John 8:44

This was the result and evidence of their paternity: ὑμεῖς … [τοῦ πατρὸς is read by all recent editors]. “Ye are of the father who is the devil.” The translation, “of the father of the devil,” i.e., the (Gnostic) God of the Jews, is, as Meyer says, thoroughly un-Johannine. Perhaps a slight pause before the culminating words τοῦ διαβόλου would emphasise them and show that this had been in His mind throughout the conversation. Being, of this parentage they deliberately purpose [θέλετε] and not merely unintentionally are betrayed into the fulfilment of his desires. Their origin is determined by the fact that “from the first the devil was a manslayer”. To what does ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς refer? Since the beginning of the human race, or since men first were killed; not since the devil's beginning. Cyril and some others think it is the first murder, that of Abel, that is in view (cf. 1 John 3:15), but far more probably it is the introduction of death through the first sin (Wis 2:23-24). So almost all recent commentators. Some think both references are admissible (see Lücke). καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὐχ ἕστηκεν, “and stands not in the truth”. R.V [70] has “and stood not”; so the Vulgate “et in veritate non stetit”. W.H [71] adopt the same translation, reading οὐκ ἔστηκεν, the imperfect of στήκω, I stand; but good reasons against this reading are given by Thayer s.v. ἕστηκεν is the usual perfect of ἵστημι with the sense of a present. The reference therefore is not to the fall of the angels, but to the constant attitude of the devil; οὐκ ἐμμένει, Euthymius. “The truth is not the domain in which he has his footing.” Meyer, Weiss. He does not adhere to the truth and live in it. The reason being, ὅτι … αὐτῷ, “because truth is not in him”. There is not in him any craving for the truth. He is not true to what he knows. His nature is so false that ὅταν λαλῇ τὸ ψεῦδος ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων λαλεῖ, “whenever he speaks what is false, he speaks of his own”. “But the article may mean ‘the lie that is natural to him,' ‘ his lie' ” (Plummer). ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων means that he speaks out of that which is characteristically and peculiarly his (cf. Matthew 12:34); “because he is” this is his character and description “a liar and his father,” i.e., he is himself a liar and the father of all liars. This is added to reflect light on the first statement of this verse. So Holtzmann and most recent interpreters. But Weiss rightly defends the reference of αὐτοῦ to ψεῦδος as in A.V [72] Westcott proposes to translate: “Whenever a man speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for his father also is a liar”. Paley renders: “When (one) utters … he is speaking from his own, because he is a liar, and (so is) his father”. Westcott's translation makes excellent sense and suits the context and gives a good meaning to the ἰδίων, but, as he himself owns, the omission of the subject (ὅταν λαλῇ) is certainly harsh; it may be said, impossible.

[70] Revised Version.

[71] Westcott and Hort.

[72] Authorised Version.