“Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’” John 9:39

                                                                      Wesleyan

Core Term

                                                                        Spiritual

Blindness

Commenting on John 9:39, Wesley says: “the consequence of [Jesus’] coming will be, that by the just judgment of God, while the blind in body and soul receive their sight, they who boast they see, will be given up to still greater blindness than before.” (Notes, 9:39).

It is a “melancholy truth,” says Wesley, that “those whose eye is not single are totally ignorant of the nature of true religion” and “far remote” from both holiness and happiness (Sermon 125: “On a Single Eye,” para II.2, 4). Yet no person is totally blind spiritually. “Some few rays of light have in all ages and nations gleamed through the shade” – some “steaks of light” that “prevented utter darkness.” Jesus is still “the true light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world” (Sermon 119: “Walking by Sight and Walking by Faith,” para 8, 9). The biblical revelation of Jesus is necessary, however, in order truly to deliver people from spiritual blindness. Wesley Study Bible, page 1301