Teks -- John 8:44 (AV)

8:44 Ye@ are @ of@ your father@ the devil_,@ and@ the lusts@ of your@ father@ ye will @ do _.@ He@ was @ a murderer@ from@ the beginning_,@ and@ abode @ not@ in@ the truth_,@ because@ there is @ no@ truth@ in@ him_.@ When@ he speaketh @ a lie_,@ he speaketh @ of@ his own_:@ for@ he is @ a liar_,@ and@ the father@ of it_.@ {of his own: or, from his own will or disposition}

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - Ye are of your father the devil

Ye are of your father the devil ( humeis ek tou patros tou diabolou ).

Certainly they can "understand"(ginōskete in Joh 8:43) this "talk"(lalian ) though they will be greatly angered. But they had to hear it (akouein in Joh 8:43). It was like a bombshell in spite of the preliminary preparation.

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - Your will to do

Your will to do ( thelete poiein ).

Present active indicative of thelō and present active infinitive, "Ye wish to go on doing."This same idea Jesus presents in Mat 13:38 (the sons of the evil one, the devil) and Mat 23:15 (twofold more a son of Gehenna than you). See also 1Jo 3:8 for "of the devil"(ek tou diabolou ) for the one who persists in sinning. In Rev 12:9 the devil is one who leads all the world astray. The Gnostic view that Jesus means "the father of the devil"is grotesque. Jesus does not, of course, here deny that the Jews, like all men, are children of God the Creator, like Paul’ s offspring of God for all men in Act 17:28. What he denies to these Pharisees is that they are spiritual children of God who do his will. They do the lusts and will of the devil. The Baptist had denied this same spiritual fatherhood to the merely physical descendants of Abraham (Mat 3:9). He even called them "broods of vipers"as Jesus did later (Mat 12:34).

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - A murderer

A murderer ( anthrōpoktonos ).

Old and rare word (Euripides) from anthrōpos , man, and kteinō , to kill. In N.T. only here and 1Jo 3:15. The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus and so like their father the devil.

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - Stood not in the truth

Stood not in the truth ( en tēi alētheiāi ouk estēken ).

Since ouk , not ouch , is genuine, the form of the verb is esteken the imperfect of the late present stem stēkō (Mar 11:25) from the perfect active hestēka (intransitive) of histēmi , to place.

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - No truth in him

No truth in him ( ouk estin alētheia en autōi ).

Inside him or outside (environment). The devil and truth have no contact.

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - When he speaketh a lie

When he speaketh a lie ( hotan lalēi to pseudos ).

Indefinite temporal clause with hotan and the present active subjunctive of laleō . But note the article to : "Whenever he speaks the lie,"as he is sure to do because it is his nature. Hence "he speaks out of his own"(ek tōn idiōn lalei ) like a fountain bubbling up (cf. Mat 12:34).

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - For he is a liar

For he is a liar ( hoti pseustēs estin ).

Old word for the agent in a conscious falsehood (pseudos ). See 1Jo 1:10; Rom 3:4. Common word in John because of the emphasis on alētheia (truth).

Robertson: Joh 8:44 - And the father thereof

And the father thereof ( kai ho patēr autou ).

Either the father of the lie or of the liar, both of which are true as already shown by Jesus. Autou in the genitive can be either neuter or masculine. Westcott takes it thus, "because he is a liar and his father (the devil) is a liar,"making "one,"not the devil, the subject of "whenever he speaks,"a very doubtful expression.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Ye

Ye ( ὑμεῖς )

Emphatic, in contrast with ἡμεῖς , we , of Joh 8:41.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Of your father

Of your father ( ἐκ )

Very suggestive, implying community of nature, as in Joh 8:42. Compare 1Jo 3:8, 1Jo 3:10.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - The Devil

The Devil

See on Mat 4:1. John uses Satan only once in the Gospel (Joh 13:27), frequently in Revelation, and nowhere in the Epistles. A few critics have adopted the very singular rendering, which the Greek will bear, ye are of the father of the devil . This is explained by charging John with Gnosticism, and making him refer to the Demiurge , a mysterious and inferior being descended from God, by whom God, according to the Gnostics, created the universe, and who had rebelled against God, and was the father of Satan. It is only necessary to remark with Meyer that such a view is both unbiblical and un-Johannine.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Lusts

Lusts ( ἐπιθυμίας )

See on Mar 4:19.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Ye will do

Ye will do ( θέλετε ποιεῖν )

Wrong. Properly, ye will to do . Rev., it is your will to do . See on Joh 7:17.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Murderer

Murderer ( ἀνθρωποκτόνος )

Only here and 1Jo 3:15. Literally, a manslayer; from ἄνθρωπος , man , and κτείνω , to kill . The epithet is applied to Satan, not with reference to the murder of Abel, but to the fact of his being the author of death to the race. Compare Rom 7:8, Rom 7:11; Heb 2:14.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - From the beginning

From the beginning

Of the human race.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Stood not

Stood not ( οὐκ ἕστηκεν )

This may be explained in two ways. The verb may be taken as the perfect tense of ἵστημι , which is the form for the English present tense, I stand . In that case it would describe Satan's present standing in the element of falsehood: he standeth not in the truth . Or it may be taken as the imperfect tense of στήκω , I keep my standing , or simply, I stand , in which case the form will be ἔστηκεν , and it will mean that even before his fall he was not true, or that he did not remain true to God, but fell. Meyer, who takes it in the former sense, observes: " Truth is the domain in which he has not his footing; to him it is a foreign, heterogeneous sphere of life.... The lie is the sphere in which he holds his place." So Mephistopheles in Goethe's " Faust" :

" I am the spirit that denies!

And justly so; for all things from the void

Called forth, deserve to be destroyed;

'Twere better, then, were naught created.

Thus, all which you as sin have rated, -

Destruction, - aught with evil blent, -

That is my proper element."

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - When he speaketh a lie

When he speaketh a lie ( ὅταν λαλῇ τὸ ψεῦδος )

More strictly, whenever - the lie, as opposed to the truth, regarded as a whole. Two interpretations are given. According to one, the Devil is the subject of speaketh: according to the other, the subject is indefinite; " when one speaketh;" stating a general proposition.

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - Of his own

Of his own ( ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων )

Literally, out of the things which are his own . " That which is most peculiarly his ethical nature" (Meyer).

Vincent: Joh 8:44 - For he is a liar, and the father of it

For he is a liar, and the father of it ( ὅτι ψεύστης ἐστὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ )

Three interpretations are given. 1. That of the A.V. and Rev. " He is a liar, and the father of the lie ." 2. " He is a liar, and the father of the liar (since of it may also be rendered of him )." 3. Making ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ , his father , the subject of the sentence, and referring his to one , the indefinite subject of speaketh (" when one speaketh a lie" ). Thus the rendering will be, Because his father is a liar .As to Jesus' course of thought - if we accept either of the first two renderings, it turns on the character of Satan . After stating that the Jews are children of the Devil, He goes on to describe the Devil as a murderer and a liar, and enlarges on the latter characteristic by saying that falsehood is his natural and peculiar element. Whenever he lies he speaks out of his own false nature, for he is a liar, and the father of the lie or of the liar. If we accept the third rendering, the thought turns rather on the character of the Jews as children of Satan. He utters first, the general charge, ye are the children of the Devil , and as such will do his works. Hence you will be both murderers and liars . He was a murderer, and ye are seeking to kill me. He stood not in the truth, neither do ye; for, when one speaketh a lie, he speaketh out of his own false nature, by a birthright of falsehood, since his father also is a liar.

Wesley: Joh 8:44 - He was a murderer

In inclination, from the beginning - Of his becoming a devil; and abode not in the truth - Commencing murderer and liar at the same time. And certainly he was a killer of men (as the Greek word properly signifies) from the beginning of the world: for from the very creation he designed and contrived the ruin of men. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own - For he is the proper parent, and, as it were, creator of it. See the origin not only of lies, but of evil in general!

JFB: Joh 8:44 - Ye are of your father the devil

"This is one of the most decisive testimonies to the objective (outward) personality of the devil. It is quite impossible to suppose an accommodation to Jewish views, or a metaphorical form of speech, in so solemn an assertion as this" [ALFORD].

JFB: Joh 8:44 - the lusts of your father

His impure, malignant, ungodly propensities, inclinations, desires.

JFB: Joh 8:44 - ye will do

Are willing to do; not of any blind necessity of nature, but of pure natural inclination.

JFB: Joh 8:44 - He was a murderer from the beginning

The reference is not to Cain (as LOCKE, DE WETTE, ALFORD, &c.), but to Adam [GROTIUS, CALVIN, MEYER, LUTHARDT, &c.]. The death of the human race, in its widest sense, is ascribed to the murderous seducer of our race.

JFB: Joh 8:44 - and abode not in the truth

As, strictly speaking, the word means "abideth," it has been denied that the fall of Satan from a former holy state is here expressed [LOCKE, &c.], and some superior interpreters think it only implied [OLSHAUSEN, &c.]. But though the form of the thought is present--not past--this is to express the important idea, that his whole character and activity are just a continual aberration from his own original truth or rectitude; and thus his fall is not only the implied basis of the thought, but part of the statement itself, properly interpreted and brought out.

JFB: Joh 8:44 - no truth in him

Void of all that holy, transparent rectitude which, as His creature, he originally possessed.

JFB: Joh 8:44 - When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own

Perhaps his own resources, treasures (Mat 12:35) [ALFORD]. (The word is plural). It means that he has no temptation to it from without; it is purely self-begotten, springing from a nature which is nothing but obliquity.

JFB: Joh 8:44 - the father of it

That is, of lying: all the falsehood in the world owes its existence to him. What a verse is this! It holds up the devil (1) as the murderer of the human race; but as this is meant here in the more profound sense of spiritual death, it holds him up, (2) as the spiritual parent of this fallen human family, communicating to his offspring his own evil passions and universal obliquity, and stimulating these into active exercise. But as there is "a stronger than he," who comes upon him and overcomes him (Luk 11:21-22), it is only such as "love the darkness," who are addressed as children of the devil (Mat 13:38; 1Jo 3:8-10).

Clarke: Joh 8:44 - Ye are of your father the devil

Ye are of your father the devil - Ye are the seed of the old serpent. See on Joh 8:37 (note)

Clarke: Joh 8:44 - The lusts of your father

The lusts of your father - Like father like son. What Satan desires, ye desire; because ye are filled with his nature. Awful state of unregenerate men! They have the nearest alliance to Satan; they partake of his nature and have in them the same principles and propensities which characterize the very nature and essence of the devil! Reader, canst thou rest in this state? Apply to God, through Christ, that thou mayest be born again

Clarke: Joh 8:44 - He was a murderer from the beginning

He was a murderer from the beginning - It was through him that Adam transgressed; in consequence of which death entered into the world, and slew him and all his posterity. This was the sentiment of the Jews themselves. In Sohar Kadash, the wicked are called, "The children of the old serpent, who slew Adam and all his descendants."See Schoettgen

Clarke: Joh 8:44 - Abode not in the truth

Abode not in the truth - He stood not in the truth - was once in a state of glorious felicity, but fell from it; and, being deprived of all good himself, he could not endure that others should enjoy any; therefore by his lies he deceived Eve, and brought her, her husband, and, through them, their posterity, into his own condemnation

Clarke: Joh 8:44 - He speaketh of his own

He speaketh of his own - Εκ των ιδιων λαλει, He speaketh of his own offspring, or, from his own disposition, for he is the father and fountain of all error and falsity; and all who are deceived by him, and partake of his disposition, falsity and cruelty, are his offspring, for he is a liar, and the father of it - και ὁ πατηρ αυτου - literally, his father also. There is considerable difficulty in this verse. The Cainites, and the Archontites, mentioned by Epiphanius, read it thus: "Ye are the children of your father the devil, because he is a liar, and his father was a liar. He was a man-slayer, and he did not remain in the truth. When he speaketh, he speaketh a lie of his own, (progenitors understood), because his father also was a liar."The consequences which the above heretics drew from this verse were the following. They said that the father of the Jews was a demon; that he also had a demon for his father; and that he had a demon for his father, etc. The Archontites maintained that Cain had a demon for his father, the spirit which our Lord speaks of here; and that the Jews proceeded from the race of Cain

Grotius, supposing that the devil who tempted Eve was not the prince of devils, but rather a subordinate one, seems to think he may be understood here, he is a liar, and his father also, which is the literal translation of the latter clause of the text, ὡς και ὁ πατηρ αυτου, as it has been read by many of the primitive fathers

Mr. Wakefield, by changing το, before ψευδος, into τις, gives the text the following translation: - "The devil is your father, and ye willingly perform the lusts of your father. He was a man-slayer from the first, and continued not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When Any One speaketh a lie, he speaketh according to his own kindred: for his father also is a liar."Our own translation, that refers πατηρ αυτου to ψευδος, a lie, and not to ψευϚης, a liar, is probably the most correct.

Calvin: Joh 8:44 - You are of your father the devil // He was a murderer from the beginning // He did not remain in the truth // Because the truth is not in him // When he speaketh falsehood

44.You are of your father the devil What he had twice said more obscurely, he now expresses more fully, that they are the devil ’ s children But we must supply the contrast, that they could not cherish such intense hatred to the Son of God, were it not that they had for their father the perpetual enemy of God. He calls them children of the devil, not only because they imitate him, but because they are led by his instigation to fight against Christ. For as we are called the children of God, not only because we resemble him, but because he governs us by his Spirit, because Christ lives and is vigorous in us, so as to conform us to the image of his Father; so, on the other hand, the devil is said to be the father or those whose understandings he blinds, whose hearts he moves to commit all unrighteousness, and on whom, in short, he acts powerfully and exercises his tyranny; as in 2Co 4:4; Eph 2:2, and in other passages.

The Manicheans foolishly and ineffectually abused this passage to prove their absurd tenets. For since, when Scripture calls us the children of God, this does not refer to the transmission or origin of the substance, but to the grace of the Spirit, which regenerates us to newness of life; so this swing of Christ does not relate to the transmission of substance, but to the corruption of nature, of which man’s revolt was the cause and origin. When men, therefore, are born children of the devil, it must not be imputed to creation, but to the blame of sin. Now Christ proves this from the effect, because they willingly, and of their own accord, are disposed to follow the devil.

He was a murderer from the beginning He explains what are those desires, and mentions two instances, cruelty and falsehood; in which the Jews too much resembled Satan. When he says that the devil was a murderer, he means that he contrived the destruction of man; for as soon as man was created, Satan, impelled by a wicked desire of doing injury, bent his strength to destroy him. Christ does not mean the beginning of the creation, as if God implanted in him the disposition to do injury; but he condemns in Satan the corruption of nature, which he brought upon himself. This appears more clearly from the second clause, in which he says,

He did not remain in the truth For though those who imagine that the devil was wicked by nature, endeavor to make evasions, yet these words plainly state that there was a change for the worse, and that the reason why Satan was a liar was, that he revolted from the truth That he is a liar, arises not from his nature having been always contrary to truth, but because he fell from it by a voluntary fall. This description of Satan is highly useful to us, that every person for himself may endeavor to beware of his snares, and, at the same time, to repel his violence and fury; for

he goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,
(1Pe 5:8,)

and has a thousand stratagems at his command for deceiving. So much the more ought believers to be supplied with spiritual arms for fighting, and so much the more earnestly ought they to keep watch with vigilance and sobriety. Now, if Satan cannot lay aside this disposition, we ought not to be alarmed at it, as if it were a new and uncommon occurrence, when errors exceedingly numerous and varied spring up; for Satan stirs up his followers like bellows, to deceive the world by their impostures. And we need not wonder that Satan puts forth such strenuous efforts to extinguish the light of truth; for it is the only life of the soul. So, then, the most important and most deadly wound for killing the soul is falsehood. As all who have eyes to see perceive, in the present day, such a picture of Satan in Popery, they ought, first, to consider with what enemy they carry on war, and, next, to betake themselves to the protection of Christ their Captain, under whose banner they fight.

Because the truth is not in him This statement, which immediately follows the other, is a confirmation a posteriori, as the phrase is; that is, it is drawn from the effect. For Satan hates the truth, and therefore cannot endure it, but, on the contrary, is entirely covered with falsehoods. Hence Christ infers, that he is entirely fallen from the truth, and entirely turned away from it. Let us not wonder, therefore, if he daily exhibits the fruits of his apostacy.

When he speaketh falsehood These words are generally explained as if Christ affirmed that the blame of falsehood does not belong to God, who is the Author of nature, but, on the contrary, proceeds from corruption. But I explain it more simply, that it is customary with the devil to speak falsehood, and that he knows nothing but to contrive corruptions, frauds, and delusions. And yet we justly infer from these words, that the devil has this vice from himself, and that, while it is peculiar to him, it may likewise be said to be accidental; for, while Christ makes the devil to be the contriver of lying, he evidently separates him from God, and even declares him to be contrary to God. For he is a liar, and the father of it The word father has the same object as the preceding statement; for the reason why Satan is said to be the father of falsehood is, because he is estranged from God, in whom alone truth dwells, and from whom it flows as from the only fountain.

Defender: Joh 8:44 - your father, the devil

Just as those who receive Christ become children of God (Joh 1:12), those who do the will of the devil are called "children of the wicked one" (Mat 13:38). The age-long conflict between the spiritual seed of the serpent and the spiritual seed of the woman was first prophesied in Eden, right after the fall of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:15).

Defender: Joh 8:44 - murderer from the beginning

Evidently, the first child of Satan was Cain who slew his brother Abel, no doubt at the instigation of Satan (1Jo 3:8-12). Since that first murder, the devil has been seeking to slay men and women before they can become children of God through faith in Christ, using his own children whenever he can to accomplish it.

Defender: Joh 8:44 - father of it

As the father of lies, the devil deceived our first parents with the lie that they would become "as gods"(Gen 3:5) through obeying his word rather than God's Word (Gen 3:1-5). This lie of "humanism" - that men and women, as the apex of the evolutionary process, are the true gods of the world - has been deceiving and drawing people away from the true God of creation ever since. It has assumed various forms in different times and places, but it is always essentially the same old lie of Satan "which deceiveth the whole world" (Rev 12:9). Thus, he is author of the great lie of evolution, seeking to understand and control the world without its Creator. He has thereby deceived himself first of all, convincing himself that both he and God had evolved out of the primeval chaos (as in all the ancient mythical cosmogonies which he must have taught his own earliest human children)."

TSK: Joh 8:44 - are // He was // and abode // When

are : Joh 8:38, Joh 8:41, Joh 6:70; Gen 3:15; Mat 13:38; Act 13:10; 1Jo 3:8-10,1Jo 3:12

He was : Gen 3:3-7; 1Ki 22:22; 1Ch 21:1; Jam 4:1-7; 1Pe 5:8; Rev 2:10, Rev 9:11; Rev 13:6-8, Rev 20:7-9

and abode : 2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6

When : Gen 3:4, Gen 3:5; 2Ch 18:20-22; Job 1:11, Job 2:4-6; Act 5:3, Act 13:10; 2Co 11:3; 2Co 11:13-15; 2Th 2:9-11; Rev 12:9, Rev 13:14, Rev 20:2, Rev 20:3, Rev 20:10, Rev 21:8, Rev 22:15

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Joh 8:44

Our Saviour now plainly tells them what he meant by their

father mentioned Joh 8:38 ; viz. the devil, whose children though they were not by natural traduction, yet they were by imitation, wilfully doing the things which the devil would have them do. He instances in two of these lusts: 1. Murder. He saith, The devil from the beginning of the world had a mind and design against the sons of men; and he ever since (as the apostle tells us, 1Pe 5:9 ) hath gone about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And in this they were his true children, using all arts imaginable to destroy him whom God had sent into the world for man’ s salvation. In another thing also they were the true and genuine children of the devil; the devil had no truth in him, nor did he abide in the truth. God indeed created the angels (who afterward fell) in a state of rectitude, without unrighteousness; but they did not keep their first station. So, neither did they love the truth, nor abide in it, but were wholly false and liars, and could not abide the truth.

Lightfoot: Joh 8:44 - A murderer from the beginning. // He abode not in the truth

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.   

[A murderer from the beginning.] For so the Hebrew idiom would render he was a murderer from the days of the creation. And so Christ, in saying this, speaks according to the vulgar opinion, as if Adam fell the very first day of his creation.   

[He abode not in the truth.] I. He abode not in the truth; i.e. he did not continue true, but found out the way of lying.   

II. He did not persist in the will of God which he had revealed concerning man. For the revealed will of God is called truth; especially his will revealed in the gospel. Now when God had pleased to make known his good will towards the first man, partly fixing him in so honourable and happy a station, partly commanding the angels that they should minister to him for his good, Heb 1:14; the devil did not abide in this truth, nor persisted in this will and command of God. For he, envying the honour and happiness of man, took this command of God concerning the angels' ministering to him, in so much scorn and contempt, that, swelling with most envenomed malice against Adam, and infinite pride against God, he chose rather to dethrone himself from his own glory and felicity, than he would bear Adam's continuance in so noble a station, or minister any way to the happiness of it. An angel was incapable of sinning either more or less than by pride or malice.

Haydock: Joh 8:44 - You are of your father, the devil // He was a murderer from the beginning // He abode not in the truth // He is a liar, and the father thereof

You are of your father, the devil, and have made yourselves his slaves. ---

He was a murderer from the beginning of the world, having brought both a corporal and a spiritual death by sin, upon all mankind. ---

He abode not in the truth, in the ways of truth and obedience to God. ---

He is a liar, and the father thereof: that is, the father of lies. I speak truth, being truth itself. (Witham) -- St. Augustine compares heretics, who drive Christians out of the Church, to the devil, who was the cause of our first parents' banishment from paradise. (Cont. lit. Petil. lib. ii. chap. 13.)

Gill: Joh 8:44 - Ye are of your father the devil // and the lusts of your father ye will do // he was a murderer from the beginning // and abode not in the truth // because there is no truth in him // when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own // for he is a liar, and the father of it

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 ανθρωπου φονωντα, "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.