SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:44
Vosotros de vuestro padre el diablo sois, y los deseos de vuestro padre queris cumplir. El, homicida ha sido desde el principio, y no permaneci en la verdad, porque no hay verdad en l. Cuando habla mentira, de suyo habla; porque es mentiroso, y padre de mentira .
Clarke's Bible Commentary - John 8:44
Verse 44. Ye are of your father the devil] Ye are the seed of the old serpent. See on ver. 37. The lusts of your father] Like father like son. What Satan desires, ye desire; because ye are filled with his nature. Awful state of unregenerate men! They have the nearest alliance to Satan; they partake of his nature and have in them the same principles and propensities which characterize the very nature and essence of the devil! Reader, canst thou rest in this state? Apply to God, through Christ, that thou mayest be born again.
He was a murderer from the beginning] It was through him that Adam transgressed; in consequence of which death entered into the world, and slew him and all his posterity. This was the sentiment of the Jews themselves. In Sohar Kadash, the wicked are called, "The children of the old serpent, who slew Adam and all his descendants." See Schoettgen.
Abode not in the truth] He stood not in the truth-was once in a state of glorious felicity, but fell from it; and, being deprived of all good himself, he could not endure that others should enjoy any; therefore by his lies he deceived Eve, and brought her, her husband, and, through them, their posterity, into his own condemnation.
He speaketh of his own] ek twn idiwn lalei, He speaketh of his own offspring, or, from his own disposition, for he is the father and fountain of all error and falsity; and all who are deceived by him, and partake of his disposition, falsity and cruelty, are his offspring, for he is a liar, and the father of it-kai o pathr autou-literally, his father also. There is considerable difficulty in this verse. The Cainites, and the Archontites, mentioned by Epiphanius, read it thus: "Ye are the children of your father the devil, because he is a liar, and his father was a liar. He was a man-slayer, and he did not remain in the truth. When he speaketh, he speaketh a lie of his own, (progenitors understood,) because his father also was a liar." The consequences which the above heretics drew from this verse were the following. They said that the father of the Jews was a demon; that he also had a demon for his father; and that he had a demon for his father, &c. The Archontites maintained that Cain had a demon for his father, the spirit which our Lord speaks of here; and that the Jews proceeded from the race of Cain.
Grotius, supposing that the devil who tempted Eve was not the prince of devils, but rather a subordinate one, seems to think he may be understood here, he is a liar, and his father also, which is the literal translation of the latter clause of the text, wv kai o pathr autou, as it has been read by many of the primitive fathers.
Mr. Wakefield, by changing to, before yeudov, into tiv, gives the text the following translation:-"The devil is your father, and ye willingly perform the lusts of your father. He was a man-slayer from the first, and continued not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When ANY ONE speaketh a lie, he speaketh according to his own kindred: for his father also is a liar." Our own translation, that refers pathr autou to yeudov, a lie, and not to yeusthv, a liar, is probably the most correct.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 44. Ye are of your father the devil , etc.] Not of his substance, but by imitation and example; and as being under his authority and influence, his instructions and directions, and ready to follow after him, and obey his commands; the word your is rightly supplied, and is in some copies: and the lusts of your father ye will do ; the Syriac and Persic versions read in the singular number, the lust, or desire of your father; by which may be particularly meant, his eager desire after the death of Christ, which he showed at different times; he instigated Herod to seek to destroy his life in his infancy, and when he was just entering on his public ministry, he tempted him to destroy himself; and often stirred up the Scribes and Pharisees, to stone him or kill him, some other way; and at last put it into the heart of one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, to betray him: this looks as if though the devil had a notion of the salvation of men by Christ, yet that he thought, as some erroneous men have also done, that it was only by his doctrine and example, and therefore he was in haste to get him out of the world, that he might not be useful, or any more so that way; and not by the shedding of his blood, the sacrifice of himself, or by his sufferings and death, in the room of sinners; or otherwise it is scarcely credible, that he would have sought his death so earnestly: now this selfsame lust and insatiable desire after the death of Christ prevailed in the Jews; and they were resolute and bent upon fulfilling it at any rate, nor could anything divert them from it; this is the thing Christ is speaking of in the context, and is what fully proved the devil to be their father, and them to be his children: he was a murderer from the beginning ; he was not only spoken of from the beginning, as he that should bruise the Messiahs heel, or should compass his death, but he was actually a murderer of Adam and Eve, and of all their posterity, by tempting them to sin, which brought death and ruin upon them; and who quickly after that instigated Cain to slay his brother; and has had, more or less, a concern in all murders committed since; and has been in all ages, and still is, a murderer of the souls of men; and therefore is rightly called Abaddon, and Apollyon, which signify the destroyer: the phrase, from the beginning, does not intend the beginning of his own creation; for he was created a holy creature, was in the truth, though he abode not in it; and was in an happy state, though he lost it: nor strictly the beginning of time, or of the creation of the world, which were some days at least before the fall of man, when the devil commenced a murderer; but it being very near it, therefore this phrase is made use of: the Syriac version renders it, from Bereshith, which is the first word in the Hebrew Bible, and is frequently used by the Jewish Rabbins for the six days of the creation; and if Adam fell, as some think, the same day he was created, it might be properly said that the devil was a murderer from thence. Philo f397 speaks of Eves serpent, as anyrwpou fonwnta , a murderer of man; applying to this purpose the text before referred to, ( Genesis 3:15); and abode not in the truth ; neither in the integrity, innocence, and holiness, in which he was created; nor in veracity, or as a creature of veracity, but spake lies, and formed one, by which he deceived Eve, saying, ye shall not surely die, ( Genesis 3:4), when God had said they should, ( Genesis 2:17); nor in the truth of the Gospel, which was at least in part made known unto him; particularly that the Son of God should become man, and in that nature be the head of angels and men: this he and his associates, in the pride of their hearts, not bearing that the human nature should be exalted above that of theirs, left their first estate, broke off their allegiance to God, and turned rebels against him: because there is no truth in him ; not that this is a reason why he continued not in the truth, for there was originally truth in him; though he abode not in it; but a reason, showing there was none in him now, since he was fallen from it, and abode not in it; there is no truth in him, that is natural and genuine, and essential to him; and if at any time he speaks it, it is not from his heart, but because he is forced to it, or has an evil design in it: when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own ; that is genuine and natural, of his own devising, willing, and approving: for he is a liar, and the father of it ; he was a liar, as early as he was a murderer, or rather earlier; it was with a lie he deceived, and so murdered our first parents, and he has continued so ever since; he was the first author of a lie; the first lie that ever was told, was told by him; he was the first inventor of one; he was the first of that trade; in this sense the word father is used, ( Genesis 4:20,21); so the serpent is by the Cabalistic Jews called, the lip of lie, or the lying lip.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 41-47 - Satan prompts men to excesses by which they murder themselves an others, while what he puts into the mind tends to ruin men's souls. He is the great promoter of falsehood of every kind. He is a liar, all his temptations are carried on by his calling evil good, and good evil, an promising freedom in sin. He is the author of all lies; whom liar resemble and obey, with whom all liars shall have their portion for ever. The special lusts of the devil are spiritual wickedness, the lusts of the mind, and corrupt reasonings, pride and envy, wrath an malice, enmity to good, and enticing others to evil. By the truth, her understand the revealed will of God as to the salvation of men by Jesu Christ, the truth Christ was now preaching, and which the Jews opposed.
Greek Textus Receptus
υμεις 5210 P-2NP εκ 1537 PREP πατρος 3962 N-GSM του 3588 T-GSM διαβολου 1228 A-GSM εστε 2075 5748 V-PXI-2P και 2532 CONJ τας 3588 T-APF επιθυμιας 1939 N-APF του 3588 T-GSM πατρος 3962 N-GSM υμων 5216 P-2GP θελετε 2309 5719 V-PAI-2P ποιειν 4160 5721 V-PAN εκεινος 1565 D-NSM ανθρωποκτονος 443 A-NSM ην 2258 5713 V-IXI-3S απ 575 PREP αρχης 746 N-GSF και 2532 CONJ εν 1722 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF αληθεια 225 N-DSF ουχ 3756 PRT-N εστηκεν 2476 5707 V-IAI-3S 2476 5758 V-RAI-3S οτι 3754 CONJ ουκ 3756 PRT-N εστιν 2076 5748 V-PXI-3S αληθεια 225 N-NSF εν 1722 PREP αυτω 846 P-DSM οταν 3752 CONJ λαλη 2980 5725 V-PAS-3S το 3588 T-ASN ψευδος 5579 N-ASN εκ 1537 PREP των 3588 T-GPN ιδιων 2398 A-GPN λαλει 2980 5719 V-PAI-3S οτι 3754 CONJ ψευστης 5583 N-NSM εστιν 2076 5748 V-PXI-3S και 2532 CONJ ο 3588 T-NSM πατηρ 3962 N-NSM αυτου 846 P-GSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
44. Ye (umeiv). Emphatic, in contrast with hJmeiv, we, of ver. 41. Of your father (ek). Very suggestive, implying community of nature, as in ver. 42. Compare 1 John iii. 8, 10.The Devil. See on Matt. iv. 1. John uses Satan only once in the Gospel (xiii. 27), frequently in Revelation, and nowhere in the Epistles. A few critics have adopted the very singular rendering, which the Greek will bear, ye are of the father of the devil. This is explained by charging John with Gnosticism, and making him refer to the Demiurge, a mysterious and inferior being descended from God, by whom God, according to the Gnostics, created the universe, and who had rebelled against God, and was the father of Satan. It is only necessary to remark with Meyer that such a view is both unbiblical and un-Johannine.
Lusts (epiqumiav). See on Mark iv. 19.
Ye will do (qelete poiein). Wrong. Properly, ye will to do. Rev., it is your will to do. See on vii. 17.
Murderer (anqrwpoktonov). Only here and 1 John iii. 15. Literally, a manslayer; from anqrwpov, man, and kteinw, to kill. The epithet is applied to Satan, not with reference to the murder of Abel, but to the fact of his being the author of death to the race. Compare Rom. vii. 8, 11; Heb. ii. 14.
From the beginning. Of the human race.
Stood not (ouk esthken). This may be explained in two ways. The verb may be taken as the perfect tense of isthmi, which is the form for the English present tense, I stand. In that case it would describe Satan's present standing in the element of falsehood: he standeth not in the truth. Or it may be taken as the imperfect tense of sthkw, I keep my standing, or simply, I stand, in which case the form will be esthken, and it will mean that even before his fall he was not true, or that he did not remain true to God, but fell. Meyer, who takes it in the former sense, observes: "Truth is the domain in which he has not his footing; to him it is a foreign, heterogeneous sphere of life.... The lie is the sphere in which he holds his place." So Mephistopheles in Goethe's "Faust":
"I am the spirit that denies! And justly so; for all things from the void Called forth, deserve to be destroyed; 'Twere better, then, were naught created. Thus, all which you as sin have rated, - Destruction, - aught with evil blent, - That is my proper element."
When he speaketh a lie (otan lalh to yeudov). More strictly, whenever - the lie, as opposed to the truth, regarded as a whole. Two interpretations are given. According to one, the Devil is the subject of speaketh: according to the other, the subject is indefinite; "when one speaketh;" stating a general proposition.
Of his own (ek twn idiwn). Literally, out of the things which are his own. "That which is most peculiarly his ethical nature" (Meyer).
For he is a liar, and the father of it (oti yeusthv esti kai o pathr autou). Three interpretations are given.
1. That of the A.V. and Rev. "He is a liar, and the father of the lie."
2. "He is a liar, and the father of the liar (since of it may also be rendered of him)."
3.Making oJ pathr aujtou, his father, the subject of the sentence, and referring his to one, the indefinite subject of speaketh ("when one speaketh a lie"). Thus the rendering will be, Because his father is a liar.As to Jesus' course of thought - if we accept either of the first two renderings, it turns on the character of Satan.
After stating that the Jews are children of the Devil, He goes on to describe the Devil as a murderer and a liar, and enlarges on the latter characteristic by saying that falsehood is his natural and peculiar element. Whenever he lies he speaks out of his own false nature, for he is a liar, and the father of the lie or of the liar. If we accept the third rendering, the thought turns rather on the character of the Jews as children of Satan. He utters first, the general charge, ye are the children of the Devil, and as such will do his works. Hence you will be both murderers and liars. He was a murderer, and ye are seeking to kill me. He stood not in the truth, neither do ye; for, when one speaketh a lie, he speaketh out of his own false nature, by a birthright of falsehood, since his father also is a liar. 33
