ACC ~ John 8 v41b

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.