Answers from church history on today's questions
What Christian writers said, from about AD 207 to 1869.
26 passages · 14 writers · 8 centuries
Few writers in this collection treat the title at length. Of the 26 passages here, 8 state what it means and 18 mention it in passing. The 8 come from commentaries and homilies on John 8:44 and from Augustine's City of God, by Chrysostom, Augustine, Calvin, Matthew Henry, and Ryle. They say the devil was the first to lie and that lying is proper to him, whereas people lie as something foreign to their nature. Calvin reads "father" as meaning that the devil is estranged from God, the source of truth. Henry reads it as making the devil the source of every lie and of those who speak them, and Ryle reads it as the devil's influence over those who follow him. The remaining passages tie the title to the serpent in Eden, to people who lie like the devil, to the devil's use of false witness, to heretics, and to murder.
4 passages · 3 writers · 300s to 1700s
Writers say the devil originated lying and that the lie is proper to him, not borrowed from elsewhere.
For the devil first was the father of a lie, when he said, “In the day that ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened” ( Gen. iii. 5 ), and he first used it. For men use a lie not as a thing proper, but alien to their nature, but he as proper.
John Chrysostom, The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 56
For thou, it may be, art a liar, because thou utterest a lie; but thou art not its father. For if thou hast got what thou sayest from the devil, and hast believed the devil, thou art a liar, but not the father of the lie. But he, because he got not elsewhere the lie wherewith in serpent-form he slew man as if by poison, is the father of lies just as God is Father of truth.
Augustine of Hippo, Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 43
For the devil too, wished to live according to himself when he did not abide in the truth; so that when he lied, this was not of God, but of himself, who is not only a liar, but the father of lies, he being the first who lied, and the originator of lying as of sin.
Augustine of Hippo, City of God 14.3
Three things are here said of the devil with reference to the sin of lying:— First, That he is a liar; his oracles were lying oracles, his prophets lying prophets, and the images in which he was worshipped teachers of lies. He tempted our first parents with a downright lie. All his temptations are carried on by lies, calling evil good and good evil, and promising impunity in sin; he knows them to be lies, and suggests them with an intention to deceive, and so to destroy. When he now contradicted the gospel, in the scribes and Pharisees, it was by lies; and when afterwards he corrupted it, in the man of sin, it was by strong delusions, and a great complicated lie.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on John 8.5
2 passages · 1 writer · 1700s
Henry reads the title as making the devil the source of all lies, including those other people speak, and of those who speak them.
When men speak a lie they borrow it from the devil, Satan fills their hearts to lie ( Acts v. 3 ); but when the devil speaks a lie the model of it is of his own framing, the motives to it are from himself, which bespeaks the desperate depth of wickedness into which those apostate spirits are sunk; as in their first defection they had no tempter, so their sinfulness is still their own. Thirdly, That he is the father of it, autou . 1. He is the father of every lie; not only of the lies which he himself suggests, but of those which others speak; he is the author and founder of all lies. When men speak lies, they speak from him, and as his mouth; they come originally from him, and bear his image.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on John 8.5
God made men with a disposition to truth. It is congruous to reason and natural light, to the order of our faculties and the laws of society, that we should speak truth; but the devil, the author of sin, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, has so corrupted the nature of man that the wicked are said to be estranged from the womb, speaking lies ( Ps. lviii. 3 ); he has taught them with their tongues to use deceit, Rom. iii. 13 . He is the father of liars, who begat them, who trained them up in the way of lying, whom they resemble and obey, and with whom all liars shall have their portion for ever.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on John 8.5
2 passages · 2 writers · 1500s to 1800s
Writers explain the word father as separation from God, the source of truth, or as influence over those who follow him.
When he speaketh falsehood. These words are generally explained as if Christ affirmed that the blame of falsehood does not belong to God, who is the Author of nature, but, on the contrary, proceeds from corruption. But I explain it more simply, that it is customary with the devil to speak falsehood , and that he knows nothing but to contrive corruptions, frauds, and delusions. And yet we justly infer from these words, that the devil has this vice from himself, and that, while it is peculiar to him, it may likewise be said to be accidental; for, while Christ makes the devil to be the contriver of lying , he evidently separates him from God, and even declares him to be contrary to God. For he is a liar , and the father of it The word father has the same object as the preceding statement; for the reason why Satan is said to be the father of falsehood is, because he is estranged from God, in whom alone truth dwells, and from whom it flows as from the only fountain.
John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Vol. 1 8.8
The devil has no power to “create” the wicked. He only finds them born in sin and, working upon their sinful nature, obtains such an influence that he becomes practically the “father of the wicked.” … When our Lord says “Ye will do the lusts of your father,” we must remember that “Ye will” is emphatic in the Greek. “Ye have a will, mind, purpose, and disposition.” By “doing the lusts” He means, “Ye follow those evil inclinations and desires” which are peculiarly characteristic of the devil and according to his mind—such as to commit murder and to love and tell a lie.
J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John John 8:37-47
3 passages · 3 writers · 200s to 1600s
Writers trace the devil's lying to the temptation of Adam and Eve and to the serpent's words.
If, however, you choose to transfer the account of evil from man to the devil as the instigator of sin, and in this way, too, throw the blame on the Creator, inasmuch as He created the devil,—for He maketh those spiritual beings, the angels—then it will follow that what was made, that is to say, the angel, will belong to Him who made it; while that which was not made by God, even the devil, or accuser, cannot but have been made by itself; and this by false detraction from God: first, how that God had forbidden them to eat of every tree; then, with the pretence that they should not die if they ate; thirdly, as if God grudged them the property of divinity. Now, whence originated this malice of lying and deceit towards man, and slandering of God?
Tertullian, The Five Books Against Marcion 2.10
I acknowledge, indeed, that from this place alone nothing more can be collected than that men were deceived by the serpent. But the testimonies of Scripture are sufficiently numerous, in which it is plainly asserted that the serpent was only the mouth of the devil; for not the serpent but the devil is declared to be ‘the father of lies,’ the fabricator of imposture, and the author of death.
John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 3.1
The devil crept into the serpent, and spake in the serpent, as the angel in Balaam's ass; where, consider, (1.) The subtlety of Satan's temptation. His wiles are worse than his darts. Satan's subtlety in tempting; (1.) He dealt all along as an impostor, he ushered in his temptation by lies. 1st Lie. ‘Ye shall not surely die.' … The devil was first a liar, then a murderer.
Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity 4.2
6 passages · 5 writers · 1300s to 1700s
Writers say people who lie resemble the devil, imitate him, or are his children.
Such as these follow a lie, walking on the road of falsehood, and are sons of the Devil, who is the Father of Lies; and, because they pass by the door of falsehood, they receive eternal damnation.
Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue 3.11
When he compares his enemies to hunters or fowlers, it is not without having just ground for doing so. The wicked, it is true, often commit violence and outrage, yet in deceits and cunning artifices they always imitate their father Satan, who is the father of lies, and, therefore, whatever ingenuity they have, they employ it in practising wickedness and in devising mischief.
John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms, Vol. 1 9.6
Indeed, it is of all other sins the most Diabolical, it being a conjunction of two of Satan’s most essential properties, Malice and Lying. We know tis his peculiar title to be the Accuser of the brethren: and when we transcribe his copy, we also assume his nature, entitle ourselves to a descent from him, Ye are of your Father the Devil. John. 8. 44. We are by it rendered a sort of Incubus brats, the infamous progenies of the Lying spirit.
Richard Allestree, The Government of the Tongue 6
He who tells a lie makes himself like the devil. ‘The devil is a liar, and the father of it.' John 8:44. He deceived our first parents by a lie.
Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity 3.10
Liars and murderers are in a particular manner said to resemble the devil and to be his children, and therefore it may well be expected that God should abhor them. These were the characters of David's enemies; and such as these are still the enemies of Christ and his church, men perfectly lost to all virtue and honour; and the worse they are the surer we may be of their ruin in due time.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalms 5.1
Lying makes us like the devil (who is the father of lies ), and is a prime part of the devil's image upon our souls; and therefore we are cautioned against this sin by this general reason: Seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, v. 10 . The consideration that we have by profession put away sin and espoused the cause and interest of Christ, that we have renounced all sin and stand engaged to Christ, should fortify us against this sin of lying.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Colossians 3.3
2 passages · 1 writer · 1800s
Writers describe false witness, slander, and ridicule as means the devil uses against Christ and his servants.
Falsehood and ridicule are old and favorite weapons of the devil. "He is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44.) All through our Lord's earthly ministry we see these weapons continually employed against Him. … Satan stirred up his enemies to add insult to injury.
J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 26:47-56
False witness and slander are two favorite weapons of the devil. He was a liar from the beginning, and is still the father of lies. (John 8:44.) When he finds that he cannot stop God's work, his next device is to blacken the character of God's servants, and to destroy the value of their testimony. With this weapon he assaulted David--"False witnesses," he says, "did rise against me--they laid to my charge things that I knew not."
J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke Luke 23:1-12
2 passages · 2 writers · 300s to 400s
Writers apply the title to heretics, who are said to share the devil's purpose of lying.
Assuredly in every one of these heresies the devil has thus disguised himself, and has suggested to them words full of craftiness. The Lord spake concerning them, that ‘there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, so that they shall deceive many .’ Accordingly the devil has come, speaking by each and saying, ‘I am Christ, and the truth is with me;’ and he has made them, one and all, to be liars like himself. And strange it is, that while all heresies are at variance with one another concerning the mischievous inventions which each has framed, they are united together only by the common purpose of lying .
Athanasius of Alexandria, Circular to Bishops of Egypt and Libya 2.1
For whilst the spirit of falsehood is the only true enemy of the human race, it is undoubted that all whom the Truth has won over to His side share in His triumph over that enemy. Assuredly it now is clear how divinely authorized are these words of our Redeemer, which are so applicable to the enemies of the Faith that one may not doubt they were said of them: “You,” He says, “are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to fulfil. He was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth, because the truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father thereof .”
Leo the Great, The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great 4.115
3 passages · 3 writers · 1500s to 1700s
Writers connect the lies of the world to the devil and say God is not their author.
Moreover, we condemn Florinus and Blastus (against whom also Irenæus wrote), and all those who make God the author of sin; seeing it expressly written, ‘Thou art not a God that loveth wickedness; thou hatest all them that work iniquity, and wilt destroy all that speak leasing’ ( Psalm 5:4-6 ). And, again, ‘When the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; because he is a liar, and the father of lies’ ( John 8:44 ).
Second Helvetic Confession, Second Helvetic Confession 8
And sin entered into the world by and with a long train of lies; and ever since, the whole world, and everything in it, is filled with them; which represents him and his nature who is the father of lies and liars.
John Owen, Pneumatologia 5.1
Note, Since the devil is universally know to be the father of lies, those put the highest affront imaginable upon God who tell lies, and then father them upon him. But those that had put God's character upon Satan, in worshipping devils, arrived at length at such a pitch of impiety as to put Satan's character upon God.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Ezekiel 13.1
2 passages · 2 writers · 1700s
Writers pair the devil's lying with murder, as in Cain.
Cain's plea: he pleads not guilty, and adds rebellion to his sin. For, 1. He endeavours to cover a deliberate murder with a deliberate lie: I know not. He knew well enough what had become of Abel, and yet had the impudence to deny it. Thus, in Cain, the devil was both a murderer and a liar from the beginning.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Genesis 4.5
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? - God knew him to be guilty; yet he asks him, that he might draw from him a confession of his crime; for those who would be justified before God, must accuse themselves. And he said, I know not - Thus in Cain the devil was both a murderer, and a liar from the beginning.
John Wesley, Notes on the Bible 28.4
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