John 8:48

Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? THEN ANSWERED THE JEWS, AND SAID UNTO HIM, SAY WE NOT WELL THAT THOU ART A SAMARITAN, AND HAST A DEVIL? What intense and virulent scorn! (See ) The "say we not well" is a reference to their former charge, "Thou hast a devil," . "Samaritan" here means more than 'no Israelite at all:' it means one who pretended, but had so manner of claim to connection with Abraham-retorting, perhaps, His denial of their true descent from the father of the faithful....

48._Do we not say well? _They show more and more how greatly they are stupified by Satan; for, though they are fully convicted, still they are enraged, and are not ashamed to show that they are utterly desperate. (243) Besides, though they bring a double reproach against Christ, still they wish to do nothing more than to say in a few words, that he is a detestable man, and that he is actuated by a wicked spirit. The Jews reckoned _the Samaritans _to be apostates and corrupters of the Law; and therefore, whenever they wished to stamp a man with infamy, they called him _a Samaritan. _Having no crime more heinous, therefore, to reproach Christ with, they seize at random, and without judgment, this vulgar taunt. To express it in a few words, we see that with effrontery they curse him, as men are wont to do when, infuriated like enraged dogs, they cannot find any thing to say....

48-53 Observe Christ's disregard of the applause of men. those who are dead to the praises of men can bear their contempt. God will seek the honour of all who do not seek their own. In these verses we have the doctrine of the everlasting happiness of believers. We have the character of a believer; he is one that keeps the sayings of the Lord Jesus. And the privilege of a believer; he shall by no means see death for ever. Though now they cannot avoid seeing death, and tasting it also, yet they shall shortly be where it will be no more forever, Exodus 14:13....

Verse 48. _THOU ART A SAMARITAN_] This was the same, among them, as _heretic_, or _schismatic_, among us. This is the only time in which the Jews gave our Lord this title of reproach; and they probably grounded it on his having preached among them, and lodged in their villages. See the account in John 4:39; but Samaritan, among them, meant a person unworthy of any credit. _HAST A DEVIL?_] Art possessed by an evil spirit; and art, in consequence, deranged....

SAY WE NOT WELL - Say we not truly. THOU ART A SAMARITAN - This was a term of contempt and reproach. See the notes at John 4:9. It had the force of charging him with being a heretic or a schismatic, because the Samaritans were regarded as such. AND HAST A DEVIL - See John 7:20. This charge they brought against him because he had said that they were not of God or were not the friends of God. This they regarded as the same as taking sides with the Samaritans, for the question between the Jews and Samaritans was, which of them worshipped God aright, John 4:20. As Jesus affirmed that the Jews were not of God, and as he, contrary to al

EXPOSITION Verses 7:53-8:11 (8) _The pericope adulterae. _(A)_ Excursus on the genuineness of _John 7:53-43__John 7:53-43. It is our duty to examine the various grounds on which this passage has been almost universally concluded to have formed no portion of the original Fourth Gospel; and then the internal grounds on which it has been rejected, and some of the speculations as to its origin and value. Doubts have beset the authenticity of the passage from the fourth and fifth centuries in the Eastern Church, both on external and internal grounds. The authority and practice of Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome gave it a secure resting place till the criticism of Erasmus re-awakened doubt. Calvin expressed a more favourable opinion con

THEN ANSWERED THE JEWS, AND SAID UNTO HIM,.... Being incensed to the last degree, that he should say they were of their father the devil, and not of God; and that he spoke the truth, and no one could convince him of sin: SAY WE NOT WELL, THAT THOU ART A SAMARITAN? it seems they had said so before, though it is not recorded; and now they thought themselves justified in it, since he treated them, the true sons of Abraham, in such a manner; and the rather, since he had been lately among the Samaritans, and had in a parable spoken in favour of a Samaritan: they meant by this expression, that he was an irreligious man, and one that had no regard to the law of Moses; or at least played fast and loose with religion and the law, and was for any thing, as times served: the Jews had a very ill opinion of the Samaritans, on these accounts and to call a man a Samaritan, was all one as to call him a...

John 8:28. _Then said Jesus unto them;_ That is, to the Jews who were questioning and opposing him,- John 8:28. _When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things._ Blessed be God, there were many, after the crucifixion of Christ, who did. believe in him! Yet, alas! in others, the blindness of heart continued, and they would not see the Messiah in him who was crucified. We, who believe in the uplifted Saviour, can see the Father in the Son; and to us, faith has become a most blessed thing; and we know that he does nothing of himself, and that, as the Father has taught him, so he speaks....

DEVIL demon. (_ See Scofield) - (Matthew 7:22). _...

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The Woman Taken in Adultery. (John 8:1 .)_ 2. The Light of the World. (John 8:12 .) 3. His Testimony Concerning Himself and the Father. (John 8:13 .) 4. His Solemn Declarations. (John 8:21 .) 5. Before Abraham Was, I Am. (John 8:48 .) The first verse belongs to the preceding chapter. The officers returned without Him, bearing their testimony that “never man spake like this man.” Nicodemus ventured his timid defense. Then every man went to his own house while the Lord went to the Mount of Olives. The story of the woman