8:31-37
Freedom From Sin
Verse 30 ends the previous passage by saying many believed in him after his message on being the light of the world.
Beginning in verse 31, Jesus addressed those people in this passage and tells them what genuine faith looks like. He has already encountered those who claimed to be disciples, but walked away when he said something difficult. Here he confronts their dependence on their race more than on their faith.
Jesus said “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples (31) The mark of the true disciple is perseverance until the end. Our time is marked by the defection of many who claimed to be believers. They have gone after theological liberalism, secularism, humanism, and agnosticism.
But the true disciple stays with Jesus. He “abides”, or stays with Jesus through his word. The disciple constantly hears, reads, and studies Jesus’ words. If he or she reads a verse they do not understand, they do not leave, they stay and pray and think and study until they understand it. If they read something that is troubling, they do not abandon the faith, they adapt their thinking to God’s thinking until they understand and love that word. They are the true disciple.
By abiding, disciples come to know the truth. They know Jesus, who is the embodiment of truth, and the truth of his teaching. Especially, they know the gospel, the way to salvation unto eternal life.
Here is an example: after causing many to leave him because he said they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, Jesus asked the Twelve if they would also leave. Peter replied that there was no place to go, because Jesus had the words of eternal life. (6:68) Jesus had taught the truth, that he was the way to the Father and eternal life.
So, true disciples abide in Jesus’ word. True disciples know the truth. And, the truth sets them free. And it is at this point the Jesus’ point strikes home. If you must know the truth of Jesus to be free, there is an implication that you are otherwise not free, but a slave.
So, the Jews said that, as the descendants of Abraham, the were free and never been enslaved to anyone. (33) They had, though, been slaves in Egypt and had been conquered as a nation many times. But they felt special as Abraham’s descendants, having a relationship with God that no other nation had.
Jesus answered them with an important truth, shown by his use of the word “truly” twice. He explained that he was referring to the slavery to sin: everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Paul taught this truth in detail in Romans 6.
Ironically, while the Jews argued with Jesus, they demonstrated his point. They were proud. They took so much pride in being descendants of Abraham and feeling special that they could not accept who they were as sinners and, therefore, who Christ was a savior.
So, Jesus taught them about status. The son remains forever in the father’s house, but the slave can be be sent away. Jesus is the true Son and those who abide in his words are sons by adoption. Since the Son is permanently in the father’s house, if he sets you free you are truly free.
Hebrews 7 teaches this truth in the context of Jesus being the high priest of our faith. Since he is the high priest forever, he saves us forever since he always lives to make intercession for us.
Jesus was confronting their sin and their need to permanently abide in is word. He was telling them he could set them free from sin if they would abide in his word. Perseverance in faith would result in salvation, but their heritage would not.
Of course, this freedom of which Jesus speaks is not the freedom to do anything we please, even sin, but rather is freedom from sin to do what we ought to do to please God.
Jesus knew the Jews were the physical offspring of Abraham. Of course he knew that, he was raised as Jew and had heard that all his life. But, he also knew that Abraham believed in him. Abraham believed God’s promises, including that the blessing of all nations would come through his seed, or descendant. That seed was Jesus, who came and fulfilled the promise made to Abraham. If the Jews were the spiritual descendants of Abraham, they would also believe in Jesus.
But these Jews wanted to kill Jesus because they did not abide in his word. Jesus said “my word finds no place in you”. (37) Since abiding in his word is the sign of true discipleship, Jesus was saying they were not true disciples. And, they were not true sons of Abraham.
8:38-47
Who’s Your Daddy?
Jesus pressed this point (of them not being true sons of Abraham) by saying he spoke of what he had seen from his Father, meaning God the Father. In contrast, the Jews did what they heard from their father. (38)
The Jews, still thinking that Jesus was speaking of Abraham, responded by insisting Abraham was their father. (39)
But Jesus pointed out that, if they were children of Abraham, they would do the works Abraham did. Abraham believed and obeyed God. These people do not. So Jesus said, you have shown that Abraham is not your father and you are doing the work of you real father. (41)
By denying the claim of the Jews to be children of Abraham, Jesus was making them spiritually illegitimate children. In response they say they were not born of sexual immorality, but were instead children of God. (41)
This statement has a couple of extra possible meanings. It could refer to a Samaritan belief that the Jews were the product of Satan seduced Eve and produced Cain, and that the Jews descended from Cain and not Seth.
It could also be that this was an insult directed at Jesus because of rumors about his parentage by those who would not acknowledge his birth via the Holy Spirit.
The Jews claim that their real father was God had support in Scripture. There are Old Testament passages to support this. In Exodus 4:22, God said “Israel is my firstborn son”. In Jeremiah 31:9, the Lord said “I am Israel’s father”.
Jesus did not deny the Old Testament texts. But he denied their applicability to his audience. Since he came from God and said what God told him to say, if they had God for their father, they would love his son and believe him. (42)
This teaching set the stage for Paul’s later teaching that the true descendants of Abraham were those who believed in Christ, not those who were physical descendants only. (Romans 9:7; Galatians 4:21-31)
But they do not believe. In fact they cannot bear to hear Jesus because their real father is the devil. (43-44)
Because their father was the devil, they desired to do the devil’s will and murder Jesus. The devil was a murderer and so they wanted to be murderers, too. It was a terrible indictment. And it turned out to be true.
The devil is also a liar. He has no connection to truth at all. (44) So, those who are his children, also cannot bear the truth or believe it.
Jesus’s summary here is a word for us to hear today: whoever is of God hears the words of God. Those who cannot hear the words of God, which we have in the Bible, show to whom they belong. They may claim to be Christians, but if they reject Christ’s words, they show they are not and are, in fact, enemies of Christ as was their father, the devil.
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