the question as evidence that the disciples believed in previous lives. The text does not say where the disciples thought such sin could have come from, and Jesus does not take up the theory. He denies the conclusion: neither the man nor his parents "sinned" (Strong's G264) to bring it about.

Cause turned into purpose. Jesus moves the question from cause to purpose: "that the works (G2041) of God (G2316) should be made manifest (G5319) in him." The next verses show what that means. "We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day" (9:4); "I am the light of the world" (9:5); and the man is sent to wash and comes back seeing (9:6-7). The blindness becomes the place where God's work is seen.

What the verse does not say. It does not teach that suffering never has anything to do with sin; Jesus warned another man he had healed, "sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee" (5:14). Nor does it explain all suffering. It denies that this man's condition could be read as a record of his own or his parents' guilt, and the chapter ends by turning the charge of blindness on those who claimed to see (9:39-41). Compare Luke 13:1-5, where Jesus also refuses to read disaster as proof of greater guilt.

Against karma. That is why the verse matters in Hinduism vs the Christian God and New Age Spirituality vs the Christian God. A strict law of karma has to explain a child born blind by that child's own past deeds. Asked the question directly, Jesus refused that explanation. See also Problem of Evil.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Jesus Said, via John 9
Pool of Siloam, via John 9.1-12

Notes

Your annotations.

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.