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John 9:16

ESV Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
NIV Some of the Pharisees said, 'This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.' But others asked, 'How can a sinner perform such signs?' So they were divided.
NASB Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, 'This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.' But others were saying, 'How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?' And there was dissension among them.
CSB Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he doesn't keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a sinful man perform such signs? " And there was a division among them.
NLT Some of the Pharisees said, 'This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.' Others said, 'But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?' So there was a deep division of opinion among them.
KJV Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

What does John 9:16 mean?

Jesus' miracles are meant to prove that He is the Promised One—the Messiah. In the Old Testament, curing blindness is given as one such sign (Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; 42:7). Jesus has done just that, granting sight to a man who has been blind his entire life (John 9:1–7). Many in the crowd are shocked, even doubting whether or not the now-seeing beggar is the same person (John 9:8–9). Since this event is sensational, and occurred on a Sabbath day (John 9:14), the people bring the man to be interviewed by the Pharisees (John 9:15).

In Jesus' day, the Pharisees actually had a very positive reputation. They were extremely moral, living by a strict set of rules which had grown out of their traditions. Those traditions were aimed at "protecting" obedience to the law of Moses. In practice, however, the Pharisees treated those traditions as if they were equal to the actual Word of God. Not only did this result in a cold legalism, it led to the arrogance of an "us-versus-them" version of spirituality.

As a result, even when faced with a miracle, these men define right and wrong, and good and evil, according to whether or not the messenger agrees with their interpretations. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon problem even today. Many groups choose a particular "pet doctrine," such as a particular day of worship, or a translation of the Bible, and use that as the first test of truth. Those who disagree with that stance are immediately dismissed as sinners, heretics, or false prophets. In effect, this makes that tradition, or doctrine, the real "god" of that sect, blinding them even to miraculous evidence of the truth.
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