John 9:35-41

Spiritual Blindness

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."

Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."

Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

However, I could be absolutely wrong, so I'm wondering what some other people think about this.

Originally posted by FeceMan
Interesting. To me, it seems as though this is an answer to all those cries of "zomg unfair" about God's purposely keeping some people from knowing Him and thus their apparent lack of salvation.

However, I could be absolutely wrong, so I'm wondering what some other people think about this.

I don't really think that's the implication though. I think its more or less that God(or Jesus) is attempting to convict them with presenting truth before them, so they can't really have an excuse to say they didn't know the truth later on, or claim that they were blind to what their sinful actions were.

The Pharisees were using the knowledge and status that God had given them for themselves and not to glorify him, so that's why they were spiritually blind. But when Jesus revealed this sin to them, they were no longer blind - since their sins had been presented before them.

The plight of the Pharisees is actually an extremely sad one, as we are all guilty at times of that same spiritual blindness, and that same pride that caused them not to want to repent of their sins.

I often times ask myself the question, if Jesus were to come to me today, and say - you're a sinner, and you're prideful in everything you do, would I gracefully accept his loving rebuke and repent, or would I possess the same pride as the Pharisees?

So that's why it's extremely important for Christians to recognize what sin is, and what type of sin it is they've commited before God. It's also equally important that we pray for God to soften our hearts once sin has been presented before us, so we can repent of these behaviors, ideas, or attitudes.