John 9:1-2
"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin,
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin,
this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"
This is the only miracle in the gospels in which the sufferer is said to have been afflicted from his birth. In Acts we twice hear of people who had been helpless from their birth (the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple in Acts 3:2, and the cripple at Lystra in Acts 14:8). When they saw him, they used the opportunity to put this problem before Jesus.
The Jews connected suffering and sin. They worked on the assumption that wherever there was suffering, somewhere there was sin. So they asked Jesus their question. "This man," they said, is blind. Is his blindness due to his own sin, or to the sin of his parents?" How could the blindness possibly be due to his own sin, when he had been blind from his birth?
Jewish theologians had the strange notion of prenatal sin. They actually believed that a man could begin to sin while still in his mother's womb. This is the text they used to support their view. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him," (Gen. 4:7). But the argument does show us that the idea of prenatal sin was known. In the time of Jesus certain Jews did believe that a man's affliction, even if it be from birth, might come from sin that he had committed before he was born. It is a strange idea, and it may seem to us almost fantastic; but at its heart lies the idea of a sin-infected universe.
The alternative was that the man's affliction was due to the sin of his parents. The idea that children inherit the consequences of their parents' sin is woven into the thought of the Old Testament. "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (Ex. 20:5). Let us also look at, (Ps. 109:14) "Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out."
Isaiah talks about their iniquities and the "iniquities of their fathers, and goes on to say: I will measure into their bosom payment for their former doings, "Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom,"(Is. 65:7). One of the keynotes of the Old Testament is that the sins of the fathers are always visited upon the children. It must never be forgotten that no man lives to himself and no man dies to himself. When a man sins, he sets in motion a train of consequences which has no end. My friends, The bottom line is God wants His people to understand that the ultimate fate of each person was and still is determined by his or her individual relationship with Him. (Ezek. 18).
Amen!
Reading: (John 9:1-5)
(Ezek. 18:1-32)
Ref: (HGSB, DSB)
Jewish theologians had the strange notion of prenatal sin. They actually believed that a man could begin to sin while still in his mother's womb. This is the text they used to support their view. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him," (Gen. 4:7). But the argument does show us that the idea of prenatal sin was known. In the time of Jesus certain Jews did believe that a man's affliction, even if it be from birth, might come from sin that he had committed before he was born. It is a strange idea, and it may seem to us almost fantastic; but at its heart lies the idea of a sin-infected universe.
The alternative was that the man's affliction was due to the sin of his parents. The idea that children inherit the consequences of their parents' sin is woven into the thought of the Old Testament. "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (Ex. 20:5). Let us also look at, (Ps. 109:14) "Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out."
Isaiah talks about their iniquities and the "iniquities of their fathers, and goes on to say: I will measure into their bosom payment for their former doings, "Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom,"(Is. 65:7). One of the keynotes of the Old Testament is that the sins of the fathers are always visited upon the children. It must never be forgotten that no man lives to himself and no man dies to himself. When a man sins, he sets in motion a train of consequences which has no end. My friends, The bottom line is God wants His people to understand that the ultimate fate of each person was and still is determined by his or her individual relationship with Him. (Ezek. 18).
Amen!
Reading: (John 9:1-5)
(Ezek. 18:1-32)
Ref: (HGSB, DSB)
May God Bless You
And Your Family
Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.
The Cross Life Ministry
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