You are from your father the devil, and you want to satisfy the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and he was not based on the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks lies, he speaks of his own, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
8:44 You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do the wishes of your father. — Children of the devil were not born, but they were children of the devil because they were imitators of him; the devil’s wishes and their wishes were the same. Everything they did against Jesus was, then, their normal behavior. It was to be expected that they would oppose Christ, because they lived to carry out the wishes of his father. Jesus then names two of the devil’s main desires: the desire to kill and the desire to lie. — He has been a murderer from the beginning, — By seducing the first woman he caused death (Gen 2:17; Gen 3:3; Romans 5:12). The Jews were already murderers (1Jn 3:10; 1Jn 3:15), and only the opportunity to put Christ to death was lacking. —and has not remained in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of himself; because he is a liar, and the father of lies. — Jesus speaks of the sins of killing and lying because, as far as his opposition to Him, they were the two main sins of the Jews.
Source: Commentary on the New Testament by Partain
You are of your father the devil. Joh 8:38, Joh 8:41; Joh 6:70; Gen 3:15; Matt 13:38; Ac 13:10; 1Jn 3:8-10, 1Jn 3:12.
He has been a murderer from the beginning. Gen 3:3-7; 1Ki 22:22; 1Ch 21:1; Jas 4:1-7; 1Pe 5:8; Rev 2:10; Rev 9:11; Rev 13:6-8; Rev 20:7-9.
and did not remain in the truth. 2Pe 2:4; Jude 1:6.
When he speaks a lie Gen 3:4, Gen 3:5; 2Ch 18:20-22; Job 1:11; Job 2:4-6; Acts 5:3; Ac 13:10; 2Co 11:3; 2Co 11:13-15; 2Thess 2:9-11; Rev 12:9; Rev 13:14; Rev 20:2, Rev 20:3, Rev 20:10; Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15.
Source: The Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
your father: Jesus knew what was in people’s hearts (Joh 2:25), so he could trace his actions back to their source. the devil is a murderer; His agents wanted to murder Christ.
IN CONTEXT
Jesus and “the Jews”
Jone is more hostile to “the Jews” than the other three Gospels. When they speak of Jesus’ opponents, they specify the Jewish leaders, such as priests or scholars, but John simply calls them “the Jews” (Joh 5:16). In the Gospel of John, “the Jews” is a technical term that means the opponents of Jesus, not all people of the Jewish race.
John reports that Jesus went so far as to say that the Jews were not descended from Abraham: “your father the devil” (Joh 8:44). Physically, they came from Abraham, but spiritually there was no resemblance. However, not all Jews opposed Jesus. Furthermore, Jesus himself was a Jew. So were the twelve disciples. So was the vast majority of his other followers.
John probably wrote his Gospel in the last quarter of the first century, just after the Jewish leaders had driven their fellow Christians out of the synagogues because they had grown weary of them. If so, this book was written during the crisis of a Christian-Jewish antagonism. Many of the Christians were Jewish by race, and many continued to honor Jewish traditions, such as the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. But many began to think that they were different. Religiously speaking, they were followers of Jesus and the Jews who still worshiped in the synagogues were not.
Source: New Illustrated Caribbean Bible Commentary
HE IS A LIAR, AND FATHER OF A LIE. Lying is specifically mentioned as a characteristic of the devil; he is the source of all lies (Gen 3:1-6; Acts 5:3; 2Thess 2:9-11; Rev 12:9). It is a sin totally opposed to the mind of God, which is the truth (Rev 19:11). Indifference to the sin of lying is one of the most unmistakable symptoms of a state of godlessness, and is an indication that one has not been born of the Spirit (Joh 3:6), but is under the influence of Satan as his spiritual father (see Joh 4:24note; Rev 22:15note).
Source: Full Life Study Bible
your father the devil. Behavior is what really shows the condition of son. A son will exhibit the characteristics of his father (cp. Eph 5:1-2). Since the Jews followed Satan’s example of behavior with their enmity towards Jesus and his inability to believe in Him as Messiah, their paternity was precisely the opposite of what they claimed, (ie they belonged to Satan). He has been a murderer from the beginning. The words of Jesus refer to the fall, the moment in which Satan tempted Adam and Eve and managed to destroy the spiritual life that God had given them (Gen 2:17; Gen 3:17-24; Romans 5:12; Hebrews 2:14). Some think that it could also refer to the occasion in which Cain murdered Abel (Gen 4:1-9; 1Jn 3:12).
Source: MacArthur Study Bible
8:44 You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do the wishes of your father. — Children of the devil were not born, but they were children of the devil because they were imitators of him; the devil’s wishes and their wishes were the same. Everything they did against Jesus was, then, their normal behavior. It was to be expected that they would oppose Christ, because they lived to carry out the wishes of his father. Jesus then names two of the devil’s main desires: the desire to kill and the desire to lie.
— He has been a murderer from the beginning, — By seducing the first woman he caused death (Gen 2:17; Gen 3:3; Rom 5:12). The Jews were already murderers (1Jn 3:10; 1Jn 3:15), and the only thing missing was the opportunity to put Christ to death.
—and has not remained in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of himself; because he is a liar, and the father of lies. — Jesus speaks of the sins of killing and lying because, as far as his opposition to Him, they were the two main sins of the Jews.
Source: Reeves-Partain Notes
This verse is a puzzle for the translators. He begins by literally saying “You are of the father of the devil,” which had been anticipated in v. Joh 8:38. The emphasis is on the pronoun “you” referring to the Jews. The problem is where to put the comma: “you belong to your father, the devil”, “your father is the devil”, “you belong to the devil father”. There is also the possibility of understanding this sentence as a resemblance between father and children, something like the saying “like wood, like splinter”, that is, “you are very similar to your father the devil”. The climax of Jesus’ denunciation is that his hearers are “children of the devil.” “And the wishes of his father want to do.” In some cultures, it will be necessary to be more specific about desires, to distinguish good desires from sinful ones: “And the immoral desires of their father they like to practice” or “and their interest is to follow the evil intentions of their father”. Following the context, it would be good to define those wishes in terms of homicide and lying: “and their father’s wishes, which are to kill and lie, they like to do”. “Your father is the devil, and you try to do what he wants” (TLA).
In some languages it is difficult to translate “from the beginning” without referring to which beginning, nor can it be translated giving the idea that the devil exists from all eternity. “He has always been a murderer”, followed by the literal expression “and in the truth he was not firm”, is translated “and he has never been on the side of the truth”, “and all his life he has been a liar” or “ he has never lived for the truth.” The RSV translates “and he has nothing to do with the truth”, while the NEB says: “and he is not rooted in the truth”. They are also good translations: “The devil has been a murderer from the beginning. He does not hold to the truth, and he never tells the truth »(DHH),« From the beginning he was a murderer and he has nothing to do with the truth »(LPD).
Because there is no truth in it is understood as “he never speaks the truth” or “in no way does he say what is true”. Jesus’ argument advances: the devil is not only a murderer and a liar, but by nature he is false. “When he speaks, from his lie he speaks” is a faithful idea, as well as the translation of the BP: “when he tells lies, he speaks his language”. The idea is that the very nature of the devil is to lie, which is why the TEV translates: “he is doing only what is natural to him.” For some readers, this last translation may not be clear. The point Jesus makes here about deception needs to be clearly communicated. It would be better to translate with something like: “when he tells a lie he is only doing what belongs to the devil”, “he is only doing what he likes to do”, “When he tells lies, he speaks as what he is”. The reason for this is literally expressed as “because he is a liar and the father of her”, “because he is a liar and the father of all lies”. It will be more difficult to translate in some languages father of lies. The meaning of “and makes people lie” is also unclear. The idea is that the devil breeds falsehood and lies. Better to translate the sentence as an explanation of the very being of the devil: “because he is false and breeds all kinds of lies” or “because he lives full of falsehood and makes all people live by falsehood”. The following translations capture the idea of the text very well and express it clearly in Spanish: «Your father is the devil, and you try to do what he wants. He has always been a murderer and a great liar. Everything he says is just lies, and he makes people lie »(TLA); “Your father is the devil; you belong to him, and you try to please him in his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand by the truth. That is why he has nothing to do with the truth. When he lies, he speaks of what he has inside, because he is a liar and the father of lies »(BI).
Source: Commentary for Exegesis and Translation
Wis 1:13-16; Sat 2:24; (watch Gen 3:4; Rev 12:9).
Source: Hispano-American Interdenominational Translation
GRADES
(1) “The lie”, J17,22. Lit., “she.”
CROSS-REFERENCES
x488 Mat 4:1; Matt 13:39; 1Pe 5:8; Rev 12:9
and 489 Gen 3:15; Matt 12:34; Ac 13:10
z 490 1Jn 3:8
to 491 Gen 3:4; 2Co 11:3; Rev 12:9
Source: New World Translation
Devil. This name means “slanderer” and he is the accuser of the brothers (Rev 12:10; cp. Job 1:9– eleven). Among the fallen angels, he is the highest ranking (Mt 25:41; Rev 12:7, 9).
you want to make wishes. As children of Satan, they persist in doing the deeds that displease God.
murderer. The devil had seduced Adam to do what would bring him death (Rom 5:12). Likewise, the Jews were plotting the Lord’s death (vs. 40; cf. 7:1, 25).
Source: The Bible of the Americas
44 (1) Since the devil is the father of sinners, they are his children (1Jn_3:10). The devil is the old serpent ( Rev_12:9 ; Rev_20:2), and sinners are also serpents, a brood of vipers ( Mat_23:33 ; 3:7). Therefore, they need the Lord to be lifted up in…