John 9:40 records the Pharisees asking Jesus whether they are blind too, after he has just said that his coming exposes spiritual blindness in people who think they can see. The verse shows religious leaders who hear Jesus’ words as an accusation and respond with a question that is really a defense. The question is spoken by Pharisees who were standing near Jesus, following the healing of a man born blind.
Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
John 9:40 (WEB)
What John 9:40 Means
The phrase “those of the Pharisees who were with him” tells you the speakers were members of a religious group who had gathered close to Jesus after the healed man had been questioned and cast out. They heard Jesus say that his coming produces judgment, so that people who do not see may come to see and people who claim to see may become blind. Their reply, “Are we also blind?”, reads as a challenge. They are asking whether Jesus means them.
The verse does not describe physical sight. The man born blind has just received his sight in a literal way, and his growing understanding of who Jesus is comes through trust. The Pharisees, by contrast, cannot admit they lack insight, and that refusal is what Jesus goes on to name. The verse does not promise that everyone who asks a hard question will receive comfort, nor does it teach that every critic is spiritually blind. It shows how pride can make a person unable to recognize truth even when it stands in front of them.
The Context of John 9:40
John’s Gospel was written to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that those who believe in him receive life, as the author states near the end of the book. The stories in chapter 9 are built as a courtroom drama, with the healed man questioned again and again while the religious authorities grow more hostile and more closed. Verse 40 sits at the climax of that drama, after the man has confessed Jesus as Lord and worshiped him in verse 38.
Read against the verses just before it, verse 40 is the reaction that Jesus’ statement about judgment provokes. In verse 41 Jesus answers directly: if they were truly blind, they would have no sin, but because they claim to see, their sin remains. That reply makes the Pharisees’ question sharper, because Jesus turns their claim to sight into the very evidence of their guilt.
Key Phrases in John 9:40
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
(WEB)
This passage calls the reader to trust the Lord rather than leaning on their own understanding, which is the same danger the Pharisees fall into when they rely on their own sense of sight.
James 4:6
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
(WEB)
James links God’s grace to humility and his opposition to pride, showing why the Pharisees’ self-assurance blocks them from receiving the light Jesus offers.
A Short Prayer From John 9:40
Lord, you see me more clearly than I see myself. Some days I am quick to defend my own understanding and slow to admit where I have gone wrong. Open my eyes to what I have stopped noticing, and give me the humility to ask honest questions rather than protecting my pride. Help me to trust your light even when it reveals something uncomfortable about my heart. Keep me near to you, where real sight begins. Amen.
