A stranger from the inheritance, so is the sinner: Job 27: The rich man, when he shall sleep, shall carry nothing with him: Galatians 4: The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman .
54. I know that you are children of Abraham. After the liberation through the teaching of Christ has been shown, the boasting of the Jews is here emptied, because they boasted that they were free by nature: and indeed the Lord does this in this order. First he indicates a twofold kind of sonship: according to nature and imitation: second he shows that by imitation they are not children of Abraham; third, that they are not children of God: fourth, that they are children of the devil.
(Vers. 37.). First therefore a twofold kind of sonship is indicated: by nature and by imitation: by natural generation, when he says: I know that you are children of Abraham, namely begotten according to the flesh: Isaiah 51: "Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you"; and this father you have by generation, but another you have by imitation: whence he says: But you seek to kill me, because my word does not take hold in you: Ecclesiasticus 21: "The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, it will hold no wisdom"; Proverbs 9. And this indeed is a work of iniquity, and according to this you have another father, whom you imitate: whence:
55. (Vers. 38.). I speak what I have seen with my Father, imitating him: Ephesians 5: "Be imitators of God as most beloved children." And you do what you have seen with your father; whence you have a father by imitation. Just as these had a twofold father: according to the flesh and imitation: so Abraham had two kinds of children; Romans 9: "Not all who are the seed of Abraham are children, but those who are the children of the promise."
56. (Vers. 39.). They answered and said to him. Here the second point is touched upon: for it is shown that they are not children of Abraham by imitation, as they themselves boasted; on account of which they said to him: Abraham is our father. They repeat this because he had said that they were doing the works of their father: and the Lord shows that he did not mean that father: therefore Jesus says to them: If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham, that is, if you wish to be children by imitation, as you are according to the flesh: do the works of Abraham, otherwise you will boast in vain; Matthew 3: "And do not presume to say: We have Abraham for our father; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." And because you do not do the works of Abraham, by destruction of the consequent, neither are you to be called his children. Therefore he says:
57. (Vers. 40.). But now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God, and thus a just and innocent man; this however Abraham did not do, because it is unjust and is prohibited by the Law; Exodus twenty-three: "The innocent and the just you shall not put to death." Therefore the father whom you imitate is another; on account of which he adds:
58. (Vers. 41.). But you do the works of your father. Chrysostom: "The works of Abraham were faith, obedience, meekness: yours, unfaithfulness, impiety, and cruelty."
They therefore said to him. Here the third point is touched upon; for it is shown that they are not children of God. For since they had already understood that he was speaking of a spiritual father, therefore they commend themselves as being children of God, as worshipers of him, not given over to idolatry, which is called fornication in Scripture; whence he says: They therefore said to him: We are not born of fornication, fornicating with idols, according to that passage of Jeremiah two: "Under every leafy tree you have played the harlot"; and: "You have polluted the land with your fornications"; not so we, but we have one father, God, whom we worship according to his command; Exodus twenty: "You shall not have strange gods before me." Him they did not have; Malachi one: "If I am a Father, where is my honor? And if I am a Lord, where is my fear?" And because they gloried in vain, he shows that they are not children of God; whence he adds:
59. (Vers. 42.). Jesus said to them: If God were your father, you would surely love me, as your brother, because the spirit of adoption is the spirit of love; Romans eight: "You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, in which we cry: Abba, Father." For I proceeded from God, namely as Son by generation; and I came, into the world through the incarnation, and just as I was begotten by him, so also I was sent; whence: neither did I come of myself, but he sent me. I did not come by my own authority; Hebrews five: "Christ did not glorify himself to be made high priest"; on the contrary, Jeremiah twenty-three: "They ran, and I was not sending them"; likewise Exodus four: "I beseech you, Lord, send whom you are about to send." And yet you do not love me; and this he proves by asking them:
60. (Vers. 43.). Why, he says, do you not recognize my speech? namely by believing in me. The reason for this was hatred, because you cannot hear my word, on account of hatred and envy; Wisdom two: "He is grievous to us to behold."
61. (Vers. 44.). You are of your father the devil. Here the fourth point is touched upon; for having shown that they are not children of God, he shows that they are children of the devil, so that all their glory may be emptied. And he proposes, when he says: You are of your father the devil: the word of does not indicate generation there, but imitation of example; Ezekiel sixteen: "Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite"; and First John three: "He who commits sin is of the devil."
He proves this, because they imitate him; whence: you want to do the desires of your father. These are the desires about which First Timothy, last chapter, says: "Many useless and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and perdition." He shows that they imitate him in two things, namely in murder and lying: in lying there is the crookedness of the intellect, in murder of the affection. Therefore he says: He was a murderer from the beginning, that is, after the beginning of the human race; because he led the first man to death by promising life and denying death: "You shall not die at all, he said," Genesis three, and Wisdom two: "God created man imperishable, but by the envy of the devil death entered the world," etc. And in this you imitate him; as was said above, you want to kill me. You also imitate him in lying: whence he says: And he did not stand in the truth: rather, he fell into falsehood and vanity; Isaiah fourteen: "How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who rose in the morning"? Because truth is not in him. For on account of the sin of pride he did not recover: Ezekiel twenty-eight: "You have been brought to nothing and shall not be forever." When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own, because he has it from himself, with no other suggesting it. But he is a liar and his father, that is, of lying: Job, second to last chapter: "He is king over all the children of pride." Augustine says: "The father of lying is the devil, the father of truth is God. Depart from the father of lying and run to the father of truth; embrace the truth, that you may receive freedom." The children of this father are all liars, who hate the truth. And such were the Jews; and the Lord proves this, that they hate the truth: whence he says:
62. (Verse 45.). But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me, and thus you hate the truth: the Psalm: "O sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart?" And because they could say: we do not disbelieve on account of hatred of truth, but of iniquity: therefore he adds:
63. (Verse 46.). Which of you convicts me of sin? As if to say: no one can. On this account it is said in reproof in Job fifteen: "You reprove with words him who is not equal to you." Why then do you not believe me? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? This is certainly not on account of my fault, but your malice; and this he proves:
64. (Verse 47.). He who is of God hears the words of God, First John four: "He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us"; but you do not hear, and why? Therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God, but rather of the devil: Sirach three: "A good ear will hear wisdom with all desire"; on the contrary, the Jews did not hear: Acts seven: "Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit."
65. The Jews therefore answered and said. After the liberation has been shown and the boasting of the Jews has been emptied out, here is expressed their indignation at the Lord's rebuke. And the sign of indignation is the hurling of insult. First is set forth the hurling of insult; second, the patient response; third, the reason for the patient response.
(Verse 48). First they hurl insults: Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Because the Lord had said that they were not children of Abraham but of the devil, they therefore return a twofold insult: the first against the first: You are a Samaritan, not a son of Abraham; the second against the second: You have a demon, you do not imitate God but the devil, by whose instruction you teach and by whose aid you perform signs; whence Matthew 12: "By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he casts out demons."
66. (Verse 49). Jesus answered. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the patient response, because he does not respond to the whole insult but to a part. Whence he says: I do not have a demon, by whose power I would perform works for my own glory; but I honor my Father, who is in heaven, because he did all things for the glory of the Father, according to that word of the Apostle in First Corinthians 10: "Do all things for the glory of God." And you have dishonored me, by inflicting insult, and consequently you have also dishonored the Father; above in chapter 5: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him."
67. (Verse 50). I do not seek my own glory. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the reason for the patient response. For he was not responding in order to glorify himself; but he endured their insult, not because it was true, but because he did not care about glory; on account of which he says: I do not seek my own glory, and therefore I do not respond to your insult; Jerome: "He who does not seek glory does not feel insult." Therefore I do not care about the insult inflicted, but nevertheless do not think yourselves free from fault and from fitting retribution; whence he says: There is one who seeks and judges, namely the Father, who seeks the glory of the Son; below in chapter 12: "And I have glorified and will glorify again"; and judges: as if to say: I reserve it to his judgment. Gregory: "The Son reserves the insults inflicted upon him to the judgment of the Father, so that he may surely teach us how patient we ought to be, since he who judges does not yet wish to avenge himself."
Questions.
68. Question I. But here first a question is raised about what is said in the text: You do what you have seen with your father. For they had never seen the devil. And moreover, could they not also sin by themselves?
Response: It must be said that although man can have knowledge of sin by himself, there are nevertheless few or no sins in which the devil does not interpose his part by suggesting. And they are said to see the works of their father the devil when they see his suggestions in their heart and fulfill them in deed.
69. Question II. Likewise, it is asked concerning what he says: You are of your father the devil. From this the Manichaean argues that the Lord is not the maker and creator of evil men.
To this Augustine responds that father here is used not of one who begets by origin, but by imitation. Similarly, the preposition from does not here denote origin in first being, but in second being. Hence Augustine: "Here they are called sons not by being born, but by imitating." Adam did not wish to imitate God by obeying, and he imitated the devil by consenting to sin.
70. Likewise, an objection is raised concerning what he says: He was a murderer from the beginning.