John 8

The reasons which incline me to believe so are, 1. It is said, Satan was a murderer, ab initio, from the beginning (John 8:44). Now whom did he murder?

6. Christ when he teaches, does not only illuminate, but animate. He does so teach, as he does quicken; (John 8:12): I am the light of the world, he that follows me shall have lumen vitae, the light of life. By nature we are dead, therefore unfit for teaching; who will make an o…

Question. How many ways may we glorify God? Response. 1. It is a glorifying God when we aim purely at God's glory; it is one thing to advance God's glory, another thing to aim at it; God must be the Terminus ad quem, the ultimate end of all our actions; thus Christ (John 8:50):…

Satan can do what he will with an ignorant man: he does not see the error of his way, therefore the devil can lead him into any sin; you may lead a blind man anywhere: Omne peccatum fundatur in ignorantia. 2. Satan rules the will: though he cannot force the will, yet he can by a…

To them he gave power to become the sons of God. Let us put ourselves on a trial; it is no sign we are adopted sons, because we are sons of godly parents: The Jews boasted that they were Abraham's seed (John 8:33), they thought they must needs be good, because they came of such…

2. He rules their memories; they shall remember that which is evil, and forget that which is good: Their memories are like a strainer that lets go all the pure liquor, and retains only the dregs. 3. He rules their wills: Though the Devil cannot force the will, yet he draws it (J…

God's children have this character: they are children that will not lie (Isaiah 63:8); the new nature in them will not suffer them. The liar is near a kin to the devil; and the devil will shortly claim kindred with him (John 8:44): "The devil is a liar and the father of it." He…

2. Mendacium Iocosum, a jesting lie, when a man tells a lie in sport to make others merry: he goes laughing to hell. When you tell a lie, you make yourselves like the Devil (John 8:44). The Devil is a liar, and the father of it.

Question 7. How we may know that God is our Father? All cannot say Our Father: The Jews boasted that God was their Father (John 8:36): We have one Father, even God. Christ tells them their pedigree, verse 44: You are of your Father the Devil.

2. The sacred observation of it, touching which these things are to be practiced. (1.) Rejoice at the approach of this day, as being a day wherein we have a prize for our souls, and enjoy much of God's presence (John 8:56). Abraham saw my day and rejoiced.

They represent no less than God himself (2 Corinthians 5:20): Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. Jesus Christ was of this calling; he had his mission and sanction from heaven (John 8:18). And this crowns the ministerial calling with honor.

This he calls honoring of God. John 8:29. I do always those things which please him. Verse 49. I honor my Father.

If God would have a beast stoned that killed a man, who had not the use of reason to restrain him, then much more will he be incensed against those, who go both against reason and conscience in spoiling the life of a man. 3. Murder is a diabolical sin: it makes a man Primogenitu…

Mark 14:22-24. Jesus took bread, etc. (2.) It must be a joyful remembrance (John 8:56). Abraham saw my day and rejoiced.

Quest. But are any so wicked as to do the devil's will? Answ. Yes; (John 8:44) You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. When a man tells a lie does he not do the devil's will?

John 3:3. And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. John 8:56, 57, 58. Then said the Jews to him, you are not fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus says to them, verily, I say to you, before Abrah…

For having, as was said, lost the doctrine of the Trinity and person of the Messiah in a great measure, when ever he asserted his deity, they were immediately enraged and endeavoured to destroy him. So was it plainly (John 8:56, 57, 58, 59): Says he, Your Father Abraham rejoyced…

Qu. 9. How do we in our observation, profess our subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel? Answ. In that being all of them 1. Appointed by him as the head law-giver, King of his Church. And 2. Made by him the ensigns and tokens of his Kingdom, and subjects, in their du…

Q. Was the covenant of grace revealed and dispensed in the times before Christ's Incarnation, or only since his coming in the flesh? A. There has been the same covenant of grace for substance, in all times and ages of the Church, since the fall of man till this day (Genesis 3:15…

Q. Do the Angels continue in that estate wherein they were first created? A. Not all, for a great many fell away from that happy condition who are now become devils (John 8:44; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). Q. May the rest also fall away, and perish with the devils?

And the like he endeavored between Christ's human nature and the divine, though hypostatically united. And likewise 4. 'That God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his Son' — this being the great truth of the gospel, so that a Christian who believes it not makes God…

Christ is a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world: That is, slain as well then as now: and that not only in the counsel and decree of God, whereby he is born and slain in all times and places: nor only in regard of the eternal power, efficacy, and merit of his death: but al…

Secondly, this teaches us, that Abraham's faith is rare in these days. Many make profession of Abraham's religion, but it seems they are as far deceived as the Jews were, John 8:39. The Jews would be Abraham's children, because they were of his flesh: and men now will be so, bec…

But this is a rare thing to be found in these days: our practice generally is contrary; for in our lives we follow our own humors and affections, never regarding what God does either will or nill. But if we will be Abraham's children, we must follow Abraham's practice in this pl…

How prove you that? 1 John 2:22: Who is a liar (namely, born of the evil one, who is a liar, and the father of lies, and abode not in the truth (John 8:44)) but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ (namely, the eternal King, Prophet, Priest of his Church, bought with his own…

Whether were it more absurd to light a candle to the Sun, or to light a candle to see to a man's eyes? Now faith is instead of eyes to the soul: by Faith Abraham saw the day of Christ, and rejoiced, though it were afar off (John 8:56). The same Apostle says, that there be six wi…

But so many as received him (namely to be the Christ) to them he gave power to be called the sons of God; even to them that believe in his name; which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, But of God (John 1:12, 13). And as for that other T…

And this the Apostle knew full well, that if once he proved him greater than Abraham, he should not need with that people to prove him above any of his posterity, but they would immediately give over the contest. So in their exceptions to our Savior's testimony concerning himsel…

That other fabric was a type thereof, and so partook of the same name with it; but yet was no farther a Temple, or an habitation of God, but as it was typical of that Body of his, wherein the fulness of the Godhead did dwell. This testimony of his seems to have provoked the Jews…

Hence our Apostle says, that he was the Minister of the Circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the Fathers (Romans 15:8). And this he testified to them (John 8:24): I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for if you believe not that…

But their obligation to Faith towards that individual person arose from the Declaration that was made of him, and the Evidences given to prove him to be the Son of God, the Savior of the world. So he tells those to whom he preached and who saw his miracles, if you believe not th…

That which these Hebrews insisted on as their chief and fundamental privilege in Judaism, and which they were most unwilling to forgo, was the greatness of their predecessors, with their nearness to God in favor and office. In the first way as to divine love and favor, they glor…

That, as one by living is able to kill himself, but by killing himself is not able to live, nor has power to raise up himself when he has killed himself, so when sin had been committed by free will, sin being the conqueror, free will also was lost; for as much as of whom a man i…

And thus Christ reasons against the Scribes and Pharisees. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do (John 8:44). And true it is, that no child is so like his father that begat him, as every man by nature is like the devil: and the whole tenor an…

Grace itself gives no charter of exemption from it; an earthen pot though full of gold may break: the righteous who are earthen vessels, though they are filled with the golden graces are not freed from breaking by death: but their death is precious (Psalm 116:15). Wicked men lik…

Fearful and unbelievers are reckoned among the inhabitants of hell. First he is condemned by that ancient sentence, that whoever sins shall die; which is not reversed, but stands in full force till faith in Christ (John 8:24), If you believe not that I am he, you shall die in yo…

Why are you afraid, O saint, that this sickness may be your death — as long as you know that the death of Christ is the death of death? Indeed, if you were to die in your sins — as John 8:21 — if death as a king reigned over you — Romans 5:14 — if it could feed upon you as the l…

Philosophers and physicians generally reckon sorrow among the chief causes of shortening life. Christ was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs, and this some think was the reason, that he appeared as a man of fifty, when he was little more than thirty years old (John 8:5…

Men in their unconverted state are strangers to God. Wicked men do not understand the words of the Gospel (John 8:43). What relates to the kingdom of God the unconverted man dislikes (Job 21:14).

Moreover, Smalcius denies far too shamelessly that any mention of this promise is made in the New Testament. The serpent is the devil (2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9, 14; 20:2); the wicked are a brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7); they are of their father the devil (John 8:44);…

VI. The devil was, in a special manner, the instigator of this murder for Cain. Therefore Cain is said not only to have been of the evil one on account of this very murder (1 John 3:12), but also the devil is called a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). For he is called a m…

By His authority, therefore, he who is not regenerate can in no way understand the evangelical doctrine. Again, rebuking the unbelieving Pharisees (John 8:47): "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God." To be of God is…

Hence if anyone has not received that spiritual light of which we have spoken, or having received it has not diligently stirred it up by the assiduous use of the means which God has appointed, or having stirred it up has not exercised it in the daily practice of all evangelical…

Why so? You are generally, in your own opinion, already good friends with God; almost none of you think that you have hatred toward God, and so you carelessly and unconcernedly let the opportunity of making your peace with Him slip away — even like those Jews spoken of in John 8…

Where men do not like to retain God in their knowledge, or where the truth is detained in unrighteousness, it provokes God to give up to a reprobate mind, as the Apostle tells us (Romans 1). If you continue in my word (says Christ, John 8:31-32), then are you my disciples indeed…

1. That there be distinct knowledge in some measure of the object; an antecedent that faith presupposes, and for which cause faith gets the name of knowledge here and elsewhere in Scripture; the antecedent being put for the consequent; for faith has always knowledge with it, tho…

This rugged and uneasy temper of spirit, being the great hinderer, indeed the very opposite, of that stayed and sweet contentment of heart with and in every state; which is the very life of a Christian's life, consisting (as the Lord says) not in the abundance of the things whic…

Assertion 1. Jesus Christ that holy thing (Luke 1:35), was a fit high Priest, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners (Hebrews 7:26). Which of you (says Christ to the Jews) convinces me of sin (John 8:46). There could not be a spot in this Lamb sacrificed for the sins…

They shall go with their flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him; for he has withdrawn himself from them. (Proverbs 1:24) I called, and you refused; verse 26. then this must follow, verse 28. (as also John 8:21, the like is) they shall call upon me, but I…

Children of Belial (Deuteronomy 1:3). Of the Devil (John 8:44). And with an emphasis, the wicked (Psalm 9:17).