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Joh_9:35-36. The inner connection is formed, not by the thought that Jesus, when He had heard, etc., wished to confer on the man rich compensation (Chrysostom and several others); but, as the question πιστεύεις , etc., shows (thou believest on the Son of God? which presupposes an affirmative reply), Jesus heard of his being cast out, inferred therefrom that the man had confessed Him to be the Messiah, and therefore asked when He met him, etc. The conclusion which Jesus arrived at was substantially correct; for he who had been born blind had confessed regarding Him that He was παρὰ θεοῦ , although the man did not yet consciously associate with this more general predicate a definite reference to the Messiah. Lücke finds in πιστεύεις merely the inclination to believe; were this, however, its force, we must have had θέλεις πιστεύειν , or some other similar mode of expression. Like πιστεύω in Joh_9:38, πιστεύεις here also denotes actual faith, namely, in the manifested Messiah.
The words τὸν υἱὸν τ . θεοῦ [51] must be taken, not in their metaphysical (Olshausen, Ebrard), but simply in their theocratic signification (comp. Joh_1:50), as the man who had been born blind, to whose notions Jesus had to accommodate Himself, could and did only understand this at the time. That Jesus, however, on His side, and for Himself, entertained the higher view, must be taken for granted.
Joh_9:36. Surprised by this question, and quickly taking it as a point of connection, the man puts a counter-question, which was designed to show that he is unable as yet to believe in the Messiah, though ready to do so as soon as he shall know Him. With regard to καὶ τίς ἐστι , comp. Joh_14:22, and on Mar_10:26.
ἵνα ] Design of the inquiry, as in Joh_1:22.
[51] τ . υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (see the critical notes) Jesus could not have expected the blind man to understand, as included in this question.