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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_9:24-34
24So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner." 25He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." 26So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 27He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?" 28They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from." 30The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 32Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 33If this man were not from God, He could do nothing." 34They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out.
Joh_9:24 "Give glory to God" This was a formula of oath-taking to insure truthfulness (cf. Jos_7:19).
Joh_9:25 This answer must refer to Joh_9:16. The man does not want to argue theology, but he asserts the results of his meeting Jesus.
Joh_9:27 "You do not want to become His disciples too, do you" The Greek grammatical form expects a "no" answer, but the very asking of the question was sharp irony and shows the wit of this blind beggar.
Joh_9:28 a "You are His disciple" There is a real question as to what point in this chapter the man became a believer. It seems initially that Jesus' healing was not connected with this man's faith in Him as the Messiah; only later did Jesus confront him with His Messianic claims (cf. Joh_9:36-38). This episode shows that physical healing did not necessarily bring salvation.
Joh_9:28-29 This shows the difficulty that the religious leaders faced. They tried to equate the detailed, specific interpretations of the Oral Tradition (Talmud) with the inspired revelation to Moses. Their eyes were blinded by their theological prejudices (cf. Mat_6:23). They were disciples of human traditions (cf. Isa_29:13).
Joh_9:29 "we do not know where He is from" This is another example of John's irony (cf. Joh_7:27-28; Joh_8:14). Jesus had come from the Father (cf. Joh_8:42; Joh_13:3; Joh_16:28) but in their blindness the disciples did not know
1. His origin
2. His birth place
Joh_9:30 "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes" This is another example of the sharp wit and biting irony of this blind beggar as he refutes the logic of the Pharisees.
Joh_9:31-33 This uneducated blind man had better, more consistent theology then the religious leaders!
Joh_9:33 "If" This is a second class conditional sentence which is called "contrary to fact." It should be understood as, "If this man had not come from God, which He did, then He could not have done anything like this, but He did."
Joh_9:34 "You were born entirely in sins" It is interesting to note that rabbinical Judaism has no concept of "original sin" (cf. Job_14:1; Job_14:4; Psa_51:5). The fall of Genesis 3 was not emphasized in rabbinical Judaism. The Jews asserted that there was a good and bad intent (yetzer) in every man. These Pharisees were asserting that this healed man's testimony and logic were invalid because obviously he was a sinner evidenced by being born blind.
▣ "they put him out" This is literally "they cast him outside." The reference is to (1) membership and attendance in the local synagogue or (2) dismissal from the meeting. In context #2 seems best.