Misapplied Scriptures, John 9:31: Does God Hear Sinners, Or Not?

Introduction: This is another verse of Scripture which has been used and misused by many people for a long time. Some folks teach that it’s basically useless for any sinner to pray because “well, right there, it says, ‘God heareth not sinners!’”

But is that what the verse really teaches? Here’s the verse, John 9:31, from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV):

Text, John 9:31, KJV: 31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

1 How the verse has been misapplied

“God heareth not sinners!” As mentioned in the introduction, some preachers (and I’ve heard a few) use this verse to “prove” that God, well, doesn’t hear sinners in any way. The men whom I’ve heard use this verse in that way were well-meaning, in that they were stating that those who are not saved, or sinners, didn’t have the same privileges of prayer that saints do, as I recall.

But in the context, and in any number of examples, that may not be the correct interpretation. Let’s take a deeper look:

2 How the verse should be applied

In the larger context, Jesus had finished speaking to a group of unbelieving Jews (John 8:32-59) after He had pardoned the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11). John recorded that there was a group of Jews who had believed, but the depth and how genuine their so-called belief really was, is not known for certain.

Then in John 9, we have the story how Jesus found a man who been born blind and healed him, using a very unusual type of medicine (read the story for the details!) Eventually some of the religious leaders found the formerly blind man, and questioned him. One thing led to another (again, read the text) and the man now found himself being questioned by these religious leaders.

The exchange between the man and the leaders, where this verse is located, begins in John 9:24. The leaders seemed to have tried every trick in the book to get the man to confess to, I guess, how he had made able to see.

They led him (goaded him? Badgered him?) to answer by denying they knew little if anything about Jesus. That this was a bald-faced lie is clear—Jesus had just a short time before called them out for their hypocrisy!

Now here’s where the formerly blind man made this statement. The leaders had already condemned Jesus as being a sinner (9:24) but they of course knew otherwise. The man said, in so many words, “I don’t know if He’s a sinner or not, but I do know I was blind but now I can see!”

And he added, in my opinion to refute the leaders’ claims that Jesus was a sinner, “We know that God does not hear sinners”—which is where a lot of people seem to stop. They either haven’t read the context, or at the least they haven’t read the rest of the verse.

The formerly blind man was replying to professionals, who should have known better, that Jesus, and apparently nobody else, could give him sight; then, using what little knowledge he had, explained that God didn’t hear sinners. Psalm 66:18 would seem to confirm this, but that verse appears to be written from the perspective of a believer who was struggling with overcoming sin.

Besides, if God doesn’t hear sinners, then how could He ever hear the prayer of someone, anyone, who wanted to pray to receive His gift of salvation?

To wrap it up, the verse is misused, sometimes, as a warning, I think, that God will not hear the prayers of sinners. In the context, the verse is a quote from a layman, I think, who was replying to religious leaders who were fishing to find some or any excuse to condemn the man. Besides, since God is omnipresent (everywhere at once) and omniscient (knowing all things), how could He not hear the prayers of anyone?

May we all be careful not to misuse or misapply any Scripture or portion of Scripture!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)