M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

9 On his way out of the temple Jesus saw a man who had been born blind.

² His disciples asked Jesus, `Master, was this man born blind because of the wrong things he did, or was it the wrong things his parents did?'

³ Jesus answered, `It was not that he or his parents did any wrong thing. But it was so that people would see what God will do in him.

⁴ There is one who has sent me. I must do his work while it is still daylight. Night is coming. Then it will be too dark to work.

⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.'

⁶ When Jesus had said this, he spat on the ground. Then he put some of the wet dirt on the man's eyes.

⁷ And he said, `Go. wash your eyes in that water hole called Siloam.' (Siloam means Sent.) The man went and washed his eyes. After that, he was able to see.

⁸ His neighbours and other people had seen him when he was blind. They said, `Is not this the same man who used to sit here and beg?'

⁹ Some people said, `Yes, this is the same man.' Others said, `He is like that man.' But the man himself said, `I am that man.'

¹⁰ They asked him, `How is it that you can see now?'

¹¹ He answered them, `That man whose name is Jesus made some mud. He rubbed it on my eyes and told me to go and wash them in the water hole Siloam. And when I had washed my eyes, I could see.'

¹² `Where is the man?' they asked. He said, `I do not know.'

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.

¹⁴ The day Jesus made the mud and healed the man was the Sabbath day.

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees also asked the man, `How is it that you can see now?' He answered them, `The man put mud on my eyes. I washed my eyes and now I can see.'

¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees said, `This man is not from God. He does not obey the Sabbath day law.' The others said, `But how can a bad man do such a big work?' So the Pharisees did not agree together in what they thought about Jesus.

¹⁷ Then they asked the man who had been born blind, `What do you say about the man who healed you?' He answered, `I say he is a prophet from God.'

¹⁸ But the leaders of the Jews did not really believe what they heard about the man. They did not believe that first he had been blind and now was able to see. So they called the parents of the man who could now see.

¹⁹ `Tell us,' they said. `Is this your son who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?'

²⁰ The parents answered, `We know that this is our son. And we know that he was born blind.

²¹ But we do not know how it is that he can now see. We do not know who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to talk for himself.'

²² The parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They knew that the leaders of the Jews had already agreed that if anyone said Jesus is the Christ, they would be put out of the meeting place.

²³ That is why the parents said, `He is old enough to talk for himself. Ask him.'

²⁴ Then again they called the man who had been blind. They said to him, `You must praise God for this. We know that the man who healed you is a bad man.'

²⁵ He answered them, `I do not know if he is a bad man or not. But one thing I do know. I know that first I was blind, but now I can see.'

²⁶ Then they said to him again, `What did he do to you? How did he heal you?'

²⁷ He answered them, `I told you already. You did not listen. Why do you want me to tell you again? Do you also want to be his disciples?'

²⁸ This made them angry. They said, `You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

²⁹ We know that God talked to Moses. But this man, we do not know where he comes from.'

³⁰ The man who had been blind said, `This surprises me! He healed me and yet you do not know where he comes from!

³¹ We know that God does not listen to bad people. But God listens to the person who shows him respect and who obeys him.

³² Before this, no one has ever healed a man who was born blind. Such a thing has not been heard of since the world was made.

³³ If this man did not come from God, he could not do anything like this.'

³⁴ They answered, `You have been a bad man ever since you were born! Now are you trying to teach us?' And with that they put him out of the meeting place.

³⁵ Jesus heard that the people had put him out. When he found him, he said, `Do you believe in the Son of God?'

³⁶ He answered, `Sir, who is the Son of God? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.'

³⁷ Jesus said, `You have already seen him. The person who is talking to you now, he is the Son of God.'

³⁸ The man said, `Sir, I do believe.' He kneeled down in front of Jesus and worshipped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, `I came into the world so that people may be judged. I came so that those who are blind may see. And I came so that those who see may become blind.'

⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees were with Jesus and heard him say this. They asked him, `You mean to say that we are blind also?'

⁴¹ Jesus answered them, `If you agreed that you were blind, you would not be bad people. But you say, "We can see." So then you are still bad people.'

5 Christ has made us really free. So, stay free! Do not let yourselves be made slaves again.

² I, Paul, say to you again that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ is no help to you at all.

³ Again I say to every man who is circumcised, he must obey all the law.

⁴ Some of you are trying to obey the law, so that God will call you good. If you do this, you have been cut off from Christ. You have lost the blessing of God.

⁵ But we hope to be made right by believing in Christ. The Spirit helps us to do this.

⁶ So if a man belongs to Christ Jesus, it does not matter if he is circumcised or not. He must show by his love that he believes.

⁷ You were doing well. Who stopped you from doing what is right?

⁸ God calls you but he is not the one who made you change your minds.

⁹ Even a little yeast makes all the bread rise.

¹⁰ The Lord makes me sure that you will not think any other way. But the teacher who is troubling your minds will be punished. It does not matter who he is.

¹¹ My brothers, am I still telling people to be circumcised? If I am, why are people still troubling me? If it were true, the cross of Christ, which they do not like, has lost its power.

¹² These teachers are troubling your minds. How I wish they would cut themselves off!

¹³ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not take that to mean that you can do as you please. But work for each other because you love each other.

¹⁴ This one law is the whole law: `Love your neighbour as you love yourself.'

¹⁵ But if you bite and chew each other, be careful, or you will be killed by each other.

¹⁶ So I say, let the Spirit tell you what you should do. Then you will not do the wrong things you yourselves want to do.

¹⁷ People want to do wrong things that the Spirit does not want them to do. And the Spirit wants people to do things they do not want to do. The Spirit and the wrong things you want to do are against each other, so that you do not do what you yourself want to do.

¹⁸ If you do what the Spirit wants you to do, then you will be free from the law.

¹⁹ It is easy to see the wrong things people want to do. Both married people and those who are not married commit adultery. People make themselves unclean because of their wrong use of sex. They do things they should be ashamed of doing.

²⁰ They worship idols. They use witch-power. They hate. They quarrel. They are jealous. They get angry. They want their own way. They do not agree together and they join different groups against each other.

²¹ They want what other people have. They even kill. They drink too much strong drink. They like to take part in loud drinking and dancing. They do other things like these. I have told you before and I tell you again. Those who do these things will not be in the kingdom of God. 22,

²² But these are the things which the Spirit wants you to show: love, joy, peace, patience, being kind, being good, being true, being gentle, and keeping the body under control. There is no law that says, `These things are wrong.'

²³ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have stopped doing the wrong things they want to do. They have stopped them just as if they were killed on a cross. And they have even stopped wanting to do them.

²⁴ The Spirit gives us life. And so we should do what the Spirit wants us to do.

²⁵ We must not be proud of ourselves. We must not make one another angry. We must not want what other people have.