Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 8:45-50

"But because I say the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear [them] not, because ye are not of God. The Jews answered and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon? Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and ye dishonor me. But I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth." — John 8:45-50 (ASV)

1. After mentioning some characteristics of the devil, the Lord then shows that the Jews are imitating them. Our Lord ascribed two kinds of evil to the devil: murder and lying. He had already reproved them for imitating the first of these, namely, murder: but now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God (John 8:40). Then, moving on from this, He reproves them for turning away from the truth.

1. First, He shows that they are turned away from the truth.
2. Second, He rejects a reason they might give for this, at who among you will convict me of sin?
3. Third, He concludes with the true reason for their turning away from the truth, at if I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me?

2. He says first: it was said that the devil is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44), and you are imitating him because you do not wish to adhere to the truth. Thus He says, if I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? As it is written, If I tell you, you will not believe (Luke 22:67); and, if I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things? (John 3:12). Isaiah also complains: who has believed what we have heard? (Isaiah 53:1).

3. The reason the Jews might claim for their unbelief is that Christ is a sinner, for it is not easy to believe a sinner even when he is telling the truth. Thus we read: but to the wicked God says: what right have you to recite my statutes? (Psalms 50:16). So they might have said, “We do not believe you since you are a sinner.”

Accordingly, He excludes this reason when He says, who among you will convict me of sin? It is as if to say: You have no good reason for not believing me when I speak the truth, since you can find no sin in me. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips (1 Peter 2:22).

According to Gregory, we are invited to consider the mildness of God, who did not consider it beneath Himself to show by rational grounds that He who can justify sinners by the power of His divinity is not a sinner: if I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me; what then shall I do when God rises up? (Job 31:13).

We should also honor the unique greatness of Christ’s purity. For as Chrysostom says, no mere man could have confidently said, who among you will convict me of sin? Only God, who had no sin, could say this. Who can say, I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin? (Proverbs 20:9)—this is like saying: no one but God alone. They have all gone astray, they are all alike corrupt; there is none that does good, no, not one, except Christ (Psalms 14:3).

4. Next, at if I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He concludes with the real reason they have turned away from the truth.

1. First, He mentions the reason.
2. Second, He rejects their response, at the Jews therefore answered: are we not right?

As to the first point, He does three things:

1. First, He asks a question.
2. Second, He begins with a reasonable starting point.
3. Third, He draws His conclusion from it.

5. First, He says: since you cannot say that you do not believe me because I am a sinner, one can ask why, if I say the truth to you, you do not believe me, since I am not a sinner? This is like saying: if you cannot convict me, whom you hate, of sin, it is obvious that you hate me because of the truth—that is, because I say that I am the Son of God. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion (Proverbs 18:2).

6. He then begins with a reasonable and true starting point, saying, he who is of God hears the words of God. For we read: every creature loves its like . Therefore, whoever is of God, to that extent, possesses a likeness to the things of God and clings to them. Thus, he who is of God gladly hears the words of God. As it says later: every one who is of the truth hears my voice (John 18:37). The word of God ought to be heard gladly by those, above all, who are of God, since it is the seed by which we are made the children of God: he called them gods to whom the word of God was spoken (John 10:35).

7. He draws His conclusion from this, saying, therefore, you do not hear them, because you are not of God. This is like saying: the reason for your unbelief is not my sin, but your own wickedness. As it is said: wisdom seems very harsh to the uninstructed . Augustine says about them that as to their nature, they are of God, indeed; but by reason of their vice and evil affection, they are not of God. For this statement was made to those who were not just sinful, for this was common to all; it was made to those of whom it was foreknown that they would not believe with that faith by which they could have been set free from the chains of their sins.

8. It should be noted, as Gregory says, that there are three degrees of being badly disposed in one’s affections.

1. Some refuse to physically hear God’s precepts. Of these we read: like the deaf adder that stops its ear (Psalms 58:4).
2. Others hear them physically, but they do not embrace them with the desire of their heart, since they do not have the will to obey them: they hear what you say, but they will not do it (Ezekiel 33:32).
3. Finally, there are those who joyfully receive the words of God and even weep with tears of sorrow; but after the time of crying is past and they are oppressed with troubles or allured by pleasures, they return to their sins. An example of this is given where we read of the word being choked by cares and anxieties (Matthew 13:18 and following, and Luke 8:11 and following).

But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they are not willing to listen to me (Ezekiel 3:7). Consequently, a sign that a person is of God is that he is glad to hear the words of God, while those who refuse to hear, either in affection or physically, are not of God.

9. Next, He rejects the response made by the Jews.

1. First, the Evangelist mentions this response.
2. Second, our Lord’s rejection of it, at Jesus answered: I do not have a demon.

10. In their response, the Jews charge Christ with two things: first, that He is a Samaritan, when they say, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan? Second, that He has a demon, when they add, and have a demon?

From their saying, are we not right? we can infer that they often insulted Christ this way. In fact, concerning the second charge, that He has a demon, they said, it is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that he casts out demons (Matthew 12:24). But this is the only place where it is recorded that they called Him a Samaritan, although they probably said it often, for many of the things that were said and done about Christ and by Christ were not written in the Gospels (John 21:25).

Two reasons can be given why the Jews said this about Christ. First, because the Samaritans were hateful to the people of Israel, for when the ten tribes were led into captivity, they took their land: the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans (John 4:9). Thus, because Christ reproved the Jews, they believed He did it out of hatred, so they regarded Him as a Samaritan—an adversary, as it were. Another reason was that the Samaritans observed the Jewish rites in some things and not in others. Therefore, the Jews, seeing that Christ observed the law in some matters and broke it in others (for example, the law of the Sabbath), called Him a Samaritan.

Again, there are two reasons why they said He had a demon. First, because they did not attribute the miracles He worked, and the thoughts He revealed, to a divine power in Christ; rather, they suspected that He did these things by some demonic art. Thus they said: it is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that he casts out demons (Matthew 12:24). The other reason was based on the fact that His words exceeded human understanding, such as His statements that God was His Father and that He had come down from heaven. When uneducated people hear such things, they usually regard them as diabolical. Accordingly, they believed that Christ spoke as one possessed by a demon: many of them said: he has a devil and is mad: why do you hear him? (John 10:20). Furthermore, they said these things in an attempt to accuse Him of sin, to dispute what He had said: who among you will convict me of sin?

11. Then when he says, Jesus answered: I do not have a demon, our Lord rejects the response of the Jews. Now they had charged Christ with two things: that He was a Samaritan and that He had a demon. Concerning the first, our Lord makes no apology, and this for two reasons. First, according to Origen, because the Jews always wanted to keep themselves apart from the Gentiles. But the time had now come when the distinction between Jews and Gentiles was to be removed, and everyone was to be called to the way of salvation. Accordingly, our Lord, in order to show that He had come for the salvation of all, made Himself all things to all men, more so than Paul, so that He might win all (1 Corinthians 9:22); and so He did not deny that He was a Samaritan.

The other reason was that Samaritan means “keeper,” and because He especially is our keeper, as we read, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep (Psalms 121:4), so He did not deny that He was a Samaritan.

But He did deny that He had a demon, saying, I do not have a demon.

1. First, He rejects the insult.
2. Second, He reproves the insulters for their obstinacy, at and you have dishonored me.

As to the first point, He does two things:

1. First, He rejects the insult.
2. Second, He shows that the opposite is true, at but I honor my Father.

12. It should be noted with respect to the first point that when correcting the Jews, our Lord often spoke harshly to them: woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:14), and many other instances are recorded in the Gospels. But there is no record that our Lord spoke harsh or insulting words in answer to their harsh words or deeds against Himself. Rather, as Gregory said, God accepted their insults and did not answer with insulting words, but simply said, I do not have a demon. And what does this suggest to us if not that when we are falsely attacked by our neighbor with insulting words, we should keep silence, even about his abusive words, so as not to pervert our ministry of correcting in a just manner into a weapon of our anger? However, while we should not value our own goods, we should vindicate the things that are of God.

As Origen says, Christ alone is capable of claiming, I do not have a demon, for He has nothing, either slight or serious, of the devil in Him. Thus He says: the prince of this world comes, and in me he has not anything (John 14:30). What accord has Christ with Belial? (2 Corinthians 6:15).

13. He supports His stand by stating the opposite: but I honor my Father. Now the devil hinders honor being given to God; therefore, any person who seeks God’s honor is a stranger to the devil. Thus, Christ, who honors His Father, that is, God, does not have a demon. Furthermore, it is a proper and singular mark of Christ that He honor His Father, as we read: a son honors his father (Malachi 1:6). And Christ is most singularly the Son of God.

14. Next, at and you have dishonored me, He reproves the insolence of those insulting Him.

1. First, He reproves them.
2. Second, He rejects the supposed reason for their reproof.
3. Third, He foretells their deserved condemnation.

15. He says first, I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me. This is like saying: I do what I ought, but you do not do what you ought. Indeed, by dishonoring me you dishonor my Father: he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father, who has sent him (John 5:23).

16. But they could say: “You are too severe, you are too concerned for your own glory, and so you rebuke us.” He rejects this, and speaking as a man, says, I do not seek my own glory. For it is God alone who can seek His own glory without fault; others must seek it in God: let him who glories, glory in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17); if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.

But does not Christ as man have glory? He does indeed, and it is great in every respect, because, although He does not seek it, nevertheless, there is one who seeks it, that is, the Father. For we read: you crown him with glory and honor (Psalms 8:5), referring to Christ in His human nature. And in another place: glory and great beauty you will lay upon him (Psalms 21:5).

17. Not only will He seek my glory in those who accomplish works of great virtue, but He will punish and condemn those who speak against my glory. So He adds: and judges.

This, however, seems to conflict with the statement from earlier: for neither does the Father judge any man, but he has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22).

I answer that the Father does not judge anyone apart from the Son, because even that judgment which He will make concerning the fact that you insult me, He will make through the Son. Or, one might say that judgment is sometimes taken for condemnation, and this judgment the Father has given to the Son, who alone will appear in visible form in judgment, as has been said.

Sometimes, however, it is understood as meaning to distinguish one from another, and this is the way it is used here. Thus we read: judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause (Psalms 43:1). It is like saying: It is the Father who will distinguish my glory from yours, for He discerns that you glory in the world; and He sees the glory of His Son, whom He has anointed above His fellows and who is without sin. But you are men with sin.