Commenting on John 13:2:
τοῦ διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τὴν καρδίαν ἵνα παραδοῖ αὐτὸν Ἰούδας. The devil had already made up his mind
that Judas should betray him [Jesus].’ The translation of R.V. (The devil
having already put into the heart of Judas … to betray him) can be maintained
only if the genitive of the name Judas is read, with D Θ ω a e sin pesh sah. This however is
probably a simplifying gloss, and should be rejected. On the other hand it
should be noted that the Old Latin has cum
diabolus se misisset (or, misisset se)
in cor.… For the construction cf. Job
22:22, ἀνάλαβε … ἐν καρδίᾳ σου (שים … בלבבך, literally, Put … in thy heart), and 1 Sam. 29:10, μὴ θῇς ἐν καρδίᾳ σου (no corresponding Hebrew). See also Luke
21:14 (and parallels adduced in H.S.G.T.,
131). For the thought cf. v. 27, and 6:70 ἐξ ὑμῶν εἷς διάβολός ἐστιν; also Luke 22:3, εἰσῆλθεν δὲ Σατανᾶς εἰς Ἰούδαν (Luke is the only other evangelist to
connect Judas’ treachery directly with Satan). παραδοῖ is the form of the verb that appears in א B, ‘An obviously vernacular form—as its papyrus record shows—it
may safely be assumed right.… Though a late form of the optative coincides with
it, there is not the slightest syntactical reason for doubt that in the New
Testament it is always subjunctive’ (M. ii, 211). Cf. Mark 14:10; that this
parallel also deals with Judas’ treachery may not be purely fortuitous. (C.
K. Barrett, Gospel according to St John:
An Introduction with Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text [2d ed.; London:
SPCK, 1978], 439)
Commenting on John
6:70:
διάβολος. Elsewhere in the New Testament (except where it is an adjective
meaning ‘slanderous’) διάβολος
means Satan, the prince of evil; so also John 8:44; 13:2; cf. Σατανᾶς at 13:27. The sense of the present verse
is explained by 13:2: Satan has made Judas his ally, a subordinate devil. Cf.
Mark 8:33, where Peter after the confession is addressed as Satan (διάβολος is not used in Mark). Perhaps John is
intentionally correcting Mark—the real devil is not Peter but Judas. Cf. Luke
22:3 where Judas’ sin is ascribed to Satan, and 22:31 where Jesus prays that
Peter may be strengthened against Satan’s devices. See also E. Haenchen, Die Bibel und Wir (1968), 130, for the suggestion that the
name Simon (v. 71) reflects the old tradition in which Simon Peter was a devil
(Mark 8:33). (C. K. Barrett, Gospel according to St John: An Introduction with Commentary and Notes
on the Greek Text [2d ed.; London: SPCK, 1978], 307-8)
