ACC ~ John 9 v2

WHY THE DISCIPLES ASK

CHRYSOSTOM: They were led to ask this question because our Lord had said above, when he healed the paralytic, “See, you are well! Sin no more.” Thinking from this that the man had been paralyzed because of his sins, they say, “That other person was paralyzed because of his sins, but what would you say about this man? Had he sinned? How can you say that, since he was blind from birth? Have his parents sinned? Neither can one say this because the child does not suffer punishment because of his parents.” The same way we ask how it can be when we see a child suffering, this is how the disciples spoke here, not so much asking for information as being perplexed. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 56.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:200*.

SUFFERING AS AN EXERCISE

APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: There was a certain philosophy among the ancients that troubles came from sin because they were confident that God was not responsible for any evil. The notion that people suffer as an exercise so that they might perceive the power of God at last—this was not well known at all because they would rather have God give good rewards to the just then and there and not prolong suffering any longer for the sake of eternal life. Since he was a blind man from birth, it occurred to the disciples to ask. Since no one can sin before his birth, they ventured a guess that the parents were to blame. For they knew that children may suffer in order to bring grief to the parents. But the Lord said that the blindness did not occur because of any sin but for the sake of the glory of God that was about to take place as the power of God would be revealed through his unexpected recovery of sight. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 49. [1]

[1] JKGK 21.

THERE MUST BE A REASON

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: It was not unusual for his disciples to ask this kind of question about all that was happening to the Lord so that they could learn those things that lead to godliness. Indeed, since they had left everything and had given themselves completely to the Lord in order to learn from him godliness and piety, it is with laudable care that they took the opportunity from what happened around them to ask him such questions. When they saw this man born blind who, before he could sin, had this damage, and to whom this defect of the eyes happened when he was still in the womb, they were upset in their human way about this fact in trying to relate it to their faith. They thought that there was a just reason for such an accident and that such adversity had occurred not without good cause because they knew that God rules all human things. They were not able to understand what had happened in any other way because of their human weakness, attributing the reason for what happened either to the sin of the parents or to the blind man himself. It was not that he had been injured because he had sinned already— indeed, how could he sin if he was not born yet? But, since he would commit future sins, God, in his foreknowledge, restrained him by that disability. They justly and piously thought that the sins of people were the cause of all evils. But since, because of their human weakness, they could understand nothing more by themselves, they thought that the cause for this disability could only be attributed to the blind man himself or to his parents; as if the son had received that punishment for their sins, or he was the cause of his misfortune because he had received that punishment for his future sins. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 4.9.1-2. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:181-82.