John 8:31-47, 54-59
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.’” “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
What is the overall point of this passage? How would you summarize it in a sentence or two? How does it fit with the entire Gospel?
How does Jesus compare himself to Abraham?
What is the significance of Jesus saying, “before Abraham was born, I am!”?
What else is going on?
About Me
- Allen
- Mitchell, Indiana, United States
- I love my family, and I enjoy what I do. I am in my 18th year with the Mitchell Church of Christ. I am an endurance athlete. The parallels between endurance athletics and ministry are remarkable. They are mutually beneficial.
The Holy Trinity
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5 comments:
Sorry about the delay of getting this post up. My computer was down for a few days.
If you have a hotmail or msn email address, you are probably not getting any church emails or emails from me. Best I can tell, they are all being rejected. Frustrating!
Oh well...
How can the Jews say that they have never been enslaved?
What about Egypt?
What about 70 years in Babylon?
What about their present situation with the Roman empire?
They are blind to their own situation.
Are there present day parallels?
It seems like Jesus is telling them they are not acting like sons of God. And if they claim to be sons of God then why aren't they listening to him, recognizing him as from God. If they knew God then they should recognize the Truth of what Jesus is trying to get through to them.
They are too far separated from God, they don't know him anymore like Abraham did. I guess this is where the lies come in, they don't know what the truth is anymore and have been swayed by other influences and need to get back in touch with God.
What is the significance of Jesus saying, “before Abraham was born, I am!”?
Jesus is giving them a clue that He has been sent from God. God used these same words 'I am' to describe Himself.
Annette
For a few weeks now I have been upset and stewing over what I call Legal Stealing. It seems like everytime I turn around someone is stealing. One example is... I used an ATM which charged me 2.50 to use it, when I went to my bank I found out my bank also charged me one dollar for using that ATM. I got a message through a Randy Alcorn novel I was reading that said something like 'Woe to those who make those rules/laws because they will have to account for them in front of God.'It also said something like don't stew about things like that, let it go because its not good for you. Okay so I let it go and felt better. But a few days later I was thinking What do we stand up for and what do we let go? Some how we let the schools decree that my child can't say God Bless You in school (I told my kids to say it everytime). So how do we determine what to fight for and what to let go?
Annette
Here is an interesting passage:
1 John 5:19
We know that we are the children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
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