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Chapter 1. The Man born Blind

12th June 2015 by Arthur Eedle

Hastings’ five-volume Bible Dictionary declares that the only reference in the whole Bible that even suggests the pre-existence of human souls is John 9:1-3. Therefore it is reasonable we should begin this series by taking a look at this reference.

John 9:1-3 “And as Jesus passed by He saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him.'”

It is easy to pass by these words, without realising their implication. But when you stop to think about it, the question posed by the disciples is distinctly troublesome. Let us pass over the possibility that the parents’ sin had been responsible for the blindness. That’s not the troublesome part. They said “Who sinned, this man, . .?” How can a man be responsible for his own blindness before he was born?

Based on traditional evangelical thought, we might have expected Jesus to answer them in this manner, “What folly is this? How can you ask such questions? Who taught you to utter such absurdities? No man is responsible for blindness on his own account. But in this case, neither were his parents responsible, but that the glory of God should be revealed.”

However, it is manifestly obvious that our Lord neither reprimanded them of folly, nor even questioned the propriety of their remark. Instead, He just said, “Neither this man . . .”

What can be learned from these brief fragments of conversation?  Is it not manifest that our Lord, and His disciples, had been instructed about pre-existence? If a man had pre-existed in a spiritual body before being born on the earth, then it might well have produced the question they had asked. Perhaps in that pre-existent state this man might have sinned against the Lord, and his blindness at birth be the result of divine judgment? Or so they were thinking. But the Lord squashed this thought flat. In fact, it might be construed that He gave final judgment on all such thinking, whether it be this man, or anyone else born with physical deformity.

But the question still lingers. Even though the disciples had digested some erroneous ideas, probably from the Scribes and Pharisees, still the concept of pre-existence remains. The Lord never denied that. He merely corrected their assertion about pre-existent sin being the causative factor in the man’s blindness.

We shall leave it at that for now. In a later article we shall see that pre-existence was a doctrine well-established in the minds of Jewish doctors of the law. Hence the teaching had permeated the minds of the common people, even uneducated fishermen like the disciples. Otherwise they would not have posed their question.

Filed Under: All our Yesterdays Tagged With: Human Pre-Existance

About Arthur Eedle

Arthur was born in 1931, and became a Christian in 1948. At London University he gained a 2nd honours degree in Physics. He went on to get a Teaching Diploma, and throughout his career life taught physics in England, Kenya, and Hong Kong. Coupled with his love of science, he was a keen student of Greek and Hebrew, and gave many lectures on Biblical subjects. Read more

All our Yesterdays

Chapter 1. The Man born Blind

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 2. The Festival of Creation

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 3. The Feast of Trumpets

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 4. Born wicked

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 5. Born to Election

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 6. Wheat and Tares

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 7. Jacob and Esau

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 8. The Return Home

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 9. Of gods and men

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 10. Coming into the World

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 11. The Blood of Abel

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 12. The Treasury of Souls

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 13. Made Together

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 14. Memory

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 15. Wisdom’s rejoicing

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 16. Redemption

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 17. Judas Iscariot

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 18. A Root of Bitterness

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 19. Predestination & Foreknowledge

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 20. Ancient Jewish Beliefs

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 21. Ancient Christian Beliefs (1)

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 22. Ancient Christian Beliefs (2)

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 23. Ancient Christian Beliefs (3)

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 24. Apocryphal writings

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 25. Plato’s writings (1)

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 26. Plato’s writings (2)

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 27. Plato’s writings (3)

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 28. George Ritchie’s experience

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 29. Betty Eadie’s experience

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Chapter 30. Conclusion to this Series

12th June 2015 By Arthur Eedle

Article Series

  • All our Yesterdays (30)
  • Before He comes (13)
  • God's Spoken Word (37)
  • Mysteries of Science & Faith (8)
  • New Series (101)
  • Newsletter (2)
  • Original Series (109)
  • Prophecy considerations (5)
  • Recognising the Hand of Judgment (33)
  • Resurrection and Change (16)
  • Seekers Corner (14)
  • Simple Statements on Serious Subjects (6)
  • The City of God (18)
  • The Millennial Octave (23)
  • The Restitution Times (22)
  • The Song of Solomon (6)
  • The Standard (19)
  • The Wayside Pulpit (107)
  • The Wayside Pulpit 2015 (96)
  • The Wellspring (101)
  • The Wellspring 2017 (55)

Index of Topics

Arthur & Rosalind Eedle's Personal Testimonies Discipleship Expository Items Good and Evil Human Pre-Existance Jane Leade. Philadelphian Numerology in the Bible Quotations from other Authors Resurrection and the Change Ron Wyatt. Archaeology Science Topics The Kingdom of God the Millennium and the Return of Christ The Sabbath Day Universal Reconcilliation

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