John Calvin Commentary John 9:34

"They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out." — John 9:34 (ASV)

You were altogether born in sins. They alluded, I do not doubt, to his blindness, as proud men are accustomed to tease those who have any distress or calamity. Therefore, they continually insulted him, as if he had come out of his mother’s womb bearing the mark of his sins. For all the scribes were convinced in their hearts that souls, after having finished one life, entered into new bodies and there suffered the punishment of their former crimes. Thus, they concluded that he who was born blind was, at that very time, covered and polluted by his sins.

This undeserved censure ought to instruct us to be exceedingly cautious, not always to estimate the sins of any person by the chastisements of God; for, as we have already seen, God has various purposes to accomplish by inflicting calamities on people. But not only do those hypocrites insult the wretched man; they also disdainfully reject his warnings, though they are holy and good, as indeed it very frequently happens that one cannot endure to be taught by someone they despise.

Now, since we ought always to hear God, through whomever He may speak to us, let us learn not to despise anyone, so that God may find us always gentle and submissive, even though He employs someone altogether lowly and despicable to instruct us. For there is not a more dangerous plague than when pride stops our ears, so that we do not condescend to hear those who warn us for our benefit; and it frequently happens that God purposely selects vile and worthless persons to instruct and warn us, in order to subdue our pride.

And they cast him out. Though it is possible that those haughty Rabbis cast him, with violence, out of the temple, yet I think that the Evangelist has a different meaning, that they excommunicated him; and thus the casting of him out would have the appearance of law. This also agrees better with what follows, for if they had only cast him out in a disdainful and furious manner, it would not have been of such great importance as to make it probable that the report of it would reach Christ.