John Calvin Commentary John 18:7

"Again therefore he asked them, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth." — John 18:7 (ASV)

He therefore asked them again. Therefore, it becomes clear how powerful the effect of that blindness is with which God strikes the minds of wicked men, and how dreadful their stupidity is, when, by a just judgment of God, they have been bewitched by Satan. Oxen and asses, if they fall, show some kind of feeling; but these men, after an open display of Christ's divine power, proceed as fearlessly as if they had not perceived in him even the shadow of a man; indeed, Judas himself remains unmoved.

Let us learn, therefore, to fear the judgment of God, by which the reprobate, delivered into the hands of Satan, become more stupid than brute beasts. It cannot be doubted that Satan hurried them on with wild fury to such desperate recklessness. For there is no insanity that drives a man with such violence as this kind of blindness. Wicked men, after having been given over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28), care no more about rushing against God than if they had only to do with a fly.

They feel his power, indeed, but are not disposed to obey; for they would sooner be broken a hundred times than yield. In short, their malice is a veil that hinders them from observing the light of God; their obstinacy renders them harder than stones, so that they never allow themselves to be subdued.