John 9:19

19 They asked them, "Is this your son, [the one] you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

John 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

John 9:19

And they asked them, saying, is this your son
The first question they put was, whether the man that stood before them, pointing to him, was their son or not; whether they knew him by any marks to be their son, and would own him as such: had they answered to this in the negative, they would have got an advantage against him, and would have convicted him of a lie, since he had given out that he was the son of such parents; and proving such a lie upon him, would at once have brought the whole affair into suspicion at least: they add,

who ye say was born blind;
this contains a second question, whether, if this was their son, he was born blind or not; and if he was not born blind, though he had been blind, it would have greatly lessened the miracle: and besides, they would have put other questions upon this, whether his blindness was real, and by what means it came. Next follows a third question,

how then doth he now see?
By what means has he received his sight? They might hope, that if he was their son, and was really born blind, that he had his sight some other way than by Jesus; or they might object this to his being born, blind, as being a thing impossible, or at least not credible that he should ever see, was that the case.

John 9:19 In-Context

17 Again they asked the blind man, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" "He's a prophet," he said.

18 The Jews did not believe this about him-that he was blind and received sight-until they summoned the parents of the one who had received his sight.

19 They asked them, "Is this your son, [the one] you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

20 "We know this is our son and that he was born blind," his parents answered.

21 "But we don't know how he now sees, and we don't know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he's of age. He will speak for himself."