ACC ~ John 8 v41B - 47

OVERVIEW:

When they reply that they were not born of fornication, they have either begun to realize that Jesus is charging them with spiritual fornication by attacking their manner of life (AUGUSTINE), or they have chosen to respond to Jesus with a more vindictive retort (ORIGEN), implying that his own birth was in question, having been born of fornication rather than conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). They do not deny they have a human father, as Jesus does. As far as their heavenly Father is concerned, however, he is the Father of those who love Jesus and keep his commandments, which they are not doing.

The Son then speaks of how God is his Father. He mentions both his procession and his coming from the Father (ORIGEN). Proceeding from the Father is not the same as to come from the Father: proceeding refers to his eternal procession, while to come forth referred to his incarnation (HILARY, AUGUSTINE). Jesus emphasizes his being sent by his Father, and in doing so may also be alluding to those who have not been sent by the Father (ORIGEN). These cannot hear the Word because they do not believe (AUGUSTINE). Such hearing can only be restored by the Word who heals the deaf (ORIGEN).

Jesus now tells them who their real father is: the devil (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). We should not think that anyone is created as a son of the devil by nature, since it is also true that one who may have previously been a son of the devil can become a son of God, whose sonship they demonstrate as they lead a life of love. As a father who desires disobedience, the devil desires the opposite of what a true father would expect from his children. Our desires too, as much as our deeds, demonstrate who our father is (ORIGEN).

The devil, as the serpent in the garden, is shown to be a liar and murderer from the beginning (IRENAEUS), having murdered the soul (AUGUSTINE) and the image of God that had been given to Adam, thus bringing death to the whole human race. As a liar, he even deceives himself (ORIGEN). But no one should think that the devil was made with a sinful nature, as if he had no other choice when he lied and murdered “from the beginning.” Rather, our Lord says that “he did not remain in the truth,” which means there was at least some point when he was in the truth (AUGUSTINE). The devil was a liar from the beginning, and so it is no surprise that those lie who follow him: Ordinary people lie; extraordinary people do not (ORIGEN). The devil not only was the first to generate lies, he also was the first to introduce and use them (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA).

The fact that Jesus here condemns as unbelievers those whom John had previously said believed must mean that they believed the miracles but not the truth he had to impart. Jesus is asking of the whole human race (ORIGEN): Who of you convicts him of sin? It is the enemies of truth who seek to convict Jesus of sin (CHRYSOSTOM). Jesus, in turn, convicts the leaders of the Jews (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). True hearing of the Word implies obedience (THEODORE OF HERACLEA). We are called to hear with the ears of our heart (GREGORY THE GREAT).

8:41b | We Were Not Born of Fornication

CHARGED WITH SPIRITUAL FORNICATION

AUGUSTINE: They began somewhat to realize that the Lord was not speaking of carnal generation but of their manner of life. The Scriptures, which they read, often call it in a spiritual sense “fornication,” when the soul is, as it were, prostituted by subjection to many false gods. That is why they made this reply. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 42.7. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:236**.

VINDICTIVE RESPONSE

ORIGEN: I ask whether those Jews who are said to have believed in him [1] do not respond rather vindictively, because they were reproved as not being children of Abraham, by hinting in a veiled manner that the Savior was born of fornication. They assume this as probable because they do not accept his famous and widely discussed birth from the Virgin. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.128. [2]

[1] See Jn 8:31.

[2] FC 89:233; SC 290:220.

QUESTIONING THE VIRGIN BIRTH

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The unbelieving Jews were clearly sick with bitter and unholy conceptions of our Savior Christ. They thought that the Holy Virgin had been corrupted—I mean the Lord’s mother—and that she gave birth to a child conceived not of the Holy Spirit or of operation from above but rather conceived by one of those on the earth. They were either so entirely without faith and without understanding that they did not take into account the prophetic writings, even though they clearly heard, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” [1] Or, looking only to the flesh and following the common order of events, they did not even consider how divine nature works beyond speech—a nature for which nothing is impossible. They also did not consider that for God all that is good is possible. Rather, they believed that there is no way that a woman could conceive other than by coming together with her husband. Sick with such suspicion, the wretched ones dared to question the birth of the wondrous offspring that had been enabled by the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5.5. [2]

[1] Is 7:14.

[2] LF 43:641-42**.

JESUS HAS NO MAN AS FATHER

ORIGEN: The Savior said that God was his Father [1] and acknowledged no man as his father. Hence it is likely because of the statement “We have not been born of fornication,” that, to give offense, they in turn add, “We have one father, God.” It is as if they were saying, “We are the ones who have one Father, God, rather than you, who claim to have been born of a virgin, though you were born of fornication. You boast that you have been born of a virgin by saying that you have God alone as your one Father. We who acknowledge God as our Father do not deny that we also have a human father.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.130. [2]

[1] See Jn 5:18.

[2] FC 89:233; SC 290:220-22.

8:42 | Love for the Father and the Son

GOD IS THE FATHER OF THOSE WHO LOVE JESUS

ORIGEN: If, then, the [conditional] proposition is true, “If God were your father, you would love me,” it is clear that the [conditional] contrary to this is also true: If you do not love me, God is not your Father. God is not the Father, therefore, of those who do not love Jesus. And there was a time when Paul did not love Jesus. There was a time, then, when God was not Paul’s Father. Paul, therefore, was not a son of God by nature, but later he became a son of God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.137-38. [1]

[1] FC 89:235; SC 290:224-26.

KEEPING COMMANDMENTS

ORIGEN: Now, at what other time does God become one’s father than at the time one keeps his commandments? It is because of these commandments that one who was not formerly a son of the father in heaven becomes his son, when the Father leads the one who becomes his son to regeneration, and is called “Father.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.140. [1]

[1] FC 89:236; SC 290:226.

THE SON IS IN THE FATHER

ORIGEN: But when one compares the condition that resulted from having taken up the form of a servant after he had emptied himself [1] with that former condition of the Son, you will understand how the Son has proceeded from God and has come to us, and [how he] has come out, as it were, of the one who sent him, even if, in another manner, the Father has not left him alone but is with him, [2] and is in the Son just as also the Son is in the Father. [3] For unless you understand that the Son is in the Father in a different way than he was before he proceeded from God, it will seem contradictory that he has both proceeded from God and, after he has proceeded from God, is still in God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.155-56. [4]

[1] See Phil 2:7.

[2] See Jn 8:29.

[3] See Jn 14:10.

[4] FC 89:238-39; SC 290:232.

TO PROCEED IS NOT THE SAME AS TO COME

HILARY OF POITIERS: The Son of God here was not condemning the devout confidence of those who combine their confession that he is true God, the Son of God, with their own claim to be God’s children. What he is condemning here is the rash presumption of the Jews in claiming God for their Father when they did not love the Son: “If God were your Father, you would surely love me; for I proceeded from God.”… His proceeding is obviously different from his coming, for the two are mentioned side by side in this passage: “For I proceeded and came from God.” In order to elucidate the difference between “I proceeded from God” and “I came,” he further explains, “I did not come on my own, but he sent me.” These words tell us that he is not the source of his own existence. They also tell us that he has proceeded forth a second time from God [in the incarnation] when he was sent by him. But when our Lord says that those who called God their Father ought to love him because he has proceeded from God, there he means that his being born of God was the reason why he should be loved. This proceeding carries back our thoughts to the incorporeal birth, for their claim that God was their Father was supposed to be evident in their loving Christ who was begotten from God. For when the Son says, “Whoever hates me hates my Father as well,” this my is an assertion of his relationship to the Father that no one else has…. No one can worship the Father except those who love the Son. For the one and only reason that he gives for loving the Son is his origin from the Father, not by his advent [i.e. his incarnation] but by his birth [i.e., his eternal generation]. [1] And love for the Father is only possible for those who believe that the Son is from him. ON THE TRINITY 6.30. [2]

[1] Nativitas here means the eternal generation, as is normally the case with Hilary.

[2] NPNF 2 9:109**.

THE SENDING OF CHRIST AND HIS ETERNAL PROCESSION

AUGUSTINE: The sending of Christ is his incarnation. But the proceeding forth of the Word from God is an eternal procession…. From him, then the Son proceeded forth as God, the equal, the only Son, the Word of the Father. And he came to us, for the Word was made flesh [1] that he might dwell among us. His coming indicates his humanity. His staying indicates his divinity. It is his Godhead toward which we make progress, and it is by his humanity that we are able to make that progress. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 42.8. [2]

[1] Jn 1:14.

[2] NPNF 1 7:237**.

AN ALLUSION TO THOSE NOT SENT BY THE FATHER

ORIGEN: I think these words were spoken because there were some who came without being sent by the Father. Jeremiah teaches of such people who promise some teaching or prophecy, where it is written, “I did not send these prophets, yet they ran.” [1] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.160. [2]

[1] Jer 23:21.

[2] FC 89:239**; SC 290:234.

8:43 | You Cannot Bear to Hear My Word

THEY DO NOT BELIEVE

AUGUSTINE. And they could not hear because they refused to believe and amend their lives. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 42.9. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:237*.

HEARING RESTORED BY THE DIVINE WORD

ORIGEN: First then, we must acquire the ability to hear the divine word so that subsequently we may also be able to know the whole teaching of Jesus. For it is possible that, though one previously could not hear Jesus’ word, he attains the ability to hear it, because one cannot hear until his hearing is healed by the Word who says to the deaf, “Be opened.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.163-64. [1]

[1] FC 89:240**; SC 290:236.

8:44a | You Are of Your22 Father the Devil

ANOTHER BLOW TO THEIR PATRIMONY

CHRYSOSTOM: He had already driven them out of their relationship to Abraham. And when they dared greater things, he then adds another blow, telling them not only that they are not Abraham’s children but that they are even children of the devil. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 54.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:195**.

THEY KEEP CHANGING FATHERS

AUGUSTINE: How long are you going to keep speaking of a father? How often will you change your fathers—at one time Abraham, at another God? Hear the Son of God tell you whose children you are: “You are of your father the devil.” [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 42.9. [2]

[1] Augustine goes on to warn against any type of Manichaean dualism that would assert a certain family of darkness that is equal to the family of God.

[2] NPNF 1 7:237*.

LOVING ONE’S ENEMIES MAKES ONE A CHILD OF GOD

ORIGEN: These words make it very clear that one is not a child of the devil as a result of creation, nor is anyone said to be a son of God because he was so created. It is also clear that one who was previously a child of the devil can become a child of God. Matthew also reveals this when he records that the Savior spoke as follows: “You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, you shall love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may become children of your Father who is in heaven.” [1] For note that by [obeying] the commands, “Love your enemies” and “Pray for those who persecute you,” he who previously was not a child of the Father in heaven subsequently becomes his child. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.106-7. [2]

[1] Mt 5:43-45. Origen is arguing against Gnostic determinism.

[2] FC 89:228-29; SC 290:210-12.

8:44b | Your Father’s Desires

THE DEVIL DESIRES DISOBEDIENCE

ORIGEN: For such is the meaning of the words “You will to do your father’s desires.” But we must say in reference to these matters that the devil desires, let us say, that this boy be corrupted, and that this woman commit adultery and that these men visit prostitutes. By the power of these desires, [the devil] makes the desire to do the things that he wishes to effect serve him so that, according to this, one could say that the one [i.e., the devil] who causes the prostitution or adultery practices prostitution and commits adultery even before the human becomes involved. And you will say the same thing also about every sin, that is to say, the devil does not desire money, but he desires to make people lovers of money and passionately desirous of material things. And those who love money, even if all they do is wish for it, will to carry out this desire of his. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.179-80. [1]

[1] FC 89:244; SC 290:246.

WHAT WE DESIRE MATTERS

ORIGEN: If we do the works of God and wish to do his desires, we are children of God. But if we do the works of the devil and wish to do what he desires, we are of our father the devil. Let us pay attention, then, not only to what we do but also to what we desire. For even to wish to do the desires of the devil is sufficient to be his child. Perhaps this is why the words “You wish to do the desires of your father” are added after the statement “You do the works of your father,” so that we may learn that even if we merely wish to do what the devil desires, we will still be called the children of the devil. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.193-94. [1]

[1] FC 89:247; SC 290:252-54.

8:44c | A Murderer from the Beginning

THE SERPENT IN EDEN

IRENAEUS: For those who tasted of the tree died. And the serpent is proved a liar and a murderer, as the Lord said of him: “For he is a murderer from the beginning, and the truth is not in him.” AGAINST HERESIES 5.23.2. [1]

[1] ANF 1:552**.

MURDER OF THE SOUL

AUGUSTINE: You are his children because of your desires, not because you are born of him. What are his desires? “He was a murderer from the beginning.” This explains why “your will is to do your father’s desires.” “You seek to kill me, a man who tells you the truth.” The devil, too, harbored ill will toward the human race and killed it. For the devil, in his envy of the human race, assumed the guise of a serpent and spoke to the woman, and from the woman he instilled his poison into the man. They died by listening to the devil, [1] who they would not have listened to had they but listened to the Lord. For man [humankind], having his place between [God], who created, and [the devil], who was fallen, should have obeyed the Creator, not the deceiver. Therefore “he was a murderer from the beginning.” Look at the kind of murder he did. The devil is called a murderer not as armed with a sword or steel. He came to humanity, sowed his evil suggestions and killed him. Do not think then that you are not a murderer when you persuade your brother to evil. If you persuade your brother to evil, you kill him. And to let you know that you kill him, listen to the psalm: “The sons of men [humankind], whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” [2] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 42.11. [3]

[1] See Gen 3:1.

[2] Ps 57:4 (56:5 LXX, Vg).

[3] NPNF 1 7:238*.

KILLING OUR IMAGE OF GOD

ORIGEN: But notice also the statement “In Adam all die, and in Christ all shall be made alive.” [1] … By observing these words you will perceive the life of man according to the image. [2] And when you have understood what his life is, you will perceive in what manner the murderer killed the living man, and that he will correctly be called a murderer, not because he killed some particular individual but because he killed the whole race insofar as “in Adam all die.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.224. [3]

[1] 1 Cor 15:22.

[2] Gen 1:26.

[3] FC 89:253; SC 290:268.

THE DEVIL IS SELF-DECEIVED

ORIGEN: And the reason why truth is not in him is that he has been deceived and accepts lies, and he has himself been deceived by himself. On this basis he is considered to be worse than the rest of these who are deceived, since they are deceived by him, but he creates his own deception himself. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.244. [1]

[1] FC 89:257; SC 290:278.

SIN BEGAN IN THE DEVIL, AND HE WAS THE BEGINNING OF SIN

AUGUSTINE: Someone may object that the words of the Lord about the devil [here]… are to be understood as if he was not only a murderer from the beginning of the human race when human beings, whom he could kill by his deceit, were made; but also that he did not abide in the truth from the time of his own creation and was accordingly never blessed with the holy angels. Instead he refused to submit to his Creator and proudly exulted as if in a private lordship of his own. In this way he was deceived and deceiving…. But they do not notice that the Lord did not say, “The devil was naturally a stranger to the truth” but “The devil did not remain in the truth.” By this, he meant us to understand that the devil had fallen from the truth in which, if he had remained, he would have become a partaker and would have remained in blessedness along with the holy angels….

They [1] suppose [according to 1 John 3:8] that the devil was made with a sinful nature, but they misunderstand the passage; for if sin is natural, it is not sin at all. And how do they answer the prophetic proofs—either what Isaiah says when he represents the devil under the person of the king of Babylon, “How you are fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” [2] or what Ezekiel says, “You were in Eden, the garden of God…” [3] where it is meant that he was at some point without sin? For a little after, it is still more explicitly said, “You were perfect in your ways.” [4] And if these passages cannot be interpreted properly in any other way, then we must understand by this passage also, “He did not remain in the truth,” that he was once in the truth but did not remain in it. And from this passage, “The devil has sinned from the beginning,” it is not that he sinned from the beginning of his created existence; rather, sin began in him, and he was the beginning of sin. CITY OF GOD 11.13, 15. [5]

[1] HE WORD IN THE BEGINNING | JOHN 1:1

[2] Is 14:12.

[3] Ezek 28:13.

[4] Ezek 28:15.

[5] NPNF 1 2:213**.

ORDINARY PEOPLE LIE, EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE DO NOT

ORIGEN: If one carefully considers human nature, which is not easily purified of false teachings, one sees that, as “everyone is a liar,” [1] not everyone has stood in the truth. If someone is not a liar and has stood in the truth, he is not an ordinary person but is like those to whom God says, “I have said, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High.’” [2] … But when the Holy Spirit or an angelic spirit speaks, it does not speak from its own resources but from the Word of truth itself and from wisdom. This is made clear in the Gospel according to John below where Jesus teaches about the Paraclete, saying, “He will receive from me and will declare it to you.” [3] Whenever the lie speaks, however, it speaks from its own resources…. We then who are human beings should hurry and flee with all our strength to become “gods” since, to the extent that we are human, we are liars, just as the father of the lie is a liar. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.241-42, 263-64, 266. [4]

[1] Ps 116:11 (115:2 LXX).

[2] Ps 82:6 (81:6 LXX).

[3] Jn 16:14.

[4] FC 89:257, 260-61**; SC 290:276-78, 286.

THE GENERATOR OF LIES AND THE FIRST TO USE LIES

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: When Satan, he says, speaks lies and similar words, he does not use those of others but his own. He is the father of falsehood because he generated it and was the first to use it by speaking to Adam when he substituted certain words in place of others. The expression “He is a liar and the father of it” signifies that he is a liar and the father of lies. In other words, the devil not only generated lies. He was also the first to introduce them and to use them. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 3.8.44. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:176.

8:45 | Not Believing the Truth

WHAT ABOUT THE JEWS WHO BELIEVED HIM?

ORIGEN: We must question how he says, to people who believe in him, “because I speak the truth, you do not believe in me.” Consider whether it is possible to believe in someone in one particular aspect but not to believe in another aspect. For instance, one could believe that Jesus was crucified in Judea in the time of Pontius Pilate but not believe that he was born of the Virgin Mary. This one believes and disbelieves in the same person. Take, as another example, those who believe in the Jesus who performed the recorded wonders and signs in Judea but who do not believe in the Son of the one who made heaven and earth. These believe and disbelieve in the same one….

It is likely that they believed in him on the basis of what was seen because of his marvelous deeds, but they did not believe in his deeper sayings…. You see this even in the present, that there are many people who marvel at Jesus whenever they consider the story about him but who no longer believe when a teaching that is deeper and greater than their capacity is disclosed to them, but instead suspect it to be false. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.268-70, 274-75. [1]

[1] FC 89:261-62**; SC 290:288-90.

8:46a | Which of You Convicts Me of Sin?

THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE

ORIGEN: Now, so far as the literal meaning is concerned, the text also involves the Savior’s boldness, since no man could say with the confidence that he had not sinned, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” It is only our Lord “who did not sin,” [1] “who has been tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.” [2] He is the only one able to address these words to all who have ever known him. Now, I understand the words “which of you” to be said not only to those present but also to the whole human race, as if we were to understand it to mean: Who of your race? Or, what sort of person will be able to convict me of sin? But be assured: there is no one. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.277-78. [3]

[1] 1 Pet 2:22.

[2] Heb 4:15.

[3] FC 89:263; SC 290:292.

ENEMIES OF TRUTH OFFER CONVICTION

CHRYSOSTOM: You want to kill me, then, because you are enemies of the truth. It is not because you have any fault to find in me, for “which of you convicts me of sin?” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 54.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:195*.

8:46b | Do You Not Believe Me?

JESUS CONVICTS THE LEADERS OF THE PEOPLE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: We must not think that all the Jews were utterly immersed in ill-tempered foolishness. [1] Rather, some had “a zeal for God,” as Paul said, “but it was not yet enlightened,” [2] and these therefore delayed a little regarding the faith. But regarding those who were thus disposed we shall blame the unholy scribes and Pharisees… whose boundless unbelief stirred the others to wrath and intemperately kindled them to bloodthirstiness. For the scribes and Pharisees were the leaders and the ones who persuaded their subjects to go along with their sacrilege. It is fitting therefore that they are accused as having “taken away the key of knowledge,” [3] and neither entering themselves, they hinder others. Therefore, when Christ says, “Why do you not believe me?” he is primarily speaking against the leaders. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.1. [4]

[1] A decisive passage for contemporary relevance to Jewish-Christian dialogue. See also comments on 7:40-49.

[2] See Rom 10:2.

[3] Lk 11:52.

[4] LF 43:660**.

8:47 | One Who Is of God Hears the Words of God

THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND OBEY ARE TRULY “OF GOD”

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: “He who is of God hears the word of God.” He says that those who believe are “of God,” namely, those who obey his decrees, because they take their example of piety from him and, coming into possession of virtue, they are called children of God. He does not say that they have been born of God as far as their nature is concerned. None of them exist as some portion of his nature, which after all cannot be divided or separated. Only by his own will and good pleasure does he grant them to be of God. He interprets the previous text by what follows, for he says to the unbelieving, “Therefore you did not hear, because you are not of God.” Just as he said that the unbelievers were alienated from God not because of their nature—for they too were from him—but because of their choice, so in the same way he also says that those who hear him are of God because of the willingness of their faith and the virtue of their resolution. When he speaks of those who hear him, he does not mean those who hear him merely with the ears that perceive words, but rather those who obey the words that he spoke. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 66. [1]

[1] JKGK 82-83.

HEAR WITH THE EARS OF YOUR HEART

GREGORY THE GREAT: Let each one of you then consider within himself if this voice of God prevails in the ears of his heart. Then he will recognize whether he is now of God. There are some who do not choose to hear God’s commands even with their bodily ears. There are others who do this but do not embrace them with their heart’s desire. There are still others who receive God’s words readily, yes, and are touched, even to tears. But afterwards they go back to their sins again and therefore cannot be said to hear the word of God, because they neglect to practice it. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 16. [1]

[1] CS 123:114**.