Charles Ellicott Commentary John 9:40

"Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said unto him, Are we also blind?" — John 9:40 (ASV)

And some of the Pharisees who were with him.—The words in the preceding verse are not addressed specifically to anyone. The Pharisees would still be watching our Lord, and some had probably followed the beggar, expecting that our Lord would seek him, and hoping that the interview might provide some ground for a fresh charge against one or both of them. It is the presence of mental conditions such as theirs and his that has recalled to our Lord’s thoughts the judicial result of His manifestation, and this rises to His lips as an utterance of the solemn thought that fills His mind. The Pharisees hear this exclamation and apply to themselves what their own state suggested, though it was expressed as, and is, a broad law, holding true for all mankind.

Are we blind also?—They misunderstand His words, for He has asserted concerning the blind (they which see not) that the result of His coming is that they might see. Yet they do not understand the words in a physical sense, which could have had no application to themselves.

Care is required to understand the force of the term in these three verses, and it is good to distinguish again the meanings attached to the word "blind." It is used:

1. For physical blindness. This has been its meaning throughout the chapter. It suggests the imagery in these verses but is not itself present in the thought, which is of spiritual blindness only.
2. For conscious spiritual blindness (they which see not, and "they who think they do not see"), which is actually the first step to spiritual sight.
3. For unconscious spiritual blindness (they which see, and "they who think they see"), which is actually the first step to a total loss of spiritual perception.