John 9:5
“While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
(a) The Light of the world and the Light of life and the Light of men and the True Light are all names for Jesus (John 1:4, 9, 8:12).
Adam’s fallen race lives in the valley of the shadow of death. Into this dark valley comes Jesus with the bright and shining revelation that God offers us a new life. When the Light of the world was hung on a cross, darkness covered the land like a shroud (Matt. 27:45).
(b) World. In context, the world (kosmos) refers to fallen humanity or the self-serving civilization which is under the influence of Satan and the powers of darkness (1 John 5:19).
John 9:28
They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
Disciple. A disciple is a student. The original noun mathētēs means “learner.” The word appears more than 200 times in the gospels, but nowhere in the New Testament epistles. Although Jesus referred to his followers as “disciples” and outlined strict conditions for discipleship (e.g., Luke 14:26–33), the epistle-writers never used the term. A Christian is so much more than a student. A Christian is a child of God and a co-heir with Christ (Rom. 8:15–17).
A disciple is a follower and where Christ is going (to the cross) no one can follow. You cannot pay for your sins or ransom yourself. Jesus outlines three impossible requirements for a disciple: (1) hate yourself and everyone in your family (Luke 14:26), (2) carry your own cross (Luke 14:27), and (3) give up all your possessions (Luke 14:33). These radical statements are usually dismissed as hyperbole: “Jesus doesn’t really want you to hate your parents.” A better interpretation is that Jesus is preaching a law that none of us can keep. His confrontational statements are intended to empty us of our self-reliance and bring us to a place of total surrender and dependence on the Lord. “God help me, I can’t do it.” And Jesus replies, “Trust me. I’ve got this.” See entry for Luke 14:26.
John 9:35
Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
(a) Do you believe. The chief takeaway of the new covenant is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (see entry for John 3:16).
(b) The Son of Man; see entry for Matt. 8:20.
John 9:39
And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
(a) For judgment I came into this world. Jesus did not come to judge the world (John 3:17), but those in the world will be judged by their response to Jesus.
The fallen world was under the devil’s thumb and captive to sin. But Jesus came and now we can be free. Jesus didn’t come to judge but to offer us a way out of captivity. We are the ones who judge. The original word for judgment means decision. How will we decide: the devil or the Deliverer? Will we remain in the prison or will we put our faith in Christ?
When Jesus returns in glory he will not judge anyone. He will simply separate those who have chosen him from those who have rejected him. (see entry for Matt. 10:15). The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people, but not all put their faith in him.
(b) Those who do not see are those who are ignorant of their sin and their need for salvation.
(c) Those who see are the self-righteous who think they have it altogether and have no need of God’s help.
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