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Joh_9:37-38. Καὶ … καὶ ] thou hast actually seen Him, and, etc. Comp. on Joh_6:36. The substantial meaning of the second clause is: and hearest Him speak with thee; but it has a more concrete and lively turn.
ἑώρακας ] refers to the present interview, not to a former one; for he had not seen Jesus whilst the act of healing was being performed, and he had not returned to Him from Siloam (see on Joh_9:7). The use of the perf. as the present, of completed action (thou hast a view of Him), need not surprise (Bernhardy, p. 378).
ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ] ἐκεῖνος is not predicate (Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschrift, 1859, p. 416); but, as John’s very favourite manner is, subject, demonstratively comprehending the foregoing participial designation of the same, as in Joh_1:18; Joh_1:33, Joh_5:11. Comp. 2Co_10:18. So also in the Classics, although they more frequently use οὗτος in this way (see Krüger on Thuc. 2. 15. 4). The connection alone, then, shows whether the person intended is some one else, or, as in this case, and in Joh_9:35, the speaker himself, who presents himself objectively as a third person, and thus introduces himself to the individual addressed with special emphasis. At the same time, the force of ἐκεῖνος is not thus transformed into that of idem or ipse.[52]
κύριε ] “jam augustiore sensu ita dicit, quam dixerat,” Joh_9:36, Bengel.
προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ ] John uses προσκυνεῖν solely of divine worship, Joh_4:20 ff., Joh_12:20. The man was seized by the feeling—as yet indeed vague and indistinct—of the divine δόξα , the bearer of which, the Messiah, the object of his newly awakened faith and confession, stands before him. The higher conception of ὁ υἱὸς τ . θεοῦ has struck him.
[52] In relation to the erroneous assertion that ἐκεῖνος in Joh_19:35 betrays an author different from the Apostle John (see on the passage), the Johannine use of the word was discussed at length by Steitz in d. Stud. u. Krit. 1859, p. 497 ff.; Buttmann in the same journal for 1860, p. 505 ff.; and then again by Steitz in the Stud. u. Krit. for 1861, p. 368 ff. These controversial discussions (see, finally, Steitz in Hilgenfeld’s ZeitsChr. 1862, p. 264 ff.) were in so far unnecessary, as the use of ἐκεῖνος in John does not deviate from the genuine Greek usage; and as the context of Joh_19:35 shows, as clearly as that of the present passage that the person who speaks is pointed to, being presented objectively as though he were a third person.