Book of Common Prayer
10 My dear family, the longing of my heart, and my prayer to God on their behalf, is for their salvation. 2 I can testify on their behalf that they have a zeal for God; but it is not based on knowledge. 3 They were ignorant, you see, of God’s covenant faithfulness, and they were trying to establish a covenant status of their own; so they didn’t submit to God’s faithfulness. 4 The Messiah, you see, is the goal of the law, so that covenant membership may be available for all who believe.
The fulfillment of the covenant
5 Moses writes, you see, about the covenant membership defined by the law, that “the person who performs the law’s commands shall live in them.” 6 But the faith-based covenant membership puts it like this: “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who shall go up to heaven?’ ” (in other words, to bring the Messiah down), 7 “or, ‘Who shall go down into the depths?’ ” (in other words, to bring the Messiah up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we proclaim); 9 because if you profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 Why? Because covenant membership comes by believing with the heart, and salvation comes by professing with the mouth. 11 The Bible says, you see, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich towards all who call upon him. 13 “All who call upon the name of the Lord,” you see, “will be saved.”
18 The Judaeans didn’t believe that he really had been blind and now could see. So they called the parents of the newly sighted man, 19 and put the question to them.
“Is this man really your son,” they asked, “the one you say was born blind? How is it that he can now see?”
20 “Well,” replied his parents, “we know that he is indeed our son, and that he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how it is that he can now see, and we don’t know who it was that opened his eyes. Ask him! He’s grown up. He can speak for himself.”
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Judaeans. The Judaeans, you see, had already decided that if anyone declared that Jesus was the Messiah, they should be put out of the synagogue. 23 That’s why his parents said, “He’s grown up, so you should ask him.”
Is Jesus from God?
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind.
“Give God the glory!” they said. “We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner or not,” replied the man. “All I know is this: I used to be blind, and now I can see.”
26 “What did he do to you?” they asked. “How did he open your eyes?”
27 “I told you already,” replied the man, “and you didn’t listen. Why d’you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28 “You’re his disciple,” they scoffed, “but we are Moses’s disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man comes from.”
30 “Well, here’s a fine thing!” replied the man. “You don’t know where he’s from, and he opened my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone is devout, and does his will, he listens to them. 32 It’s never, ever been heard of before that someone should open the eyes of a person born blind. 33 If this man wasn’t from God, he couldn’t do anything.”
34 “You were born in sin from top to toe,” they replied, “and are you going to start teaching us?” And they threw him out.
Seeing and not seeing
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and spoke to him.
“Do you believe in the son of man?” he asked.
36 “Who is he, sir,” asked the man, “so that I can believe in him?”
37 “You have seen him,” replied Jesus. “In fact, it’s the person who’s talking to you.”
38 “Yes, sir,” said the man; “I do believe.” And he worshiped him.
39 “I came into the world for judgment,” said Jesus, “so that those who can’t see would see, and so that those who can see would become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees were nearby, and they heard this.
“So!” they said. “We’re blind too, are we?”
41 “If you were blind,” replied Jesus, “you wouldn’t be guilty of sin. But now, because you say, ‘We can see,’ your sin remains.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.