Satan: Whose Father Is He?

June 13, 2011 by William Hamblin

Continued from Page 1

When Jesus says, "I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father" (8:38-41), he means that the Jews do the works of their spiritual father, Satan (8:44). What exactly does this mean? The Devil was "a murderer from the beginning" and is the "father of lies" (8:44), probably alluding to Satan lying to deceive Eve (Gen. 3:1-6; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Jn. 2:22), and inspiring the first murder by Cain (Gen. 4:8; 1 Jn. 3:10-12). Thus when the Jews reject the truth spoken by Jesus, and seek to kill him for blasphemy and violation of the Sabbath, they are following the desires of the father of lies and murder, and hence are his children. Jesus' conclusion is straightforward and unequivocal: "You [Jews who reject Jesus] are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him" (8:44).

For modern readers, ensconced in a culture demanding tolerance, this is rather brutal dualism—you are either a son of God or a son of Satan. As we noted earlier, however, cosmic dualism is a characteristic of the Gospel of John. In a cosmic sense, you are either for God or against God—there is no middle ground. If you are not for Jesus, you are against him. In this world/kosmos, whose ruler is Satan (12:31, 14:30, 16:11), your allegiance is manifest by whose disciple you are, and whose will you fulfill. Thus, even if unwittingly, those who fulfill the will of Satan by rejecting and killing Jesus inevitably become his children. Jesus makes this position clear: "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God" (8:42), and "whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God" (8:47).

The Jewish response is to reverse this argument. First, they insist that "we have one Father, even God" (8:41), referring to biblical concepts of Israel as the children of God (Ex. 4:22; Dt. 14:1-2, 32:6; Is. 64:8; Jer. 39:1; see also Jn. 11:51-52; 1 Jn. 3:1-2). From the Jews' perspective, Jesus' blasphemy and sin proves to them that he is possessed by a demon (8:48). Hence, the "Father" of whom Jesus speaks so often is not really God, but Satan, who has possessed Jesus. It is Jesus who is deceived by Satan, not the Jews. The rift emerging between Jesus and his critics is thus exacerbated. And the reader is forced to decide: who really is of God, Jesus or his Jewish critics?

For a complete version with notes, see DropBox
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15865520/Enigmatic%20Mirror/EM-John%208c.pdf

Or (Academia.edu):
http://byu.academia.edu/WilliamHamblin/Papers/669461/Satan_Father_of_the_Jews_or_of_Jesus_Jn._8_31-47_

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6/13/2011 4:00:00 AM

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About William Hamblin

William James Hamblin is professor of Near Eastern History at Brigham Young University. You can follow and discuss "An Enigmatic Mirror" on Facebook.

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