Saying they were the spiritual children of God (John 8:41) meant that these Jewish authorities knew the will of God and did the will of God. In other words, they thought and acted in the same manner they believed God would. Otherwise, the relationship between man and God has no meaning, because God didn’t physically beget human children. The Jewish faith isn’t anything like the Greek religion, where gods rape one another, kill one another and show themselves as having the same lusts as mankind. However, although they understood a child of God is one spiritually, Jesus told them their statement that they were children of God couldn’t be true. Had they really been God’s children, they would have loved Jesus, for he had come to them from God as his physical representative. Jesus came willingly to witness to them, because God had sent him (John 8:42). Therefore, how could they be God’s children, if they didn’t believe the very one God had sent to them? Then Jesus asked: “Why don’t you understand my speech?” and immediately he answered his own question, saying: “Because you cannot hear my word!” (John 8:43).
The Greek word for speech is lalia (G2981). The same word is used to identify Peter as a Galilean, because of the way he talked (Matthew 26:73). The Pulpit Commentary tells us that this same Greek word “is used for any manifestation of sound: a voice, the babble of children, the cries and songs of beasts or birds…” If one listens intently one can understand what children want. They may be hungry, want to be held, desire a toy etc. When a beast cries out or a bird chirps out its song, they may be announcing their fear, identifying their territory, courting a hopeful mate, or they may simply be at play etc. So, if the Jewish authorities listened intently to Jesus, rather than seeking to find fault, they would have understood his claim of origin (cp. Matthew 25:73 above) and his purpose.
The Greek word logos (G3056), which is translated word in the text, denotes reasoning power. Beasts and birds don’t communicate with words, so they have no advanced communicative reasoning power, but humans do. Yet, Jesus’ enemies couldn’t understand his speech, because they were of the flesh, and he of the spirit (John 3:6). Jesus reasoned with them, but God wasn’t speaking to them (John 6:44-45) to draw them to Jesus, because they weren’t putting themselves in a place where they would listen to God. Instead of listening to Jesus’ speech (John 8:43), and knowing his origin (cp. John 3:1-2) and believing God sent him with a message (cp. John 3:11-12), they sought for an opportunity to seize him and kill him (John 7:25). How could anyone behaving in such a manner be willing to listen for what God might tell him?
When folks begin with a certain worldview of the spirit world, it is difficult for them to see another worldview of spirits, when spirits are the subject of a discussion. Gentiles came out of the Greek worldview of the spirit world, and mistakenly read that worldview into the Bible, when it mentioned Satan and demons etc. Therefore, since this wasn’t corrected, many folks, even today, seem to believe that, when the Jewish authorities stubbornly rejected Jesus’ claim to his origin, he then resorted to an ad hominem slur, telling them they were of their father the Devil (John 8:44).
Nevertheless, the Bible never once speaks of an evil spirit being called the Devil or Satan. Those words mean slanderer (devil) and enemy (satan). In other words, the words describe the spiritual mood of human persons. For example, when two of David’s friends offered him evil advice, he called them his adversaries (2Samuel 19:22), and the same word translated adversaries is translated Satan in 1Chronicles 21:1 for no apparent reason other than the worldview of the translator.
In the case at hand, Jesus was referring to Adam, he was the father of lies. He lied to Eve about God, and in doing so, he not only murdered her but, in effect, the entire human race. Adam murdered humanity, and the Jewish authorities were murdering the very nation they led, because they refused to listen to the very one God sent to them to save them. Jesus claimed they would rather believe what the slander (the flesh/Adam) said against him than the truth he offered them.
Jesus concluded by saying because he tells them the truth, they don’t believe, and why? Not one of them was able to prove any of the lies (slander) they said about him, because Jesus told the truth and was able to support his claims. His miracles proved God was with him. Only those who are of God are able to hear him (cp. John 6:44-45). Yet, these men, these leaders of the nation, cannot hear him, because they’d rather believe lies (John 8:45-47).
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22 responses to “You Are of Your Father, the Devil!”
That’s a really good point, Dave. If the Lord **created** male and female, they didn’t exist in any form prior to his creation of them.
Greetings Dave and thank you for these questions. Yes, I am familiar with these scriptures, and I am not burdened with your bringing them up.
Concerning Luke 10:17-18, I have a study on this subject, if you care to read it: The Mission of the Seventy.
Concerning 2Peter 2:4, once again, I have a study on this scripture too: The Angels Who Sinned.
Concerning Ezekiel 28:14-17, I also have a study on this, but I took out the index to these studies, because I wanted to work on them a bit, before republishing. One can still reach each study, but one would have to know what one is looking for. With the index removed, it is more difficult to find these studies. Anyway, the one which replies to your question is called: The Subtlety of Adam.
Yes Dave I too have always considered the masculine reference to be generic. The issue has become problematic in modern times. The general public no longer sees the masculine reference as generic. When God created Man, He created Man in His own image and likeness, male and female. [God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.] Genesis 1:26-27. But as Eddie points out how did God come into existence? My explanation came from Genesis 1:1-3. The force we call God the Father was a dark watery abyss. Ruach (feminine Hebrew noun) the Spirit full of energy, hovered over the dark watery abyss and the Darkness almost overcame her, but it did not. Out of the deep dark watery abyss God said Let there be light. And there was that first day. Exodus 19:19 says …Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder. There are other verses that support the Hebrew belief that God’s voice was in thunder.
Greetings Linda, while I understand that your reply is to Dave, I wish to reply as well.
Linda, what you seem to be doing, if I’m reading you correctly, is reading modern manners of understanding our times into an ancient text, seeking to make **our** understanding define what is said there, rather than letting it speak to us. The author (Moses) could never have understood our modern concepts of male/female issues, when he wrote Genesis. If this is logical and true, then, if we take your understanding to its ultimate end, Moses didn’t know what he was talking about, and if this is so, why believe him?
So, in what way are we “thunder” and how are we “light” and how does “thunder” and “light” become ONE?
I never asked this question. The opposite is true. I challenged **your** statement that God came into existence. I said God (Father and Son) existed eternally.
You have a problem in your explanation. First of all, the ‘dark watery abyss’ was a physical thing. How do you get ‘spirit’ out of a physical, lifeless thing? Secondly, there is no past eternity of matter. The physical is constantly breaking down into unusable elements. This means that the physical, lifeless stuff, which includes space had to have come into existence at one point in the past. What brought the ‘dark watery abyss’ into existence? It couldn’t have been God, because you’re telling us that **it** brought God into existence.
You are taking Moses’ description of what he heard and saying ‘thunder’ **IS** God’s voice.
Hi Linda, I find your comments interesting. And since we are having a friendly dialogue I feel I can disagree without you getting angry and I appreciate that. I also believe that the concept of modern times has no relevance to how we interpret scripture any more than seeing earthquakes and hurricanes points to end times. My understanding that male and female are unique to this world and won’t exist in heaven either (no marriage or given in marriage) Further I think that assigning sex to God or any of his Triune personages (yes I am still a Trinitarian) resembles greek mythology with its bizarre tales of sex between gods, vindictiveness, and so on
Further much of this will remain a mystery until we get to heaven. At that point it seems clear that as we will no longer be bound by the concept of time any more than we will be bound by the concept of male and female. Makes sense to me particularly as I think about which of my dad’s two wives he would be with now in heaven!