Ye are of your father the devil,— "You inherit the nature of your father, the devil; and therefore you are determined to gratify the lusts which you have derived from him. He was the enemy and murderer of mankind, and ever since has endeavoured to work their ruin; sometimes by seducing them into sin by his lies, and sometimes by instigating them to murder those whom God sends to reclaim them. Withal, having wholly departed from holiness and truth, the habit of lying is become perfectly natural to him: wherefore, being a liar, and the father of it, that is, the first and greatest liar, when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh what is proper to himself." The words θελετε ποιειν, rendered ye will do, imply a resolute and obstinate persisting in any habit or action, Ch. John 1:43. The account which Josephus, their own historian, gives of the wickedness of the Jews about this time, comes up fully to the assertion of our Lord in this verse. See his Jewish War, B. 5: Ch. 10, &c.
Related Commentaries of John 8:44
John 8:44
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:a for he is a liar, and the father of it.