John 8:39, commentary and pictures

Jesus spoke these words to unbelieving Jews, scribes, Pharisees and priests, who after being cut to the soul angrily claimed Abraham as their father and made that descent their ground for cherishing themselves as heaven's favorites who would always be exalted and secure. To be Abraham's children is proved not by claiming descent, birth, lineage or name, for lineage has no virtue, but by moral and spiritual connection and likeness of character that does Abraham's works. Those works are obedience to God springing from genuine faith, shown in humility, piety, integrity, purity, charity, mercy and love, with heart and life in harmony with God's will so that faith is made visible and does not set aside obedience to God's law. Their seeking to kill Jesus, a man who told them the truth He heard from God, proved they were not Abraham's true children, for Abraham never did such a thing, but showed they were in the bondage of unbelief and malice doing the deeds of another father, the devil. Being called Abraham's children gives no security for salvation while persisting in sin, and only those who meet the covenant's conditions through faithful obedience, true repentance and good fruit are his true children and heirs of the promises and eternal blessings.

Context and Meaning

Jesus spoke these words to unbelieving Jews, including scribes and Pharisees and priests, who had been blessed with great privileges yet had become self-exalted. His words cut to the citadel of the soul, and in anger they answered by claiming Abraham as their father. They made that descent the ground for cherishing themselves as heaven's favorites who would always be exalted as the church of God, with prosperity so secure that none could dispossess them of their right.

Being Abraham's children is proved by doing Abraham's works, not merely by claiming descent, birth, lineage or name. Lineage has no virtue in itself, and moral and spiritual connection supersedes all natural connection. Likeness of character decides true sonship, so spiritual kinship takes precedence over natural descent. Only those spiritually in harmony with Abraham are reckoned of true descent.

The works of Abraham are obedience to God springing from genuine faith, which was counted as righteousness. They are humility, faith, piety, integrity and purity of life, charity, mercy, and the love of God. They are faith, love and obedience, with heart and life in harmony with the will of God and with the moral worth that allies a person to him. Genuine faith is thus made visible in obedience, and belief in Christ does not make obedience to God's law unnecessary.

Seeking to kill Jesus, a man who told them the truth which He heard from God, proved the claimants were not Abraham's true children, because Abraham never did such a thing. Abraham obeyed God and did not plot to kill someone speaking God's truth, so murderous rejection of Jesus showed they were not following Abraham's example. That attempt revealed them as slaves of unbelief and bitter malice in the worst bondage. It showed they did the deeds of another father, the devil, a liar and murderer.

Promise and Salvation

Being called the children of Abraham gives no security for salvation, for descent from Abraham does not make anyone his true child and heir of the promises and eternal blessings given to him. Claiming Abraham as father does not make people worthy of his name and cannot secure God's favor while a person persists in sin, so salvation cannot rest on ancestry or title. The Jews deceived themselves by misinterpreting the Lord's words through His prophets about His eternal favor to Israel and misapplying them to depend on the name for salvation. Their hearts and lives were contrary to the will of God, strangers to charity, mercy, and the love of God, destitute of his faith and piety and without integrity and purity of life, so their claim was vain self-deception and their high pretensions to godliness were hypocrisy under the curse of God.

Only those who do the works of Abraham are his children, and worthiness of the name requires following the righteous example of father Abraham in life and action. God's promises belong to those who meet the covenant's conditions through faithful obedience and true repentance, and only those who fulfill the conditions by faithful obedience and true repentance are entitled to the promises made to a faithful and obedient people and to the seed of Abraham. Abraham's children share his faith, love, and obedience and bear good fruit, having his faith, love and obedience with justice, benevolence, mercy and the love of God characterizing daily life. Pride, selfishness, cruelty, and unbelief show that a claim to his heritage is empty, and without justice, benevolence, mercy and the love of God characterizing daily life, profession of piety denies faith and gives no claim to Abraham as father.

Profession without good fruit cannot secure a place in Christ's kingdom and gives no part in the kingdom of Christ, but leaves people like a fruitless tree to be hewn down and cast into the fire. God will raise up children unto Abraham from the very stones rather than depend on those who neglect light and harden themselves in selfish ambition and wicked unbelief. The claimants were zealous for an outward show of righteousness and the letter of the law, yet they neglected inner holiness and violated the spirit of the law. Their need was a new moral birth that removed sin and brought genuine holiness, for outward show did not make them his spiritual children.

Truth brought before the mind must be comprehended, received, confessed, and obeyed. Actions are the index of character as a tree is valued by the fruit it bears, and those who truly love God do the things that please Him. Pride, arrogance, jealousy, selfishness, cruelty, unbelief and hypocrisy stamp people as a generation of vipers rather than the children of obedient and just Abraham. Claiming to be Abraham's children is worthless without doing the works of Abraham, for refusal to follow Abraham's example proves the claim false.

Present Application

The test in the verse divides all people into two classes, the children of light who obey the truth and the children of darkness who reject the truth in bigotry and self-righteousness. Merely claiming Abraham as father proves nothing, for if they were Abraham's children they would do the works of Abraham. Seeking to kill a man who told them the truth which He heard from God is what Abraham never did, and it proves doing the deeds of another father, the devil. The same test exposes all today who call God their Father while hating with intense hatred the Word of truth.

The same principle decides apostolic succession, which depends not on transfer of church authority but on spiritual kinship with the apostles. That kinship is shown by living in their spirit and believing and teaching the truth they taught, for lineage without spiritual likeness has no value. Lineage in itself has no virtue, because moral and spiritual connection supersedes all natural connection. Only those spiritually in harmony with Abraham are reckoned as of true descent. Piety and true greatness exalt a nation rather than bloodline, so that even a beggar looked upon by men as inferior can be one whom Abraham takes into the very heart of friendship.

Saying you are Abraham's children is false unless you do the works of Abraham, which are the works of the Lord. Those who profess to be Christians and claim to be Abraham's children but indulge unnatural appetite for tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor and other forbidden articles are not his children. Such indulgence is sin at war with the laws of life and health written in the body, and following Jesus requires denying unnatural appetite. Sonship to Abraham and to God is proved not by lineal descent but by likeness of character and works of obedience to God. The mocking claim to have God as Father, made with an insinuation about Christ's birth, fails that test, for if God were their Father they would love Christ as sent from God and would receive truth instead of rejecting it because it exposes error and condemns teaching and practice. Being Abraham's children requires faithful lives, and by lives of unfaithfulness people prepare themselves for the condemnation of heaven and for separation from God.