And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world; that they who see not, may see; and they who see, may become blind.

“After the Evangelist showed how the Jews cast out the blind man who persisted in the truth, here he shows how Jesus received him and instructed him. And first Christ's instruction is set forth; second, the blind man's devotion, at the words "And he said: I believe, Lord"; third, the commendation of his devotion, at the words "Jesus said to him: For judgment I have come into this world." Concerning the first he does three things. First he sets forth Christ's zeal to instruct; second, the blind man's desire to believe, at the words "He answered and said: Who is he, Lord?"; third, the teaching of faith to bring it to completion, at the words "Jesus said to him: You have both seen him." Now Christ's zeal to instruct is described from three things. First, from his diligent consideration of the things that were being done concerning the blind man. For just as a prince diligently considers the things which his athlete suffers on his behalf, so too Christ diligently attended to the things which the blind man was suffering for the truth and for the confession of him. And therefore he says that Jesus heard — that is, diligently attended — that the Pharisees had cast him out, namely, out of the temple; Jeremiah 18:19: "Attend, O Lord, to me, and to the voices of my adversaries." Second, from his diligent seeking; hence he adds: "And when he had found him, he said to him," and so on. For that is said to be found which is diligently sought; Luke 15:8: "She seeks diligently until she finds it." From which it appears that Christ sought him alone, because in him alone he found more of faith than in all the others. Hence it is gathered that one just man is loved more by God than ten thousand sinners; Isaiah 13:12: "A man shall be more precious than gold, and man than the purest gold." And in Genesis 17, the Lord was willing to spare Sodom for the sake of ten just men. Third, from his earnest questioning; hence he said to him: "Do you believe in the Son of God?" This blind man bore the type of those about to be baptized. Hence too the custom grew up in the Church that those about to be baptized are questioned concerning the faith; 1 Peter 3:21: "Baptism... saves us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the inquiry of a good conscience toward God." Now in questioning about faith he does not say, "Do you believe in Christ?" but "in the Son of God"; because, as Hilary says, it was to come to pass that some would confess Christ, and yet deny that he was the Son of God and God — which Arius afterward devised. Hence by this his error is manifestly excluded. For if Christ were not God, one ought not to believe in him, since God alone is the object of faith, which rests in the first truth. Hence too he says pointedly, "in the Son": for I can indeed believe some creature, for instance Peter and Paul; yet not believe in Peter, but in God alone as the object. Hence it is clear that the Son of God is not a creature; John 14:1: "You believe in God, believe also in me." Here the blind man's desire to believe is set down. Now it must be known concerning this, that this blind man had not yet seen Christ bodily: for when Christ anointed his eyes and sent him to the pool of Siloam, he had not yet seen him; and before he could return to him, after he had washed and seen, he was detained by the Pharisees and the Jews. But although he had not seen him bodily, he nevertheless believed that the one who had opened his eyes was the Son of God. And therefore he breaks out into the words of a soul desiring and earnestly inquiring, saying: "Who is he, Lord?" — namely, the Son of God who opened my eyes — "that I may believe in him?" From which it appears here that he knew him in part, and was ignorant of him in part. For if he had not known him, he would not have argued so constantly on his behalf; and if he had not been ignorant, he certainly would not have said, "Who is he, Lord?" Isaiah 26:9: "My soul has desired you in the night" — namely, of ignorance. But because, as is said in Wisdom 6:14: "she" — that is, wisdom — "anticipates those who desire her," therefore she shows herself to the blind man who desires her, when he says: "You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you" — in which is set down the teaching of faith, by which Christ instructs him. And first he reminds him of the benefit he has received, saying "and you have seen him" — namely, bodily, you who before saw nothing. As if to say: from him you have received the power of seeing; Luke 10:23: "Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see"; and Luke 2:29-30: "Now you dismiss your servant, Lord... for my eyes have seen your salvation." Second, the teaching is set down when he says: "and he who speaks with you, it is he"; Hebrews 1:2: "In these last days he has spoken to us in his Son." From these words, therefore, the error of Nestorius is refuted, who said that there is one supposit in Christ of the Son of God, and another of the son of man. For the one who was speaking was born of Mary, and was the son of man; and that very same one who speaks is the Son of God, as the Lord says. There is not, therefore, one and another, although the nature of each is not the same. Consequently, when he says "And he said: I believe, Lord," the devotion of faith in the blind man is set down. And first, the faith which he believes with the heart, he confesses with the mouth, saying "I believe, Lord"; Romans 10:10: "With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Second, he professes it in deed; hence, falling down, he worshiped him — by which he shows that he believes in his divine nature, because with conscience cleansed he recognizes him to be not only the son of man, which appeared outwardly, but the Son of God, who had taken on flesh: for worship is owed to God alone; Deuteronomy 6:13: "You shall worship the Lord your God." Consequently, when he says "And Jesus said to him," etc., the blind man's devotion is commended; and first the commendation of the blind man's devotion is set down; second, the murmuring of the Jews, at the words "Some of the Pharisees heard"; third, the refutation of those murmuring, at the words "Jesus said to them: If you were blind, you would not have sin." Now the blind man is commended from the illumination of faith; hence he says: "For judgment I have come into this world." An objection: above, 3:17: "For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world," and so on. I respond: there he speaks of the judgment of condemnation, of which it is said above, 5:29: "Those who have done evil shall go into the resurrection of judgment" — that is, of condemnation; unto which God did not send his Son in his first coming, but rather to save. But here he speaks of the judgment of discernment, of which it is said in Psalm 42:1: "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause," and so on. For he came for this, that he might discern the good from the evil; and the following words show this, namely: "that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." For according to Augustine, those do not see who think themselves to see, while those who think themselves not to see, do see. Now men are called blind spiritually insofar as they have sins; Wisdom 2:21: "Their own malice has blinded them." He, therefore, thinks himself to see, who does not recognize his own sins; but he thinks himself not to see, who recognizes himself a sinner. The first is proper to the proud; the second, to the humble. The sense, therefore, is: "I have come for judgment, that those who do not see may see" — that I may discern the humble from the proud. For he was a day discerning between light and darkness, namely so that the humble — who do not see, that is, who think themselves sinners — may see, illumined through faith; and those who see, that is, the proud, may become blind, that is, may remain in darkness. According to Chrysostom, it is expounded of the judgment of condemnation, yet in such a way that what he says, "For judgment I have come into this world," is not to be taken causally, but consequentially; as if he were to say: by my coming into the world, it has followed in certain persons that judgment of condemnation, insofar as in some the cause of condemnation grew greater. A like thing is said in Luke 2:34: "Behold, he is set for the fall and for the rising of many" — not that he himself is the cause of the fall, but because this follows from his coming. And it is added: "that those who do not see" — namely, the Gentiles, lacking the light of divine knowledge — "may see," that is, may be admitted to the knowledge of God; Isaiah 9:2: "The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light"; "and those who see" — namely, the Jews, having the knowledge of God, Psalm 75:2: "God is known in Judea" — "may become blind," that is, may fall away from that very knowledge of God. And this the Apostle expressly touches on, Romans 9:30: "The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have laid hold of righteousness." Here the murmuring of the Jews is set down: for since they understood the Lord's words in a carnal manner, seeing the blind man bodily illumined, and understanding that the Lord was commending in him only the light of the face and not of the mind, they believed likewise that he was threatening them with bodily blindness, and reproaching them, when he said "may become blind"; and therefore he says that certain of the Pharisees who were with him heard the aforesaid words. Now he says "who were with him" in order to show their instability: because at times they are with him on account of certain miracles which they see, yet nevertheless they withdraw from him when the truth is opened to them; Luke 8:13: "They believe for a while, and in time of temptation they fall away." And they said to him: "Are we also blind?" — namely, bodily; although they were blind spiritually; Matthew 15:14: "Let them be: they are blind, and leaders of the blind." Here the refutation of the Jews is set down; where, according to the exposition of Augustine, the intention of the preceding words is made manifest, namely so that it may be shown of which blindness the Lord speaks — that it is of the spiritual. He says, therefore: "If you were blind" — that is, if you accounted yourselves blind, recognizing through humility your sin — "you would not have sin," because you would run to the remedy. For sin is remitted through grace, which is given only to the humble; James 4:6: "But to the humble he gives grace." "But now you say, We see" — that is, proudly thinking yourselves to see, you do not recognize yourselves as sinners. "Your sin remains" — that is, is not remitted; James 4:6: "God resists the proud." According to Chrysostom, it is expounded of bodily blindness, so that the sense is: "If you were blind" bodily, "you would not have sin" on account of your being blind, because, since it is a bodily defect, it does not have the character of sin. "But now, because you say, We see," your sin is the more convicted; because, seeing with your bodily eyes the miracles which I do, you do not believe me; Isaiah 6:10: "Blind the heart of this people." Or otherwise: "if you were blind," that is, ignorant of the judgments of God and of the sacraments of the law, "you would not have sin" — supply: to such a degree. As if to say: if you sinned out of ignorance, your sin would not be so grave. "But now, because you say, We see" — that is, you arrogate to yourselves the knowledge of the law and the knowledge of God, and yet you sin — therefore "your sin remains," that is, is aggravated; Luke 12:47: "The servant who knew the will of his lord, and did not act according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."”

“Christ, having spoken comfort to the poor man that was persecuted, here speaks conviction to his persecutors, a specimen of the distributions of trouble and rest at the great day, Th2 1:6, Th2 1:7. Probably this was not immediately after his discourse with the man, but he took the next opportunity that offered itself to address the Pharisees. Here is, I. The account Christ gives of his design in coming into the world (Joh 9:39): "For judgment I am come to order and administer the great affairs of the kingdom of God among men, and am invested with a judicial power in order thereunto, to be executed in conformity to the wise counsels of God, and in pursuance of them." What Christ spoke, he spoke not as a preacher in the pulpit, but as a king upon the throne, and a judge upon the bench. 1. His business into the world was great; he came to keep the assizes and general goal - delivery. He came for judgment, that is, (1.) To preach a doctrine and a law which would try men, and effectually discover and distinguish them, and would be completely fitted, in all respects, to be the rule of government now and of judgment shortly. (2.) To put a difference between men, by revealing the thoughts of many hearts, and laying open men's true characters, by this one test, whether they were well or ill affected to him. (3.) To change the face of government in his church, to abolish the Jewish economy, to take down that fabric, which, though erected for the time by the hand of God himself, yet by lapse of time was antiquated, and by the incurable corruptions of the managers of it was become rotten and dangerous, and to erect a new building by another model, to institute new ordinances and offices, to abrogate Judaism and enact Christianity; for this judgment he came into the world, and it was a great revolution. 2. This great truth he explains by a metaphor borrowed from the miracle which he had lately wrought. That those who see not might see, and that those who see might be made blind. Such a difference of Christ's coming is often spoken of; to some his gospel is a savour of life unto life, to others of death unto death. (1.) This is applicable to nations and people, that the Gentiles, who had long been destitute of the light of divine revelation, might see it; and the Jews, who had long enjoyed it, might have the things of their peace hid from their eyes, Hos 1:10; Hos 2:23. The Gentiles see a great light, while blindness is happened unto Israel, and their eyes are darkened. (2.) To particular sons. Christ came into the world, [1.] Intentionally and designedly to give sight to those that were spiritually blind; by his word to reveal the object, and by his Spirit to heal the organ, that many precious souls might be turned from darkness to light. He came for judgment, that is, to set those at liberty from their dark prison that were willing to be released, Isa 61:1. [2.] Eventually, and in the issue, that those who see might be made blind; that those who have a high conceit of their own wisdom, and set up that in contradiction to divine revelation, might be sealed up in ignorance and infidelity. The preaching of the cross was foolishness, and an infatuating think, to those who by wisdom knew not God. Christ came into the world for this judgment, to administer the affairs of a spiritual kingdom, seated in men's minds. Whereas, in the Jewish church, the blessings and judgments of God's government were mostly temporal, now the method of administration should be changed; and as the good subjects of his kingdom should be blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly things, such as arise from a due illumination of the mind, so the rebels should be punished with spiritual plagues, not war, famine, and pestilence, as formerly, but such as arise from a judicial infatuation, hardness of heart, terror of conscience, strong delusions, vile affections. In this way Christ will judge between cattle and cattle, Eze 34:17, Eze 34:22. II. The Pharisees' cavil at this. They were with him, not desirous to learn any good from him, but to form evil against him; and they said, Are we blind also? When Christ said that those who saw should by his coming be made blind, they apprehended that he meant them, who were the seers of the people, and valued themselves on their insight and foresight. "Now," say they, "we know that the common people are blind; but are we blind also? What we? The rabbin, the doctors, the learned in the laws, the graduates in the schools, are we blind too?" This is scandalum magnatum - a libel on the great. Note, Frequently those that need reproof most, and deserve it best, though they have wit enough to discern a tacit one, have not grace enough to bear a just one. These Pharisees took this reproof for a reproach, as those lawyers (Luk 11:45): "Are we blind also? Darest thou say that we are blind, whose judgment every one has such a veneration for, values, and yields to?" Note, Nothing fortifies men's corrupt hearts more against the convictions of the word, nor more effectually repels them, than the good opinion, especially if it be a high opinion, which others have of them; as if all that had gained applause with men must needs obtain acceptance with God, than which nothing is more false and deceitful, for God sees not as man sees. III. Christ's answer to this cavil, which, if it did not convince them, yet silenced them: If you were blind you should have no sin; but now you say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth. They gloried that they were not blind, as the common people, were not so credulous and manageable as they, but would see with their own eyes, having abilities, as they thought, sufficient for their own guidance, so that they needed not any body to lead them. This very thing which they gloried in, Christ here tells them, was their shame and ruin. For, 1. If you were blind, you would have no sin. (1.) "If you had been really ignorant, your sin had not been so deeply aggravated, nor would you have had so much sin to answer for as now you have. If you were blind, as the poor Gentiles are, and many of your own poor subjects, from whom you have taken the key of knowledge, you would have had comparatively no sin." The times of ignorance God winked at; invincible ignorance, though it does not justify sin, excuses it, and lessens the guilt. It will be more tolerable with those that perish for lack of vision than with those that rebel against the light. (2.) "If you had been sensible of your own blindness, if when you would see nothing else you could have seen the need of one to lead you, you would soon have accepted Christ as your guide, and then you would have had no sin, you would have submitted to an evangelical righteousness, and have been put into a justified state." Note, Those that are convinced of their disease are in a fair way to be cured, for there is not a greater hindrance to the salvation of souls than self-sufficiency. 2. "But now you say, We see; now that you have knowledge, and are instructed out of the law, your sin is highly aggravated; and now that you have a conceit of that knowledge, and think you see your way better than any body can show it you, therefore your sin remains, your case is desperate, and your disease incurable." And as those are most blind who will not see, so their blindness is most dangerous who fancy they do see. No patients are so hardly managed as those in a frenzy who say that they are well, and nothing ails them. The sin of those who are self-conceited and self-confident remains, for they reject the gospel of grace, and therefore the guilt of their sin remains unpardoned; and they forfeit the Spirit of grace, and therefore the power of their sin remains unbroken. Seest thou a wise man in his own conceit? Hearest thou the Pharisees say, We see? There is more hope of a fool, of a publican and a harlot, than of such.”

“And some of the Pharisees which were with him,.... Who had followed him, and were watching him, and observing what he said and did, in order to take all advantages, and every opportunity against him, they could, heard these words, and said unto him, are we blind also? they perceived he pointed at them, and therefore with indignation ask this question, taking it as a great affront unto them, to put such wise, learned, and knowing men as they in company with the ignorant and unlearned common people; see Isa 42:19.”

“For judgment I am come - I am come to manifest and execute the just judgment of God: 1. By giving sight to the blind, and light to the Gentiles who sit in darkness. 2. By removing the true light from those who, pretending to make a proper use of it, only abuse the mercy of God. In a word, salvation shall be taken away from the Jews, because they reject it; and the kingdom of God shall be given to the Gentiles.”

“For judgment I am come into this world. Christ said (chap. iii. 17.) that God did not send his Son to judge the world: the same he repeats; (John xii. 47.) nor is this contradictory to those words: the meaning here is not that he is come to exercise the office of a judge, but he tells them what will be the consequences of his coming, and their refusing to believe in him, that they shall be justly punished with the greatest severity for their wilful blindness. (Witham) — Jesus Christ came into the world that the pagans, who were yet in darkness, might receive light, and that the Jews, who enjoyed the light, might fall into darkness. The Jews were thus condemned, on account of their presumption and hardness of heart, and grace was granted to the Gentiles to enter into the true Church. These are the designs of the Almighty upon mankind, some of whom remain in infidelity, whilst others receive the light of faith; but all is done by the secret and impenetrable decrees of the justice and wisdom of God. The Holy Ghost, by these words, tells us only what was to be the event, not what was the cause of these things. We must seek for the cause of them in the malice of the heart of man, and in the depth of the judgments of God. (Calmet) — I am come, &c.Not that Christ came for that end, that any one should be made blind; but that the Jews, by the abuse of his coming, and by their not receiving him, brought upon themselves this judgment of blindness. (Challoner)”

“The manifestation of Christ in the flesh is to some the occasion of corporal sight, and to many of spiritual illumination ; to others it serves as an occasion of hlindness. By a just judgment those who see — who have opportunities of knowledge — become blind, through pride and prejudice. He discriminates the case of believers, who acknowledge their blindness, from that of the proud, who imagine that they see, and therefore are the more blinded. St. Augustin.”

“Jesus said--perhaps at the same time, but after a crowd, including some of the skeptical and scornful rulers, had, on seeing Jesus talking with the healed youth, hastened to the spot. that they which see not might see, &c.--rising to that sight of which the natural vision communicated to the youth was but the symbol. (See on Joh 9:5, and compare Luk 4:18). that they which see might be made blind--judicially incapable of apprehending and receiving the truth, to which they have wilfully shut their eyes.”