‘Jesus said to them, “If you were blind you would have no sin, but now you say ‘We see'. So your sin remains”.'
Jesus' reply was uncompromising. Those who have the most privilege are those who are most accountable. If they were physically blind they would bear no blame. It would not be their fault. They would not thereby be guilty (v. 3), for they would not be able to do anything about it. But when men claimed to be able to ‘see' spiritually they were the more to blame if they then failed to come to the light. Thus by their failure they remained in sin, and it was all the deeper because they claimed to be enlightened men. The sin that prevented them from coming was thus a deeper sin, and that therefore made them doubly guilty.
For a man who sees can have no excuse for avoiding the light. Thus sin weighs heavily upon him when he does. These Pharisees who were accompanying Jesus may be confident that they knew the Scriptures, but if that knowledge did not illuminate their hearts and make them respond to Christ it could only make them the more guilty. They must beware that they do not avoid the full light of Christ. For if they do not come to full faith in Him no efforts of theirs will rid them of sin. (Compare Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 42:18-19).