Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
The confrontation occurred in the court of the temple specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles, as part of the same temple teaching in which Jesus declared himself the light of the world. Deeds reveal spiritual parentage, so that doing the devil's works shows opposition to God even while claiming God as Father. Merely claiming God as Father does not make a person God's child when deeds contradict the claim, exposing the boast as pretended piety.
The Pharisees and Jewish teachers claimed Abraham and God as Father and denied base birth, yet their works showed they were children of neither Abraham nor God but were acting as children of God's enemy. Their answer was given in bigotry and self-righteousness, prompted by the accusing spirit of Satan, whose advocates they had become. Their denial of illegitimate birth partly showed they understood Jesus to be challenging their spiritual ancestry. Their remark about not being born of fornication also mocked Jesus by alluding to the circumstances of His birth.
Jesus gave love for himself as the test of the claim, since if God were truly their Father they would love him because he came from God and was sent by God. Their claim was proved false because they had turned from God, refused to recognize His Son, rejected the truth, and sought to kill a man telling the truth heard from God, which Abraham never did. That refusal to love and believe Him showed that their works aligned them with the devil, a liar and murderer, rather than with God. The verse presents two classes, children of light who obey the truth and children of darkness who reject the truth, and claiming God as Father while hating the Word of truth with intense hatred repeats the same false claim today.
The confrontation occurred in the court of the temple specially connected with the services of the Feast of Tabernacles, as part of the same temple teaching in which Jesus declared himself the light of the world. Deeds reveal spiritual parentage, so that doing the devil's works shows opposition to God even while claiming God as Father. Merely claiming God as Father does not make a person God's child when deeds contradict the claim, exposing the boast as pretended piety.
The Pharisees and Jewish teachers claimed Abraham and God as Father and denied base birth, yet their works showed they were children of neither Abraham nor God but were acting as children of God's enemy. Their answer was given in bigotry and self-righteousness, prompted by the accusing spirit of Satan, whose advocates they had become. Their denial of illegitimate birth partly showed they understood Jesus to be challenging their spiritual ancestry. Their remark about not being born of fornication also mocked Jesus by alluding to the circumstances of His birth.
Jesus gave love for himself as the test of the claim, since if God were truly their Father they would love him because he came from God and was sent by God. Their claim was proved false because they had turned from God, refused to recognize His Son, rejected the truth, and sought to kill a man telling the truth heard from God, which Abraham never did. That refusal to love and believe Him showed that their works aligned them with the devil, a liar and murderer, rather than with God. The verse presents two classes, children of light who obey the truth and children of darkness who reject the truth, and claiming God as Father while hating the Word of truth with intense hatred repeats the same false claim today.