John 9:16 Commentary and Bible Study

It is the old problem – some of the Pharisees say, ‘This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day.’ Now Christ had answered that, as you know, many times before, and every time he answered it and expounded the rightness of doing good on the Sabbath day, the scribes and the Pharisees were silenced. But they still cling on to this idea, this is disqualifies him as a teacher in their eyes. They will not have him as Messiah.But some of them are breaking ranks, a minority of them: ‘Others said, How can a man that is a sinner [supposedly] do such miracles? And there was a division among them.’ Even in the hearing that was going to establish the facts and probably condemn this man, they were arguing among themselves. A minority are already won to Christ because of his miracles, but the majority still cling on to this idea because they are so much against Christ. This man is not of God, because he does not keep the Sabbath day; that was their reasoning. He didn’t keep their rules. But they didn’t think of these extra regulations as their rules.