You do the works of your father. They said therefore to him: We are not born of fornication: we have one Father, even God.

“(tom. xx. 14.) Or their sonship to Abraham having been disproved, they reply by bitterly insinuating, that our Saviour was the offspring of adultery. But perhaps the tone of the answer is disputatious, more than any thing else. For whereas they have said shortly before, We have Abraham for our father, and had been told in reply, If ye are Abraham’s children, do the works of Abraham; they declare in return that they have a greater Father than Abraham, i. e. God; and that they were not derived from fornication. For the devil, who has no power of creating any thing from himself, (qui nihil facit ex se) begets not from a spouse, but a harlot, i. e. matter, those who give themselves up to carnal things, that is, cleave to matter.”

“(Hom. liv. 3) But what say ye? Have ye God for your Father, and do ye blame Christ for speaking thus? Yet true it was, that many of them were born of fornication, for people then used to form unlawful connexions. But this is not the thing our Lord has in view. He is bent on proving that they are not from God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God.”

“(Tr. xlii. 7.) The Jews had begun to understand that our Lord was not speaking of sonship according to the flesh, but of manner of life. Scripture often speaks of spiritual fornication, with many gods, and of the soul being prostituted, as it were, by paying worship to false gods. This explains what follows: Then said they to Him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”

“After the Lord showed that the Jews had some spiritual origin, here he excludes from them the origins which they presumptuously attributed to themselves, and first he excludes the origin which they said they derived from Abraham; second, the origin which they thought they had from God, at the place, "They said therefore to him: We are not born of fornication." Concerning the first he does two things. First he sets down the opinion of the Jews about their origin; second he excludes it, at the place, "If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham." Now it should be known concerning the first, that because the Lord had said to them, "what you have seen with your father, you do," therefore, glorying in their carnal generation, they transfer themselves to Abraham. Hence they say, "Abraham is our father," as if to say: if we have a spiritual origin, we are good, because Abraham our father is good; Psalm 104:6: "the seed of Abraham, his servants." And, as Augustine says, they were striving to provoke him to say something evil about Abraham, so that it might be an occasion for them to do what they were planning, namely, to kill Christ. But the Lord, consequently, when he says, "If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham," excludes this opinion of theirs as falsely put forward, and he sets forth first the sign owed to sonship of Abraham; second he shows that this sign is not in the Jews, at the place, "but now you seek to kill me"; third he concludes his proposition, at the place, "you do the works of your father." Now the sign of someone's sonship is that he be made like him whose son he is: for just as carnal children, for the most part, are made like their carnal parents, so also spiritual children (if they are truly children) ought to imitate their spiritual parents; Ephesians 5:1: "Be imitators of God, as most dear children." And as to this he says, "If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham"; as if to say: this would be the sign that you were sons of Abraham, if you imitated him; Isaiah 51:2: "Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you." But here a doubt arises, because he seems indeed to deny that they are sons of Abraham, speaking doubtfully, "if you are the sons of Abraham," whereas he had affirmed above, saying: "I know that you are the sons of Abraham." To this a twofold answer is given. In one way, according to Augustine, that above he affirmed them to be sons of Abraham according to the flesh; but here he denies that they are his sons according to the imitation of works, and especially of faith. Their flesh, then, was from him, but their life was not; Galatians 3: "they who are of faith, these are reckoned in the seed." In another way, according to Origen, that both refer to spiritual origin. But where we have: "I know that you are the sons of Abraham," in the Greek it is had: "I know that you are the seed of Abraham"; but here he says, "If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham"; because the Jews indeed, spiritually speaking, were the seed of Abraham, but not his sons. There is a difference between seed and son: for seed is something unformed, and yet it has in itself the natures of that of which it is the seed; but a son, once the seed has been transformed by the informative power, from the agent into the matter supplied to it by the woman, with nourishment superadded, has the likeness of the one who generated him. In the same way the Jews indeed were the seed of Abraham inasmuch as in them some trace of those things which God had infused into Abraham appeared; but because they had not arrived at the perfection of Abraham, therefore they were not his sons; and on account of this he says to them, "If you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham"; that is, strive toward the perfect imitation of his works. Now from the fact that he says, "do the works of Abraham," it seems that whatever he did, we too ought to do. Therefore we ought to take several wives, and go in to a handmaid, as Abraham did. I respond. It must be said that the chief work of Abraham is faith, by which he was justified before God; Genesis 15:6: "Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice." And therefore "do the works of Abraham" must be understood as: believe after the likeness of Abraham. But against this is the fact that faith does not seem able to be called a work, since it is distinguished as against works; James 2:26: "faith without works is dead." I respond. It must be said that faith can be called a work, according to that above, 6:29: "this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." But an interior work is not manifest to men, but to God alone, according to that in 1 Kings 16:7: "men see the things that appear, but God looks upon the heart." Hence it is that we are more commonly accustomed to call "works" those things which are exterior. Faith, therefore, is distinguished not from all works, but only from exterior ones. But must we do all the works of Abraham? To this it must be said that a work can be considered in two ways: either according to the species of the work itself, and in this way not all his works are to be imitated; or according to their root, and in this way the works of Abraham are to be imitated, because whatever he did, he did out of charity. Hence Augustine says that the celibacy of John is not preferred to the marriage of Abraham, since the root of both was the same. Or it must be said that all the works of Abraham are to be imitated as to their signification, because "all these things happened to them in figure," as is said in 1 Corinthians 10:11. Consequently, when he says, "but now you seek to kill me," he shows that the aforesaid sign of sonship is not in them, and first the works of the Jews are set down; second he shows these to be unlike the works of Abraham, at the place, "this Abraham did not do." Now the wicked and perverse works of the Jews are shown, because they were murderers; hence he says, "but now you seek to kill me"; Isaiah 1:21: "How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? Justice dwelt in it, but now murderers." But this murder was an inestimable sin against the person of the Son of God. Hence, because, as is said in 1 Corinthians 2:8, "if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory," therefore the Lord does not say that they seek to kill the Son of God, but a man: because although the Son of God is said to have suffered and died on account of the unity of the suppositum, this is not insofar as he is the Son of God, but on account of human weakness, because, as is said in 2 Corinthians, last chapter, 4: "if he was crucified through our weakness, yet he lives by the power of God." And in order the more to aggravate their murder, he shows that they had no cause of death against him; hence he adds, "who have spoken to you the truth, which I have heard from God." This truth is that he said he was equal to God; above, 5:18: "the Jews sought to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but also said that God was his father, making himself equal to God." He heard this truth from God inasmuch as from eternity, through eternal generation, he received from the Father the same nature which he himself has; above, 5:26: "as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself." Now he excludes two causes on account of which prophets were commanded to be killed in the law. First indeed on account of falsehood, Deuteronomy 13:5, where it is commanded that if any prophet should arise speaking falsehood, or a deviser of dreams, he should be killed: and this the Lord excludes from himself, saying, "who have spoken to you the truth"; Proverbs 8:7: "my throat shall meditate truth." Second, if any prophet should have spoken in the name of false gods, or in the name of God something which he himself had not commanded, he was to be killed, as is had in Deuteronomy 13:5. And this the Lord excludes from himself, when he says, "which I have heard from God." Consequently, when he says, "this Abraham did not do," he shows that their works are unlike the works of Abraham, as if to say: in this you prove yourselves not to be sons of Abraham, because you do works contrary to his works: for of him it is read, Ecclesiasticus 44:20, that "he kept the law of the most High, and was in testimony with him." But some object superfluously, that Christ did not yet exist before Abraham, and therefore Abraham did not do this: for he could not have killed one who did not exist. But it must be said that Abraham is not commended from the fact that he did not do this to Christ, but from the fact that he did not do it to a like person, that is, to those who at that time spoke the truth. Or it must be said that if Christ had not yet come in the flesh in the time of Abraham, he had nonetheless come into his mind, according to that in Wisdom 7:27: "through nations she conveys herself into holy souls"; and this one Abraham did not kill by sinning mortally: of which it is said in Hebrews 6:6: "crucifying again the Son of God, and making him a mockery." Consequently, when he says, "you do the works of your father," he concludes his proposition; as if to say: since you do not do the works of Abraham, therefore you have some other father, whose works you do. Something similar is had in Matthew 23:32: "fill up then the measure of your fathers." Consequently, when he says, "They said therefore to him: We are not born of fornication," he shows that they do not have their origin from God: for because they already knew from the Lord's words that he was not speaking of carnal generation, therefore they transfer themselves to spiritual generation, saying, "we are not born of fornication," and so on. Here first they set forth their opinion; second the Lord excludes it, at the place, "Jesus therefore said to them," and so on. Now in their opinion the Jews deny one thing and assert another. They deny that they were born of fornication: which indeed, according to Origen, they put forward to Christ as it were by way of reproach, covertly signifying that he had been produced from adultery; as if they said, "we are not born of fornication, as you are." But it can better be said that the spouse of the soul, spiritually, is God, Hosea 2:19: "I will espouse you to me." Now just as a bride commits fornication when, besides her carnal spouse, she admits another man; so, in the Scriptures, Judea was said to commit fornication when, deserting the true God, she clung to idols; Hosea 1:2: "the land committing fornication shall go a-whoring from the Lord." The Jews say therefore, "we are not born of fornication"; as if they said: if at some time our mother the synagogue, departing from God, committed fornication with idols, we nonetheless did not depart, nor did we commit fornication with idols; Psalm 43:18: "neither have we forgotten you, and we have not done wickedly in your covenant, and our heart has not turned back"; Isaiah 57:3: "come up hither, you sons of the fornicatress, the seed of the adulterer and of the harlot." They affirm, however, that they are sons of God: which seemed to follow from the fact that they did not believe themselves born of fornication; hence they say, "we have one Father, God"; Malachi 2:10: "is there not one Father of us all?" Jeremiah 3: "you shall call me Father." Consequently, when he says, "Jesus therefore said to them," etc., their opinion is refuted by the Lord, and first he sets forth the sign of divine sonship; second he assigns the reason for the sign, at the place, "for I proceeded and came from God," etc.; third he shows that they fall short of the aforesaid sign, at the place, "why do you not know my speech?" Now it should be known concerning the first, that above he said the sign of carnal sonship to be exterior works, which men perform outwardly; but here he sets down interior affection as the sign of divine sonship. For we are made sons of God through the communication of the Holy Spirit; Romans 8:15: "you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption." Now the Holy Spirit is the cause of the love of God, because "the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us": Romans 5:5. The special sign, therefore, of divine sonship is love; Ephesians 5:1: "be imitators of God as most dear children, and walk in love." And therefore he says, "If God were your father, you would indeed love me"; Psalm 24:21: "the innocent and the upright," who are the sons of God, "have stuck close to me." Now he assigns the reason for the sign, saying, "for I proceeded and came forth from God," and first he sets down the truth; second he excludes error, at the place, "for neither did I come of myself." Now the truth which he sets forth is that he proceeded and came from God. But it should be known that every friendship is founded in a conjunction; hence brothers also love one another inasmuch as they take their origin from the same parents. The Lord therefore says: you say that you are sons of God; but if this were so, you would love me, because I proceeded and came from God. Whoever, therefore, does not love me, is not a son of God. "I proceeded," I say, "from God," as the Only-begotten from eternity, from the substance of the Father; Psalm 109:3: "before the day-star I begot you"; above, 1: "in the beginning was the Word." But "I came," as the Word made flesh and sent by God through the incarnation; below, 16:28: "I came out from the Father," as the Word from eternity, "and am come into the world," as flesh, made in time. He excludes the error, however, when he says, "for neither did I come of myself": and first he excludes the error of Sabellius, who said that Christ did not have his origin from another, but imagined the Father and the Son to be the same in person. And as to this he says, "for neither did I come of myself"; that is, according to Hilary, I came not existing of myself, but as it were sent by another, namely by the Father; hence he adds, "but he sent me"; Galatians 4:4: "God sent his Son, born of a woman, made under the law." Second, the error of the Jews, who said that Christ was not sent by God, but was a false prophet: of whom it is said: "I did not send them, but they ran of themselves." And as to this he says, according to Origen, "for neither did I come of myself, but he sent me." This one Moses was asking for: "I beseech you, Lord, send whom you will send." Now he shows that they fall short of this sign, when he says, "why do you not know my speech?" For, as was said above, love of Christ is the sign of divine sonship; but these men did not love Christ: hence it is manifest that they fall short of this sign. Now that they do not love, they show through its effect: for an effect of someone's love is that the one who loves gladly hears the words of the one loved. Hence Song of Songs 2:14: "let your voice sound in my ears, for your voice is sweet." And Song of Songs, last chapter, 13: "make me hear your voice: the friends hearken to you." Because, therefore, these men did not love Christ, it seemed hard to them even to hear his voice; above, 6:61: "this saying is hard: who can hear it?" Wisdom 2:15: "he is grievous to us, even to behold." Now it happens that someone does not gladly hear the words of another, because he cannot examine them and consequently cannot know them, and therefore they contradict them; Job 6:29: "answer, I beseech you, without contention... and you shall not find iniquity in my tongue." And therefore he says, "why do you not know my speech?" — saying and asking, "what is this that he said: where I go you cannot come?" And this, I say, you do not know for this reason, because you cannot hear my word; that is, you have so hard a heart toward me, that you do not even wish to hear my word.”

“Ye do the works of your father. He persists in saying that they were not Abraham’s children, but does not say whose children they were. Then said they unto Him, We be not bom of fornication, &c. Origen, Cyril, and Leontius think that in these words they implicitly reproached Him with His own birth. An atrocious statement, which the Pharisees studiously propagated, to detract from our Lord’s credit and authority. But it would have been atrocious blasphemy. (2.) Euthymius and Rupertus suppose it to be only an assertion of their descent from Sarah, and not from Hagar, and thus not spurious, or in a secondary rank. (3.) We are not born of spiritual fornication, £*., idolatry. We are not Hagarenes, who were idolaters. Rupertus objects that to make out this meaning the word 11 but” should have been inserted. But Maldonatus maintains that such particles are often omitted, adding that fornication in the prophets means idolatry, as being spiritual fornication, drawing away the soul from its true Spouse (see Hos. L 2). Theophylact explains it to mean, “ We are not born of mixed marriages of Jews and Gentiles, which were forbidden, and counted illegitimate by the Jews.” (4.) The Jews reply in a straightforward manner, Abraham is our true earthly father; and one is our Father, even God in heaven. Your charge is therefore false. You unjustly claim the God of Abraham for thyself alone, and exclude us from sonship with Him, and hand us over to another father, the devil, making us spurious, and consequently infamous”

“Ye are of your father the devil,.... Not of his substance, but by imitation and example; and as being under his authority and influence, his instructions and directions, and ready to follow after him, and obey his commands; the word "your" is rightly supplied, and is in some copies: and the lusts of your father ye will do; the Syriac and Persic versions read in the singular number, "the lust", or "desire of your father"; by which may be particularly meant, his eager desire after the death of Christ, which he showed at different times; he instigated Herod to seek to destroy his life in his infancy, and when he was just entering on his public ministry, he tempted him to destroy himself; and often stirred up the Scribes and Pharisees, to stone him or kill him, some other way; and at last put it into the heart of one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, to betray him: this looks as if though the devil had a notion of the salvation of men by Christ, yet that he thought, as some erroneous men have also done, that it was only by his doctrine and example, and therefore he was in haste to get him out of the world, that he might not be useful, or any more so that way; and not by the shedding of his blood, the sacrifice of himself, or by his sufferings and death, in the room of sinners; or otherwise it is scarcely credible, that he would have sought his death so earnestly: now this selfsame lust and insatiable desire after the death of Christ prevailed in the Jews; and they were resolute and bent upon fulfilling it at any rate, nor could anything divert them from it; this is the thing Christ is speaking of in the context, and is what fully proved the devil to be their father, and them to be his children: he was a murderer from the beginning; he was not only spoken of from the beginning, as he that should bruise the Messiah's heel, or should compass his death, but he was actually a murderer of Adam and Eve, and of all their posterity, by tempting them to sin, which brought death and ruin upon them; and who quickly after that instigated Cain to slay his brother; and has had, more or less, a concern in all murders committed since; and has been in all ages, and still is, a murderer of the souls of men; and therefore is rightly called Abaddon, and Apollyon, which signify the destroyer: the phrase, "from the beginning", does not intend the beginning of his own creation; for he was created a holy creature, was in the truth, though he abode not in it; and was in an happy state, though he lost it: nor strictly the beginning of time, or of the creation of the world, which were some days at least before the fall of man, when the devil commenced a murderer; but it being very near it, therefore this phrase is made use of: the Syriac version renders it, "from Bereshith", which is the first word in the Hebrew Bible, and is frequently used by the Jewish Rabbins for the six days of the creation; and if Adam fell, as some think, the same day he was created, it might be properly said that the devil was a murderer from thence. Philo (p) speaks of Eve's serpent, as , "a murderer of man"; applying to this purpose the text before referred to, Gen 3:15; and abode not in the truth; neither in the integrity, innocence, and holiness, in which he was created; nor in veracity, or as a creature of veracity, but spake lies, and formed one, by which he deceived Eve, saying, "ye shall not surely die", Gen 3:4, when God had said they should, Gen 2:17; nor in the truth of the Gospel, which was at least in part made known unto him; particularly that the Son of God should become man, and in that nature be the head of angels and men: this he and his associates, in the pride of their hearts, not bearing that the human nature should be exalted above that of theirs, left their first estate, broke off their allegiance to God, and turned rebels against him: because there is no truth in him; not that this is a reason why he continued not in the truth, for there was originally truth in him; though he abode not in it; but a reason, showing there was none in him now, since he was fallen from it, and abode not in it; there is no truth in him, that is natural and genuine, and essential to him; and if at any time he speaks it, it is not from his heart, but because he is forced to it, or has an evil design in it: when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; that is genuine and natural, of his own devising, willing, and approving: for he is a liar, and the father of it; he was a liar, as early as he was a murderer, or rather earlier; it was with a lie he deceived, and so murdered our first parents, and he has continued so ever since; he was the first author of a lie; the first lie that ever was told, was told by him; he was the first inventor of one; he was the first of that trade; in this sense the word "father" is used, Gen 4:20; so the serpent is by the Cabalistic Jews (q) called, the lip of lie, or the lying lip. (p) De Agricultura, p. 203. (q) Lex. Cabalist. p. 724.”

“Ye do the deeds of your father - You have certainly another father than Abraham - one who has instilled his own malignant nature into you; and, as ye seek to murder me for telling you the truth, ye must be the offspring of him who was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, Joh 8:44. We be not born of fornication - We are not a mixed, spurious breed - our tribes and families have been kept distinct - we are descended from Abraham by his legal wife Sarah; and we are no idolaters. We have one Father, even God - In the spiritual sense of father and son, we are not a spurious, that is, an idolatrous race; because we acknowledge none as our spiritual father, and worship none as such, but the true God. See Bishop Pearce.”

“We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God. These Jews perceived that Christ had hinted that they were not the true and faithful sons of Abraham; and therefore they replied in this manner. But Christ answered, if God was your Father, if you were his dutiful children, you would also believe in me, and love me; for I have proceeded from him, and am come from him, his true Son: and now sent into the world by him. But you cannot hear my word, because you will not, by your own wilful obstinate blindness. (Witham)”