What Does It Mean to Be "Spiritually Blind"?
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Spiritual blindness is being unable to see the truth of God through Jesus. We are all born into a state of blindness because of our sin. Ever since Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, every generation and every human being has been born spiritually blind and are spiritually dead in their sin. Our human, sin-soaked nature permeates us to the very heart, blinding our eyes and leaving us in utter darkness. We cannot do anything to change our condition within ourselves or before God.
Just like being “dead in sin” before we come to know Jesus (Ephesians 2:1), we are “spiritually blind” before God opens our eyes to spiritual truths. We are blind to the things of the Spirit – we are unable to perceive them. It is Christ who is the “light of the world” (John 8:12) and He opens our eyes to the truth of who He is. In John 1:1-5 it says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Jesus is the Word of God and has been with the Father in the joy of the Holy Spirit from the beginning. They have always been together in this relational love between Father, Son and Spirit. In Jesus we can find true life, and His life is the light of all humanity. Even the thickest darkness cannot overcome His light.
The Universal Human Problem
Before Jesus, no one had ever seen God the Father. Nevertheless, Jesus being God the Father’s one and only Son, who is himself God, has made him known to us (John 1:18). When we come to know Jesus, we see what God is truly like. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father’s likeness as it says in Hebrews 1:3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
When Jesus came into the world that He had created, the world did not recognize Him (John 1:10). His own people, the Jews, did not see that He was the promised Messiah, and eventually the Gentiles would not recognize Him either. People loved the darkness more than the light, even though Jesus, the light of the world, had come to them (John 3:19). Although the light of the world was amongst them, spiritually blind men and women could not see Jesus for who He was. Even Jesus’s own family at a time believed He was “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).
Those who are spiritually blind cannot see the truth of God. Even those who are religious can be spiritually blind. The spiritual leaders of the day were spiritually blind when they ought to have understood, like Jesus telling Nicodemus the Pharisee that he must be born again, yet Nicodemus did not understand this teaching (John 3:1-21). Jesus also spoke with the Pharisees after He healed a man who had been born blind (John 9). It was the man who was born blind who spoke truthfully about Jesus; he knew that he was blind but now he could see (John 9:25). In contrast, the Pharisees thought they had their eyes opened, but they were spiritually blind to the truth of Jesus. Jesus said “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:41).
Those who were experts in religious law and who prided themselves on their knowledge, were self-righteous, hypocritical and did not see the prophecies about the promised Messiah being unveiled before their very eyes. The religious leaders would eventually be the ones to lead the crucifixion of Jesus. They were spiritually blinded, and their sin left them in darkness, unable to see the true light of Christ.
The Darkness and the Light That Overcomes It
Satan is behind blinding the minds of those who are alienated from God. He was there in Eden when he tempted the first man and woman to distrust the God who gave them life and who walked with them in close relationship daily. The enemy of God “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
However, Satan does not have the final word. The Word of God, Jesus, has the final word when He said “it is finished” (John 19:30), as He gave up His last breath, dying on the cross and atoning for the sins of His people once and for all. Because of the cross of Christ, there is hope. Because of Jesus, there is light in this dark and present evil age.
Since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has enabled those who are born again to discern spiritual truth. Believers can be transformed with renewed minds, being able to discern God's good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2). However, those who are dead in sin and unbelief remain spiritually blind. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 it says, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” The minds of unbelievers are in darkness and they cannot see the wisdom of God, but rather follow the patterns and powers of this world.
How the Spiritually Blind Can See
Jesus came and opened physical and spiritually blind eyes. He said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (John 9:39). He was prophesied to be a light and one who would open blind eyes. As it is written in Isaiah 42:6-7:
“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”
We read about the truth of who Jesus is and what He did in the Bible. When we hear the truth of Christ through Scripture, we can respond in faith as “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). As we turn to Christ, the Holy Spirit works upon our hearts and changes us to be more like Jesus. We are saved by faith alone. It is God’s grace to us that saves and opens our eyes. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”
If we know what it is like to have our eyes opened to the truth of the gospel, we have truly tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). It would be folly to live life blindfolded when we have seen everything clearly. Jesus is the light that penetrates the darkness, and His light enables us to see everything clearly in light of Him. Why would we continue living our lives in the dark without Jesus once we know the truth?
The Apostle Paul, who walked in spiritual darkness before his conversion, is an example of being flooded with the light of Christ. He was zealous for the traditions and laws of his religion, and went out of his way to persecute any followers of Jesus. Yet, Jesus spoke to him and physically blinded him so he had to be led by the hand. During this time of physical blindness, his spiritual eyes were opened. Scales fell from his eyes and he could see once again (Acts 9:18). The transformation of the Pharisee Saul to the follower of Jesus we know as the Apostle Paul, was the beginning of the spread of the gospel across the world.
Paul shared the story of his conversion before King Agrippa and how Jesus had called him: “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18). Paul’s spiritually blind eyes were opened by Jesus, who used his physical blindness as an opportunity to speak to him so that he would turn others from darkness to light.
Continuing to Walk in the Light of Christ
As Christians, where is our vision directed? Jesus describes our eyes as a lamp of the body and if our eyes are healthy, then our whole body will be full of light (Matthew 6:22). In contrast, if our eyes are bad, our whole body will be full of darkness. We need to fix our eyes upon Jesus with clear, direct, and eternal vision. With the word of God as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, we can know our direction is secure (Psalm 119:105). As Helen Howarth Lemmel writes in her hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” (also known as “The Heavenly Vision”):
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Keeping our eyes fixed on the true light of the world, we can sing praise to the one who has opened our spiritually blind eyes. We join in with John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” with a thankful heart, that I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see. We pray in song to God with the powerful truth from the hymn “Be Thou My Vision:”
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art; be Thou my best thought in the day and the night, both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Let us stay awake and alert, following our Savior and wholeheartedly trusting in Him. As Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). May our eyes be opened, our hearts softened and our faith firm in the One who opens blind eyes to see Him clearly in all His fullness, glory and splendor.
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