John 8:41-47

SATAN'S CHILDREN

Text 8:41-47

41

Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

42

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but He sent me.

43

Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word.

44

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.

45

But because I say the truth, ye believe me not.

46

Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe me?

47

He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Queries

a.

What do the Jews mean by saying, We were not born of fornication?

b.

Why did the Jews not understand Jesus-' teaching?

c.

What do we learn of the nature of the devil in this section?

Paraphrase

You are manifesting the nature and doing the works of your spiritual father, the devil. They replied, We are the children of our true father, even God, and we are not the illegitimate children of a spiritually adulterous union with another father. Jesus said to them, If you were the children of the true Father, God, then you would honor Me as His Son and love Me, for I came here from the presence of the Father to be among men; I have not come merely upon my own authority and witness, but manifesting the authority of the Father. Why will you not understand what I say to you? It is because you wilfully refuse to receive my message into your hearts. You are the offspring of your father, the devil, and it is evident because you intentionally do the schemes and works of your father, the devil. He planned and executed the murder of the human race in his heart from the beginning of the world, and he has not one iota of relationship to the truth because there is no truth in his nature. When he lies he merely speaks out of the very essence of his nature for he is a liar and the originator of the lie itself. It is plainly for the very reason that I say the truth that you do not believe in Me. Yet, which of you is able to prove Me guilty of ever committing a sin or telling a lie? He that is a child of God will hear God's words. And this is just the reason you will not hear His message which I have brought, because you are not akin to the nature of God.

Summary

Jesus openly charges these Jews with being the children of Satan. Then He vividly gives the reasons for this terrible indictment. The Jews are exhibiting the nature of the devil by their rebellion to God's Son, their lies, and their open intention to kill Jesus. They cannot be the children of God for they reject His word, not erroneously, but wilfully.

Comment

In rebuttal to Christ's inference that they were bondservants to sin, these Jews had vociferously claimed descendancy from Abraham (cf. John 8:33). Now Jesus infers more pointedly than ever that Abraham is not their father. The Lord is talking about spiritual kinship! He admitted their physical relationship to Abraham (John 8:37), but denied their spiritual kinship (John 8:39) to him, And now, in John 8:41, Jesus implies that they are the offspring of a spiritual father other than Abraham.

Their pride wounded and their ire aroused, these men exclaim We were born of no adulterous union, we have never had any spiritual father but Jehovah-God. In the Old Testament God was, in a special sense, the Father of Israel (cf. Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 32:6; Isaiah 63:16; Isaiah 64:8; Malachi 2:10). When Israel forsook Jehovah and worshipped any other God, she was said to have gone awhoring after strange godsto have committed spiritual adultery (cf. Judges 2:17; 1 Chronicles 5:25; Ezekiel 6:9; Hosea 2:4; Hosea 4:12; Hosea 5:4).

As most commentators point out, either one of two meanings may have been intended here in the answer of these Jews. When they said to Jesus that they were not the children of any adulterous union, they might have meant (a) they did not belong to a nation of idolatersspiritual adulterers, or (b) they were not born physically of adulterous parentsinferring that Jesus was, for the Jews had very early circulated the story that Mary, mother of Jesus, had been unfaithful to Joseph and had a lovera Roman soldier by the name of Pantheraand that Jesus was the child of this adulterous union. In view of the context, we prefer the first interpretation. These Jews knew that Jesus was talking about their spiritual relationship to God for they defended themselves by claiming God as their Father. By emphasizing their spiritual kinship to God they were inferring that Jesus was Himself the spiritual descendant of another father (the devil) (cf. John 8:48).

Jesus states in John 8:42 a very basic truth. The spiritual parentage of any man is known by his manifest relationship to Jesus Christ. The Lord said it earlier in this manner, Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them (cf. Matthew 7:15-20; also John 5:42-43; John 5:46; 1 John 5:1). William Barclay says it so well, Here again is the key thought of the Fourth Gospel. The test of a man is his reaction to Jesus. To be confronted with Jesus is to be confronted with judgment. Jesus s the touchstone of God by which all men are judged. (The Gospel of John, Vol. 2,by Wm. Barclay, p. 33, Saint Andrew Press.) If they were true loving, obedient, believing children of God they would have loved Jesus because He came revealing Himself as the Incarnate God. He gave abundant witness to His claims by signs and wonders performed in their very midst (cf. Matthew 9:1-8). Their trouble was that they did not want Him as their Messiahthey refused to surrender their ideas to the will of God and, as a result, refused to recognize Jesus (cf. John 7:17).

The Great Cross-examiner continues with His indictment. The next few verses (John 8:43-47) contain tremendously incriminating questions and statements. The Divine Barrister not only elicits the facts of the case, but He also lays bare the motives of those indicted.

Jesus asks them the piercing question, Why do ye not understand my words? And before they have opportunity to deny or rail irrelevantly He answers for them the answer that is evident to all honest-hearted menthey simply refuse to hear His teaching, not out of ignorance, but out of their rebellious and evil nature. They are like their forefathers of whom the prophet wrote, To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it (Jeremiah 6:10). (cf. Ezekiel 12:2; Zechariah 7:11; Matthew 11:25-26; 2 Timothy 4:4; 1 Corinthians 2:14.) They could not understand because they would not hear. They could not understand the spiritual nature of Christ's Messiahship because they wilfully carnalized their hearts.

Their failure to recognize Jesus as the Christ is due, as Jesus continues to explain, to their willing submission to the devil. They voluntarily became Satan's cohorts. There is the answer; terrifying in all its stark reality and horrible implications. They cannot bear or tolerate the truth of God, so they embrace false doctrine and willingly choose error and lies rather than truth. Thus they become sons of Helloffspring of Satanfor the devil by his very nature stands in no kinship whatever to the truth. It is his very nature and work to deceive and when he speaks a lie, he merely expresses his character. He was a murderer from the beginning of time. He seduced the whole human race when he deceived Adam and Eve. He brought the penalty of death upon us all in the Garden.
The verdict in the charge against these Jews, then, must be Guilty. They were seeking how they might kill Jesus who was completely innocent of any of their accusationshence they were murderers at heart. Not only that, they could not tolerate the truth and thus they manifested their spiritual kinship to the devil.

What a morally impeaching indictment John 8:45 brings upon these Jews. Because Jesus spoke the truth, they rejected Him. There was no doubting now whose side they were onthe devil'S. How reprobate has a man become when truth is rejected because it is truth and error is received and practiced because it is error (cf. Romans 1:18-32). Are there not those today, even in the guise of being religious seekers after the truth, who reject truth because it is truth and receive a lie because it is a lie?

Then comes the challenge, Which of you is able to convict me of sin? What a dramatic moment! None but the Son of God would dare to make such a challenge. There must have been a silent pause while Jesus waited for anyone to speak out. Were there none who could convict Him of some sin or falsehood? Not one! Neither here nor forever after! By their silence they admitted that they could find no sin, falsehood or inconsistency in Himthen why did they not accept His words?

The answer is inevitable! They were not, as they claimed to be, sons of God. The man that is of God (or is disposed toward righteousness, truth, justice and the attributes that are God's nature) will listen and endeavor to obey God's word. But these men were haters of the truth and lovers of darkness (cf. John 3:19-21) and it was evident that they were not of God.

May God grant us the wisdom, courage and conviction to accept the truth (wherever it is) because it is the truth, and reject that which is false (wherever it is) because it is false?

Quiz

1.

What did the Jews probably mean by their answer, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God?

2.

What is the basic truth asserted in John 8:42?

3.

Why could they not understand Jesus-' words?

4.

What is significant in John 8:45?

5.

What is the inevitable answer to Jesus-' questions in John 8:46?