Hey Andy in John 8:39-40, is Jesus defining who the chosen people, the Children of Abraham, are? Thank you very much in advance for your answer.
Hi. Is Jesus defining who the chosen children of Abraham are? Well, sort of. Let me explain:
The men to whom Jesus was speaking were not only denying Jesus’ deity, even after His signs confirmed who He is, but the fact that they wanted to kill Jesus revealed who their real father (or real god) really was.
In the same way that a son often resembles or behaves like his father, they were behaving like their father – the devil, by wanting to kill Him. But that’s not all. It wasn’t that they didn’t see the miracles and proof that Jesus continuously did, but that they REFUSED to believe them and what they pointed to, which was that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah of God. And the pride that they were holding to so dearly, which was what was preventing them from seeing and believing, was also driving them to remove that which would humble them and actually set them free from their slavery to sin.
And so they were also living an illusion by thinking they were safe, simply because they were Abraham’s descendants by birth. However, Jesus was saying that such is not what makes them Abe’s children, but only by faith that they might be related, and by whom they resemble in behavior – and their behavior showed that they were neither children of God, Abraham, nor God’s chosen people, but of the Devil.
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