The Blind Man & Inherited Sin from John 9

Sometimes I get obsessed about certain parts of scripture. A favorite of mine is John 9 where the blind man makes complete fools of Pharisees & the Jewish leaders. It is fun to read by replacing "Pharisee" with "megachurch pastor" and "Jews" (really Jewish leaders) with "self-righteous politician" for a good laugh. I describe the context of this passage which comes directly after a long passage in John 8 about how the Pharisees and Jewish leaders describe themselves as the children of Abraham and yet still oppose his message. They accuse him of being a Samaritan. They are constantly otherizing people. That’s what makes the story of the blind man so delicious because this humble man puts them in their place. I talk about this culture of exclusion, inherited sin, and the confusion the Jewish leaders have about themselves. This just shows the shallowness of their faith. Finally, I talk about how cause-and-effect language is injected into our Bible translations. John 9:3 might be a repudiation of the doctrine of Original Sin and the conjunction "so that" (hina in Greek) also conflicts with the idea of inherited sin. 

#John9 #childrenofabraham #pharisees #antisemitism #blindman #jesus #edmonds #edmondspres #pcusa