The Jews therefore answered, and said to him: Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

“(Tr. xliv. 1. 2) And to imitate His patience first, if we would attain to His power. But though being reviled, He reviled not again, it was incumbent on Him to deny the charge. Two charges had been made against Him: Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil. In reply He does not say, I am not a Samaritan: for Samaritan means keeper; and He knew He was a keeper: He could not redeem us, without at the same time preserving us. Lastly, He is the Samaritan, who went up to the wounded, and had compassion on him.”

“(Hom. xviii. in Evang.) See; when God suffers a wrong, He does not reply reproachfully: Jesus answered, I have not a devil. An intimation this to us, that when reproached by our neighbours falsely, we should not retort upon them by bringing forward their evil deeds, however true such charges might be; lest the vehicle of a just rebuke turn into a weapon of rage.”

“Or they called Him a Samaritan, because He transgressed the Hebrew ordinances, as that of the sabbath: the Samaritans not being correct observers of the law. And they suspected Him of having a devil, because He could disclose what was in their thoughts. When it was that they called Him a Samaritan, the Evangelist no where says: a proof that the Evangelists left out many things.”

“After he had set down the condition of the devil, the Lord here consequently shows that the Jews are imitators of the devil's condition. Now the Lord ascribed two conditions of malice to the devil, namely homicide and lying. As to homicide, indeed, in which these men were imitating the devil, he had reproved them above, in the same place: "But now you seek to kill me, a man who have spoken to you the truth, which I have heard from God" (John 8:40). And therefore, passing over this, he rebukes them for their aversion from the truth, and first he shows that they are averse from the truth; second, he excludes the cause which they could have alleged, at the place, "Which of you shall convict me of sin?"; third, he concludes to the true cause of their aversion, at the place, "If I say the truth, why do you not believe me?" He says therefore first: it has been said that the devil is a liar, and the father of lying, whom indeed you imitate, because you do not wish to adhere to the truth. Hence he says, "But if I say the truth to you, you do not believe me." Luke 22:67: "But if I shall say to you, you will not believe me." And above, John 3:12: "how, if I shall tell you heavenly things, will you believe?" Whence also Isaiah 53:1 complains, saying: "Lord, who has believed our report?" Now the cause of their unbelief, which the Jews could allege, was sin in Christ; for even in speaking the truth, a sinner is not easily believed. Whence Psalm 49:16: "But to the sinner God has said: Why do you declare my justices?" They could therefore say: we do not believe, because you are a sinner. And so he excludes this cause, saying: "Which of you shall convict me of sin?" As if to say: you have no just cause why you do not believe me when I speak the truth, since no sin can be found in me; 1 Peter 2:22: "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." According to Gregory, the meekness of God is to be weighed, who does not disdain to show by reason that he is not a sinner, he who by the power of his divinity could justify sinners; Job 31:13: "If I have despised to abide judgment with my manservant, or my maidservant, when they had any controversy against me." Also to be admired is the singular excellence of Christ's purity, because, as Chrysostom says, no man could say this with confidence — "Which of you shall convict me of sin?" — except our God alone, who did no sin; Proverbs 20:9: "Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?" As if to say, no one but God alone. And in Psalm 13:3: "They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that does good, no not one," that is, except Christ. Now he concludes to the true cause of their aversion, saying: "If I say the truth, why do you not believe me?" And first he sets this down; second he excludes the Jews' contradiction, at the place, "The Jews therefore answered," and so on. As to the first he does three things. First he sets down the question; second he assumes a reasonable proposition; third he infers the intended conclusion. He says therefore first: since then you cannot say that you do not believe me because I am a sinner, it now remains to ask why, if I say the truth, you do not believe me, since I am not a sinner; as if to say: if you, who hold me in hatred, cannot convict me of sin, it is manifest that you hate me on account of the truth, because I say that I am the Son of God; Proverbs 18:2: "A fool receives not the words of prudence, unless you say those things that are in his heart." Now he assumes a reasonable and true proposition, saying: "He that is of God, hears the words of God." For as it is said in Ecclesiasticus 13:19, "every beast loves its like," so whoever is of God, insofar as he is such, has a likeness to the things that are of God, and adheres to them. Whence he that is of God gladly hears the words of God; below, John 18:37: "Everyone that is of the truth, hears my voice." And the word of God ought especially to be gladly heard by those who are of God, since it is itself the seed by which we are begotten into sons of God; below, John 10:35: "He called them gods, to whom the word of God was spoken." And therefore from this he infers the intended conclusion, saying: "Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God"; as if to say: therefore my sin is not the cause of your unbelief, but your malice; Ecclesiasticus 6:21: "How exceedingly bitter is wisdom to unlearned men." And, as Augustine says, they are indeed of God according to nature, but they are not of God by fault and depraved affection; for this word was said to those who were not only vitiated by sin — for this was common to all — but also foreknown as those who would not believe with that faith by which they might be freed from the bond of sins. Now it must be noted that there is a threefold degree of those badly disposed, as Gregory says. For there are some who do not deign to hear the precepts of God even with the bodily ear, that is, with exterior hearing; of whom it is said in Psalm 57:5: "like the deaf asp that stops her ears." There are others who indeed perceive these things with the bodily ear, but embrace them with no desire of the mind, having no will to fulfill them; Ezekiel 33:31: "they hear your words, and do them not." There are others who gladly receive the words of God, so that they are even pierced with compunction unto tears; but after the time of weeping, either oppressed by tribulations or allured by delights, they return to iniquity; an example of which is had in Matthew 13:18ff. and Luke 8:11ff., concerning the word choked by cares. Ezekiel 3:7: "the house of Israel will not hear you, because they will not hear me." It is therefore a sign that a man is of God if he gladly hears the words of God; but those who refuse to hear, whether in affection or in effect, are not of God. Here he excludes the Jews' contradiction, and first the Evangelist sets down the Jews' contradiction; second, the Lord's exclusion of it, at the place, "Jesus answered: I have not a devil." Now the Jews impute two things to Christ in their contradiction. First, that he is a Samaritan, when they say, "Do we not say well, that you are a Samaritan?" Second, that he has a devil; whence they add, "and have a devil." Now in their saying, "Do we not say well?" it is given to understand that they frequently reproached the Lord with this word. And indeed as to the second, that he is possessed by a demon, we read in Matthew 9:34 and 12:24, where they said: "By Beelzebub the prince of devils he casts out devils." But that they called him a Samaritan is found nowhere except here in the Gospel, although perhaps they said this many times; for many things were said and done concerning Jesus and by Jesus which are not written in the Gospels, as it is said below, John 20:25. Now a twofold cause can be assigned why the Jews said this to Christ. One indeed, because the Samaritans were a nation hateful to the people of Israel, in that, when the ten tribes had been led into captivity, they possessed their land; above, John 4:9: "for the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans." Since therefore Christ, in rebuking the Jews, was believed by the Jews to do this out of hatred, therefore they reputed him a Samaritan and, as it were, an adversary, and so on. The other reason is, because the Samaritans partly kept the Jewish rites, and partly did not. Seeing therefore that Christ in some things kept the law, and in some things dissolved it, as for instance the sabbath, the Jews called him a Samaritan. Likewise, for a twofold cause they said that he had a devil. One indeed, because the miracles which he performed, and the thoughts which he revealed, they did not attribute to divine power in Christ, but suspected that he did these things by the art of devils. Whence they said: "By Beelzebub the prince of devils he casts out devils." The other reason is on account of his discourses, which transcended human capacity, saying that God was his Father, and that he had descended from heaven, and so on. Now it is the custom of the unlearned, when they hear such things, to account them diabolical; and so these men believed that Christ spoke as it were filled with a devil; below, John 10:20: "others said: He has a devil, and is mad; why hear you him?" And they say these words in order to accuse him of sin, against what he had said: "Which of you shall convict me of sin?" Consequently, when he says, "Jesus answered: I have not a devil," the Lord repels the contradiction of the Jews. Now they had imputed two things to Christ: namely, that he was a Samaritan, and that he had a devil. As to the first, the Lord does not excuse himself; and this for a twofold reason. One indeed, according to Origen, because the Jews always wished to separate themselves from the Gentiles. But now the time had come when the distinction between Gentiles and Jews was to be removed, and all were to be called back to the way of salvation; and therefore the Lord, to show that he had come for the salvation of all, so that — more than Paul — having been made all things to all, he might gain all (1 Corinthians 9), did not deny that he was a Samaritan. The other reason is, because "Samaritan" is interpreted "keeper"; and because he himself is especially our keeper, according to Psalm 121:4: "Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keeps Israel," therefore he did not deny that he was a Samaritan. But he denies that he has a devil, saying, "I have not a devil," and first indeed he repels the injury inflicted; second he charges the pertinacity of those who inflict the injury, at the place, "and you have dishonored me." As to the first he does two things. First he repels the injury inflicted; second he manifests this by its opposite, at the place, "but I honor my Father." Now it must be noted, as to the first, that the Lord, in correcting the Jews, frequently spoke harshly to them: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," and many things which are read in the Gospels. But it is not found that the Lord, when the Jews inflicted harsh words or deeds upon him personally, spoke to them injuriously or harshly; but, as Gregory says, God, receiving injury, does not answer with contumelious words, but simply says, "I have not a devil." From which fact what is suggested to us, except that at the time when we receive contumelies from our neighbors out of falsehood, we too should keep silent about their evil words, lest the ministry of just correction be turned into the arms of fury? And that we ought to vindicate the things that pertain to God, but despise the things that pertain to ourselves. Now this word, namely "I have not a devil," Christ alone can say, as Origen says; for he has nothing of what belongs to the devil, whether light or grave, in himself; whence below, John 14:30: "the prince of this world comes, and in me he has not anything"; 2 Corinthians 6:15: "what agreement has Christ with Belial?" Now he manifests what he had said by its opposite, saying, "but I honor my Father." For the devil resists the honor of God; whoever therefore seeks the honor of God is a stranger to the devil. Christ therefore, who honors his Father, namely God, does not have a devil. Now it is proper and singular to Christ that he honors his Father, as it is said in Malachi 1:6: "the son honors the father." But Christ is singularly the Son of God. Consequently, when he says, "and you have dishonored me," he charges the pertinacity of those who do him injury, and first he accuses those doing the injury; second he excludes an unexpected cause of accusation; third he foretells to them their due condemnation. He says therefore first: I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me; as if to say: I do what I ought; you do what you ought not; nay rather, in that you have dishonored me, you dishonor my Father; above, John 5:23: "he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him." But because they might say: you are too harsh, you care too much for your own glory, thus accusing us; therefore, excluding this, he adds, speaking insofar as he is man, "but I seek not my own glory." For God alone is he who can seek his own glory without fault; others, however, only in God; 2 Corinthians 10:17: "he that glories, let him glory in the Lord"; below, in this same chapter: "if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing." But does not Christ, insofar as he is man, have glory? Nay rather, great glory in every way; for although he himself does not seek it, yet "there is one who seeks it," namely the Father. For it is said in Psalm 8:7: "you have crowned him with glory and honor," namely Christ as man. And elsewhere, Psalm 20:6: "you have laid upon him glory and great beauty." And he will not only seek my glory in those who work the living causes of truth, but he will also punish and condemn those who contradict my glory; whence he adds, "and judges." But against this, above, John 5:22, it is said: "the Father judges no man, but has given all judgment to the Son." I answer: the Father judges no man apart from the Son, because even this judgment which he will make concerning what you do me injury in, he will make through the Son. Or it must be said that judgment is sometimes taken for condemnation; and this judgment the Father has given to the Son, because he alone will appear in visible form in judgment, as was said above. Sometimes it is taken for discernment, and of this he speaks here. Whence he says in Psalm 42:1: "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause"; as if to say: it is the Father who will distinguish my glory from yours. For you, he discerns as glorying for the sake of the world, and the glory of his Son, whom he has anointed above his fellows, and who is without sin, from you; but you are men with sin.”

“Here is, I. The malice of hell breaking out in the base language which the unbelieving Jews gave to our Lord Jesus. Hitherto they had cavilled at his doctrine, and had made invidious remarks upon it; but, having shown themselves uneasy when he complained (Joh 8:43, Joh 8:47) that they would not hear him, now at length they fall to downright railing, Joh 8:48. They were not the common people, but, as it should seem, the scribes and Pharisees, the men of consequence, who, when they saw themselves convicted of an obstinate infidelity, scornfully turned off the conviction with this: Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? See here, see it and wonder, see it and tremble, 1. What was the blasphemous character commonly given of our Lord Jesus among the wicked Jews, to which they refer. (1.) That he was a Samaritan, that is, that he was an enemy to their church and nation, one that they hated and could not endure. Thus they exposed him to the ill will of the people, with whom you could not put a man into a worse name than to call him a Samaritan. If he had been a Samaritan, he had been punishable, by the beating of the rebels (as they called it), for coming into the temple. They had often enough called him a Galilean - a mean man; but as if that were not enough, though it contradicted the other, they will have him a Samaritan - a bad man. The Jews to this day call the Christians, in reproach, Cuthaei-Samaritans. Note, Great endeavours have in all ages been used to make good people odious by putting them under black characters, and it is easy to run that down with a crowd and a cry which is once put into an ill name. Perhaps because Christ justly inveighed against the pride and tyranny of the priests and elders, they hereby suggest that he aimed at the ruin of their church, in aiming at its reformation, and was falling away to the Samaritans. (2.) That he had a devil. Either, [1.] That he was in league with the devil. Having reproached his doctrine as tending to Samaritanism, here they reflect upon his miracles as done in combination with Beelzebub. Or, rather [2.] That he was possessed with a devil, that he was a melancholy man, whose brain was clouded, or a mad man, whose brain was heated, and that which he said was no more to be believed than the extravagant rambles of a distracted man, or one in a delirium. Thus the divine revelation of those things which are above the discovery of reason have been often branded with the charge of enthusiasm, and the prophet was called a mad fellow, Kg2 9:11; Hos 9:7. The inspiration of the Pagan oracles and prophets was indeed a frenzy, and those that had it were for the time beside themselves; but that which was truly divine was not so. Wisdom is justified of her children, as wisdom indeed. 2. How they undertook to justify this character, and applied it to the present occasion: Say we not well that thou art so? One would think that his excellent discourses should have altered their opinion of him, and have made them recant; but, instead of this, their hearts were more hardened and their prejudices confirmed. They value themselves on their enmity to Christ, as if they had never spoken better than when they spoke the worst they could of Jesus Christ. Those have arrived at the highest pitch of wickedness who avow their impiety, repeat what they should retract, and justify themselves in that for which they ought to condemn themselves. It is bad to say and do ill, but it is worse to stand to it; I do well to be angry. When Christ spoke with so much boldness against the sins of the great men, and thereby incensed them against him, those who were sensible of no interest but what is secular and sensual concluded him beside himself, for they thought none but a madman would lose his preferment, and hazard his life, for his religion and conscience. II. The meekness and mercifulness of Heaven shining in Christ's reply to this vile calumny, Joh 8:49, Joh 8:50. 1. He denies their charge against him: I have not a devil; as Paul (Act 26:25), I am not mad. The imputation is unjust; "I am neither actuated by a devil, nor in compact with one;" and this he evidenced by what he did against the devil's kingdom. He takes no notice of their calling him a Samaritan, because it was a calumny that disproved itself, it was a personal reflection, and not worth taking notice of: but saying he had a devil reflected on his commission, and therefore he answered that. St. Augustine gives this gloss upon his not saying any thing to their calling him a Samaritan - that he was indeed that good Samaritan spoken of in the parable, Luk 10:33. 2. He asserts the sincerity of his own intentions: But I honour my Father. They suggested that he took undue honours to himself, and derogated from the honour due to God only, both which he denies here, in saying that he made it his business to honour his Father, and him only. It also proves that he had not a devil; for, if he had, he would not honour God. Note, Those who can truly way that they make it their constant care to honour God are sufficiently armed against the censures and reproaches of men. 3. He complains of the wrong they did him by their calumnies: You do dishonour me. By this it appears that, as man, he had a tender sense of the disgrace and indignity done him; reproach was a sword in his bones, and yet he underwent it for our salvation. It is the will of God that all men should honour the Son, yet there are many that dishonour him; such a contradiction is there in the carnal mind to the will of God. Christ honoured his Father so as never man did, and yet was himself dishonoured so as never man was; for, though God has promised that those who honour him he will honour, he never promised that men should honour them. 4. He clears himself from the imputation of vain glory, in saying this concerning himself, Joh 8:50. See here, (1.) His contempt of worldly honour: I seek not mine own glory. He did not aim at this in what he had said of himself or against his persecutors; he did not court the applause of men, nor covet preferment in the world, but industriously declined both. He did not seek his own glory distinct from his Father's, nor had any separate interest of his own. For men to search their own glory is not glory indeed (Pro 25:27), but rather their shame to be so much out in their aim. This comes in here as a reason why Christ made so light of their reproaches: "You do dishonour me, but cannot disturb me, shall not disquiet me, for I seek not my own glory." Note, Those who are dead to men's praise can safely bear their contempt. (2.) His comfort under worldly dishonour: There is one that seeketh and judgeth. In two things Christ made it appear that he sought not his own glory; and here he tells us what satisfied him as to both. [1.] He did not court men's respect, but was indifferent to it, and in reference to this he saith, "There is one that seeketh, that will secure and advance, my interest in the esteem and affections of the people, while I am in no care about it." Note, God will seek their honour that do not seek their own; for before honour is humility. [2.] He did not revenge men's affronts, but was unconcerned at them, and in reference to this he saith, "There is one that judgeth, that will vindicate my honour, and severely reckon with those that trample upon it." Probably he refers here to the judgments that were coming upon the nation of the Jews for the indignities they did to the Lord Jesus. See Psa 37:13-15. I heard not, for thou wilt hear. If we undertake to judge for ourselves, whatever damage we sustain, our recompence is in our own hands; but if we be, as we ought to be, humble appellants and patient expectants, we shall find, to our comfort, there is one that judgeth.”

“Verily, verily, I say unto you,.... This is truth, and may be depended upon, as coming from the "Amen", and faithful witness: if a man keep my saying; or doctrine, receives the Gospel in the love of it, obeys it from his heart, and cordially embraces and firmly believes it; and retains and holds it fast, having a spiritual and comfortable experience of the doctrines of Christ, and yielding a cheerful and ready obedience to his commands and ordinances, in faith and love: he shall never see death; the second death, eternal death, which is an everlasting separation of a man, body and soul, from God: this death shall have no power on such a person, he shall never be hurt by it; and though he dies a corporeal death, that shall not be a curse, a penal evil to him; nor shall he always lie under the power of it, but shall rise again, and live in soul and body, for ever with the Lord: seeing and tasting death, as in Joh 8:52, are Hebraisms expressive of dying.”

“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 Joh 4:39, Joh 4:40; 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 that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?--What intense and virulent scorn! (See Heb 12:3). The "say we not well" refers to Joh 7:20. "A Samaritan" means more than "no Israelite at all"; it means one who pretended, but had no manner of claim to the title--retorting perhaps, this denial of their true descent from Abraham.”