John 8:40

John 8:40, in plain English

Jesus makes it plain: Abraham never tried to kill someone who brought God's truth. But that is exactly what they are doing. Abraham would not recognize them as his children.

Why it's here

Actions speak louder than ancestry. What you do reveals who your real father is, and their actions look nothing like Abraham's.

Who's speaking

Jesus shows them the gap between who they claim to be and who they actually are.

Where it sits in the story

Abraham trusted God's word. They want to destroy it. If you want to know whose child you really are, look at how you respond to God's truth.

The scholarly reading

Jesus specifies their un-Abrahamic behavior: they seek to kill a man (anthrōpon) who has told them the truth heard from God, something Abraham never did (touto Abraam ouk epoiēsen), disqualifying their paternal claim.

Language and setting

Abraham's characteristic response to divine communication was faith and obedience (Genesis 12:1-4; 15:6; 22:1-18). The contrast between Abraham's reception of God's word and their attempted murder of God's Word incarnate is devastating.

Voice

Jesus identifies the specific action that proves they are not Abraham's true children: their attempt to kill the one who brings God's truth.

Significance

Abraham received God's word with faith. They receive it with murder plots. The contrast could not be more damning. Abraham and his supposed descendants have nothing in common spiritually.

38I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

39“Abraham is our father,” they replied.

40But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing.

41You are doing the works of your father.”

42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.

Read all of John 8 — A woman caught in adultery, a claim to be the light of the world, and a statement so audacious the crowd picks up stones: before Abraham was, I am.