John 9:15,16 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Then again the Pharisees asked him, &c. They hoped to find something in the manner of the cure, which would show it to be no miracle, or, at least, which would prove Jesus to be a bad man. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, &c. He honestly and plainly told them the whole matter, as he had before declared it to the people. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, &c. “On hearing the man's account of the miracle, the Pharisees declare that the author of it was certainly an impostor, because he had violated the sabbath in performing of it. Nevertheless, others of them, more candid in their way of thinking, gave it as their opinion, that no deceiver could possibly do a miracle of that kind, because it was too great and beneficial for any evil being to have either the inclination or the power to perform.” Macknight. How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? This seems to intimate, that there were at least some miracles so glorious and so benevolent, that no evil agent would have either inclination or power to perform them; and that they reckoned this in that number. And there was a division Or schism, Greek, σχισμα; among them On this important question. The council was divided into two parties, which contended one against the other, although they continued in the same place. Thus discord, debate, and strife arose in the councils of Christ's enemies, by which their designs against him were, for the present, defeated. If Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both members of the sanhedrim, were now present, they would naturally distinguish themselves on this occasion; and Gamaliel too, on the principles he afterward avowed, (Acts 5:38-39,) must have been on their side.