Not By Sight

Studies on blindness in the Bible

Not By Sight

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7

A series of studies on blindness in the Bible, written by a blind Christian for blind believers, their families, and the church.

One thing first. Most people read the word blind as total blindness, and so, as far as we can tell, did the Bible. But blindness is a spectrum, and only a small share of blind people see nothing at all. Before the studies, read what blind means here.

Where this stands

The site is being built in the open, and most of what was planned is now here. The stories gather the verses into the passages they belong to, with what led up to each, what it was like to be there, and what the old books and the archaeologists can add. The law reads what God commanded about the blind as evidence of how they were treated. Living blind, then asks what daily life was like for a blind person in each kind of place Scripture shows, and leaves room for the people who know to answer. Blindness as a picture reads the verses where blindness stands for something else, plainly, and asks who is actually called blind. Walk by faith is the verse this whole site is named for. The catalog lists every verse that speaks of blindness.

What is here

  1. What blind means here: blindness is a spectrum, and the Bible's word for it means the deep end. Read this first.
  2. The stories: twenty-four passages about blind people, each with what led up to it, what happens, what it was like to be there, and the place and the time from the old books.
  3. The law: four pages reading what God commanded about the blind as evidence of how they were treated, set beside the older law codes of the region.
  4. Living blind, then: six pages on daily life without sight in the herding camp, the village, the walled town, Jerusalem, with and without a guide, and through the centuries since.
  5. Blindness as a picture: seven pages reading the verses where blindness stands for something else, plainly, and asking who is actually called blind.
  6. Walk by faith: the verse the site is named for.
  7. The catalog: every verse, sorted and open to review.
  8. How it was made: the method, and why the quotations can be trusted.

Still to come: more of Brian's own answers in the open slots on each page, other voices alongside his, and the wider themes of sight, light and darkness.

People and groups found so far

29 people and groups appear in the passages about physical blindness.