John 9:9

9 Some said, "He is the one," but others said, "No, he only looks like him." The man himself said, "I am the man."

John 9:9 Meaning and Commentary

John 9:9

Some said, this is he
It is the same man that was blind, and begged:

others [said];
in one of Beza's copies it is added "no", and so read the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; though they owned and said,

he is like him.
This discourse of the neighbours concerning the blind man restored to sight, resembles the talk that generally is among relations, acquaintance, and neighbours, when anyone belonging to them is called by grace, and converted, saying, what is come to such an one? is he mad or melancholy? he is not the man he was: he is scarcely the same; is it he, or another? what is the matter with him?

[but] he said, I am [he];
and so put an end to the dispute between them, by his frank acknowledgment that he was the blind man, and the beggar they before knew as such: so persons enlightened by the Spirit of God, and effectually called by his grace, are very free and ready to acknowledge what they were before conversion, what poor, blind, and miserable, and contemptible creatures they were: Matthew owns himself to have been a publican; and Paul confesses he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an injurious person, and the chief of sinners.

John 9:9 In-Context

7 Then he told the man, "Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam." (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.

8 The neighbors and some people who had earlier seen this man begging said, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?"

9 Some said, "He is the one," but others said, "No, he only looks like him." The man himself said, "I am the man."

10 They asked, "How did you get your sight?"

11 He answered, "The man named Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see."