{Ye are of your father the devil} (humeis ek tou patros tou
diabolou). Certainly they can "understand" (gin(9373)kete in  43 )
this "talk" (lalian) though they will be greatly angered. But
they had to hear it (akouein in  43 ). It was like a bombshell
in spite of the preliminary preparation. {Your will to do}
(	helete poiein). Present active indicative of 	hel(935c) and
present active infinitive, "Ye wish to go on doing." This same
idea Jesus presents in  Mt 13:38  (the sons of the evil one, the
devil) and  23:15  (twofold more a son of Gehenna than you). See
also  1Jo 3:8  for "of the devil" (ek tou diabolou) for the one
who persists in sinning. In  Re 12:9  the devil is one who leads
all the world astray. The Gnostic view that Jesus means "the
father of the devil" is grotesque. Jesus does not, of course,
here deny that the Jews, like all men, are children of God the
Creator, like Paul's offspring of God for all men in  Ac 17:28 .
What he denies to these Pharisees is that they are spiritual
children of God who do his will. They do the lusts and will of
the devil. The Baptist had denied this same spiritual fatherhood
to the merely physical descendants of Abraham ( Mt 3:9 ). He even
called them "broods of vipers" as Jesus did later ( Mt 12:34 ).
{A murderer} (anthr(9370)oktonos). Old and rare word (Euripides)
from anthr(9370)os, man, and ktein(935c), to kill. In N.T. only here
and  1Jo 3:15 . The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus and so like
their father the devil. {Stood not in the truth} (en t(8869)
al(8874)hei(8369) ouk est(886b)en). Since ouk, not ouch, is genuine, the
form of the verb is esteken the imperfect of the late present
stem st(886b)(935c) ( Mr 11:25 ) from the perfect active hest(886b)a
(intransitive) of hist(886d)i, to place. {No truth in him} (ouk
estin al(8874)heia en aut(9369)). Inside him or outside (environment).
The devil and truth have no contact. {When he speaketh a lie}
(hotan lal(8869) to pseudos). Indefinite temporal clause with
hotan and the present active subjunctive of lale(935c). But note
the article 	o: "Whenever he speaks the lie," as he is sure to
do because it is his nature. Hence "he speaks out of his own"
(ek t(936e) idi(936e) lalei) like a fountain bubbling up (cf.  Mt
12:34 ). {For he is a liar} (hoti pseust(8873) estin). Old word for
the agent in a conscious falsehood (pseudos). See  1Jo 1:10  Ro
3:4 . Common word in John because of the emphasis on al(8874)heia
(truth). {And the father thereof} (kai ho pat(8872) autou). Either
the father of the lie or of the liar, both of which are true as
already shown by Jesus. {Autou} in the genitive can be either
neuter or masculine. Westcott takes it thus, "because he is a
liar and his father (the devil) is a liar," making "one," not the
devil, the subject of "whenever he speaks," a very doubtful
expression.