John 9:17

9:17 So again they asked the man who used to be blind, ¹  “What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?” ²  “He is a prophet,” the man replied. ³ 

John 9:21

9:21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. ⁴  Ask him, he is a mature adult. ⁵  He will speak for himself.”

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¹ tn Grk “the blind man.”

² tn Grk “since he opened your eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

³ tn Grk “And he said, ‘He is a prophet.’”

sn At this point the man, pressed by the Pharisees, admitted there was something special about Jesus. But here, since prophet is anarthrous (is not accompanied by the Greek article) and since in his initial reply in 9:11-12 the man showed no particular insight into the true identity of Jesus, this probably does not refer to the prophet of Deut 18:15, but merely to an unusual person who is capable of working miracles. The Pharisees had put this man on the spot, and he felt compelled to say something about Jesus, but he still didn’t have a clear conception of who Jesus was, so he labeled him a “prophet.”

⁴ tn Grk “who opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

⁵ tn Or “he is of age.”