2. How the disciples knew the man had been *born blind*, we are not told. To excite greater compassion, and probably to obtain alms, he may have been himself proclaiming the fact. It was reasonable enough that the disciples should think of the sins of the man’s parents as the reason why he was born blind, for God Himself tells us that He is “jealous, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Exod. xx. 5). And we know that David was punished by the death of his child (2 Kings xii. 14). But why should the disciples imagine that the man might have been born blind on account of _his own_ sins? Some think that the disciples may have been imbued with the false notions of the Jews regarding the transmigration of souls, and have thought that this man’s soul had sinned in some previous state of existence, and been therefore imprisoned in a blind body. But it is unlikely that the disciples at this time, the third year of our Lord’s public life, were still in such ignorance.(70) Others think that the question means: was he born blind for some sin which it _was foreseen_ he would commit? Others think that the question was hastily put without advertence to its absurdity. Others that the meaning is: was it for his own, or, _since that is out of the question_, was it for the sin of his parents that this man was born blind? 3. Respondit Iesus: Neque hic 3. Jesus answered: Neither peccavit, neque parentes eius: hath this man sinned, nor his sed ut manifestentur opera Dei parents; but that the works of in illo. God should be made manifest in him. 3. Christ replies that neither the man himself nor his parents had sinned, so as to explain his blindness—ἵνα, as a _cause_ why he should be born blind; but his blindness was ordained, or at least permitted, for the sake of the miracle which Christ was now about to work. 4. Me oportet operari opera 4. I must work the works of eius qui misit me, donec dies him that sent me, whilst it is est: venit nox, quando nemo day: the night cometh when no potest operari. man can work. 4. *Day* is here the span of Christ’s mortal life: *night* the time after death, when Christ was no longer to perform works visibly before men. Of course, as God, Christ still works, “sustaining all things by the word of His power” (Heb. i. 3), but of this Divine operation there is no question here. 5. Quamdiu sum in mundo, lux 5. As long as I am in the sum mundi. world, I am the light of the world. 5. *The light.* See i. 4, 5. Christ was the spiritual light, and as a symbol and proof of His office of spiritual light‐giver, He was now about to open the eyes of the blind man to the light of day.