ACC ~ John 9 v35

CHRIST ELICITS A CONFESSION OF FAITH

HILARY OF POITIERS: When the man was already healed and had suffered ejection from the synagogue, the Lord put to him the question, “Do you believe on the Son of God?” This was to save him from the thought that he had lost everything by being excluded from the synagogue. It gave him the certainty that confession of the true faith had restored him to immortality. When the man, his soul still unenlightened, answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” the Lord’s reply was, “You have both seen him, and it is he that speaks with you.” For his goal was to remove the ignorance of the man whose sight he had restored and whom he was now enriching with the knowledge of so glorious a faith. Does the Lord demand from this man, as from others who entreated him to heal them, a confession of faith as the price of their recovery? Emphatically not! For the blind man could already see when he was thus addressed. The Lord asked the question in order to receive the answer, “Lord, I believe.” The faith that spoke in that answer was to receive not sight but life. ON THE TRINITY 6.48. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:115-16**.

JESUS HIMSELF WAS SILOAM

AUGUSTINE: Of course God listens to sinners. But the man who said that had not yet washed the face of his heart in Siloam. The sacrament had already taken place in his eyes, but the benefit of grace had not yet been achieved in his heart. When did this blind man wash the face of his heart? When, after he had been thrown outside by the Jews, the Lord brought him inside into himself. You see, he found him and said to him, as we heard, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” And he answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?” He could already see him, certainly, with his eyes, but with his heart? Not yet. Wait for it; he will see in a moment. Jesus answered him, “I am, I who am talking to you.” Did he hesitate? He washed his face immediately. After all, Siloam was talking to him, “which is translated as ‘the One sent.’” [1] Who is the one sent but Christ who frequently asserted, “I do the will of my Father, who sent me”? [2] So he himself was Siloam. The man blind in heart approached, heard, believed, worshiped, washed his face and saw. SERMON 136.2. [3]

[1] Jn 9:7.

[2] Jn 4:34; 5:30; 6:38.

[3] WSA 3 4:354.