Pastor Paul BurtonChrist Fellowship Church

January 21, 2018, 10:45 AM

The Question of Spiritual Paternity

John 8:31-47

We begin this morning by looking at the familiar passage of scripture in John

chapter eight, verses 31 and 32. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Last week, we spent

considerable time examining the Lord’s words here. Specifically, we examined the

meaning of true discipleship as defined by Jesus. He spoke of true disciples as those

who demonstrate a persistent lifestyle which is characterized by abiding in the word.

True disciples abide in the word, recognize truth, and are consequently set free.

Today, we consider the passage again. However, we now want to consider the

words of our Lord in the context of the entire pericope1 and as the truth statement which

elicits the response of the Jews that we will see in the remainder of John chapter eight.

The propositional truth that Jesus speaks sparked a diatribe of sorts between Himself

and the crowd. Let’s think about the implications of what Jesus said by reminding

ourselves of the major assertions of his statement. We will see that there are at least

three major declarations of truth in verses 31 and 32.

Three Declarations of Truth in the Words of Christ in John 8:31-32

1 Pericope: an extract from a text, especially a passage from the Bible.

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First, the Lord Jesus Christ declares Himself to be central and supreme.

Notice the emphasis of the scripture given to the possession of the word in which

we are to abide: “If you abide in my word.” The word in which we must abide belongs to

Jesus. We must understand, however, that the word does not merely “belong” to Christ.

Jesus is the Word. He is the Word that was with God before the beginning began.

Jesus Christ is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. Everything in God’s

plan, everything from before the ages began, everything that has ever happened in

human history which God has ordained, all of it, everything has been focused upon

Jesus Christ. Jesus is so essential to the revelation that we receive from God that we

can safely say that Jesus is the word.

We understand that Christ is the central theme of redemptive history as well as

the entire revelation of God to man. In the words of the Apostle Paul, God set forth the

mystery of his will and purposed all things “as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all

things in him (Jesus), things in heaven, and things on earth” (Eph. 1:10). In other

words, in the mind and plan of God, Jesus is the supreme focus and zenith of history.

God’s relentless focus upon Christ is to the extreme extent that it can be said that God

has summed up everything in Christ.

Jesus is uniquely qualified to tell us about heavenly realities and ultimate truth

because he came from there. More than that, Jesus doesn’t just come down to us from

a place called heaven. He comes into the world from inside the divine nature, the

Trinity; He comes from the very bosom of the Father. He tells us what God is like, not

as an outsider, but from inside the divine nature. Christ is our revelation because he is

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a member of the Trinity who shares the divine nature. Therefore, as the “logos”2, Jesus

exegetes3 the Father to us and gives us insider information—information that we can

only receive from Him.

So then, the Word and the revelation that we need, and the word that the world

needs, is none other than the word of Christ—the gospel. He is the incarnate Word.

The Father speaks to us through the Son and we receive revelation through Jesus

Christ. In this statement, Christ is emphasizing his own essential role in the privilege we

have to hear the word of God—recognize truth, and be set free.

Second, Christ declares that He is the fountain and source of truth for everyone who follows Him.

“If you abide in My word, you will know the truth.” Jesus says, if you constantly

abide in my word, you will perpetually know the truth. It’s hard to miss that He is making

a very clear assertion that He is the only reliable source of truth. In a world of

contradictions and falsehood, in a world of lies and smoke screens, Jesus is absolute

truth. In a world of deadly deception there is only one safe-haven from deceit and

duplicity. Only if you abide in the Word of Christ will you be safe from deception. Only if

you abide in Christ will you know what is true. And, essential to abiding in Christ is

abiding in His word. Word and truth are organically connected because Christ is the

Word and Christ is the truth.

We see the organic connection between God’s Word and the truth in John 17:17.

In the great High Priestly prayer that He prayed, our Lord prayed to His Father for His

people:

2 The Word3 Explains

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(8) For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and [they] have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. (14) I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

Here, we see the multi-faceted, beautiful realities of the nature of God’s revelation to

man. God’s word is truth. The unfortunate state of affairs is that fallen humanity exists

in a state of deception. Unregenerate man has been deceived and the truth is not

accessible nor evident to him in his unaided, natural state. In contrast, God’s word is

the truth that we need in order to be liberated from the lies we have believed--lies which

ultimately enslave us. So then, for the purpose of revealing truth to us, God gives His

Word, as it were, to the Son Jesus Christ. The incarnation (the Son becoming a man) is

the Word becoming flesh. Jesus came into the world to save sinners and set captives

free. God sent His Word to heal us in the person of Jesus, our Lord.

On the night of his betrayal, Jesus prayed for his people. He specifically asked

the Father to protect them from the evil one by virtue of sanctification. Jesus asked the

Father to sanctify them in the truth. Then he says, “your word is truth.” It is the same

word which was given to the Lord by the Father—the same word He heard from Him—

the same word that He subsequently gave to his disciples. True disciples are protected

from the evil one by being set apart in the word and in the truth. Jesus is the only

source of truth for humanity as is demonstrated in the incarnation.

Third, Christ declares that the truth which he reveals is necessary for true “freedom”.

“If you abide in My word, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

The offer Jesus makes consists in the following basic form:

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(1) Abide in the Word. (2) Know truth. (3) Be set free.

By necessary consequence, we can assume that the opposite is true as well.

(1) Refuse the Word. (2) Be deceived. (3) Remain in slavery.

By the construction of this phrase, it is clear that Jesus is asserting a basic premise

based upon an assumption of the present reality. Jesus promised that the truth will “set

you free.” In the statement there is an inherent assumption; the assumption is that the

hearers are already slaves. To be sure, this is the cold, hard fact of the status quo

among those of the fallen human race. Slaves, we already are. There is nothing that

the Son of God must do in order for people to be enslaved. In the absence of the

revealed Word of God, people live in the black hole of deception. They are bound and

constricted by their sins and they are hopeless without God. Together, the sin of their

nature and the nature of their deception is the guiding impulse of their lives—they are

indeed slaves to sin. This is borne out in the proceeding words of Christ, “those who

practice sin are slaves to sin.”

Christ offers freedom, but He does not offer freedom in generic terms. The

freedom offered by Christ is the freedom that only comes by the liberating power of the

truth inherent in His words. True disciples, therefore, abide in the word. By abiding in

the word, they are upheld and maintained in, and by, the truth. All those who abide in

the word and live in the truth are set free from the dominion of sin.

The Exchange: Jesus and the Jews

The Reaction: The Jews take offense at Jesus’ words.

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A major and vocal faction of the crowd was highly offended by the words which

Christ spoke. They were offended because they were convicted. By this point, Jesus

has been offending these people for several months and now the fuse of their anger is

quickly burning down. They’re patience is assuredly running out.

Based upon their response, I have to imagine that they were particularly offended

because Jesus called them slaves. They don’t like being told that they are slaves, and

they especially don’t like being told that their freedom depends upon the words of Jesus

—a carpenter from Nazareth. You see, Christ truly is the stumbling block. He is the

rock offense. The idea of a Messiah Savior was not offensive to the Jews; but, the idea

of a lowly Messiah was highly offensive and it tripped them up.

Peter wrote, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They (false professors) stumble

because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do” (1 Pet. 2:7b-8). They

stumble over the word. In other words, they react in prideful rejection to the truthfulness

of the word.

Interestly, they vehemently object to the truth and react by claiming Abraham as

their father. “They responded, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been

enslaved to anyone’” (Jn. 8:33a). They make their relationship with Abraham the basis

of their claim to freedom. That is certainly an interesting and innovative defense. The

truth is, they’re showing their hand here and they’re revealing that they understand

more about what Jesus is saying than we might be inclined to give them credit for.

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They are emphasizing Abraham as their father in a physical sense. But, consider

the kind of freedom that they must be claiming by virtue of being Abraham’s children. It

cannot be national freedom because they have been enslaved by every major world

power in their history: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Syria, Rome, etcetera.

The freedom they claim via Abraham must ultimately be spiritual freedom.

Nothing else would make sense. They are therefore claiming that spiritual freedom

comes from natural descent. This is precisely where their logic goes off the rails and

you have to somewhat get into the Jewish mind here. By claiming Abraham as their

father, they were claiming all of the promises that God made to Abraham: preeminence

in the world, religious enlightenment, kingdom, land. In their way of thinking, because

they were children of Abraham, they were entitled to inherit all the promises made to

Abraham. Simply put, they were claiming to be the heirs of Abraham. In fact, by virtue

of being Abraham’s children, they thought they were the only people in the world who

were truly free—truly enlightened.

In their logic, that’s what leads them to ask Jesus, “how can we become free if

we’ve never been a slave?” According to their assumed paternity, Abraham is their

father. They are his heirs, and as such, somehow they are entitled to spiritual

enlightenment and freedom. Once again, they have completely misunderstood the

spiritual dimension. They are fixated on the external fact that they are ethnic Jews, but

they have missed out on their privilege to also be children of Abraham’s faith.

Jesus continues to diagnose them and gives them the first hint that Abraham is actually not their father.

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The way He approaches that is to say, perhaps you need a clear definition of a

slave. A slave is anyone who practices sin. It is not anyone who commits sin, but

anyone who practices sin. In other words, if sin is the drive-train of your life, if sin is the

dominant force in your life—you are a slave. You are a slave to sin. Sin drives you,

and binds you; sin limits and controls you. You are slaves because you practice sin.

Now, they would say, “we’re not sinners.” We live by the law. But they’ve

forgotten that the law requires perfect, flawless obedience and submission. Further, the

Law requires perfect obedience from the heart. That’s where they missed it. They’re

going through the motions of obedience to the Law and they think they’re not sinners.

And, they could probably get by with that with anyone else but the Lord Jesus. But, the

Lord does not need anyone to inform him about what is in the heart of any man. So,

now he’s is going to “get all up in their business.” They have categorically

underestimated this man. What they don’t realize is that He knows the secret

deliberations of their hearts. He is aware of their little schemes and the plans they are

making to kill him. He knows that murder is in their hearts and he’s about to tear the

roof off and show the world what’s going on in the private chambers of the city and in

the secret chambers of their hearts. He knows. They are murderers at heart and they

already have his blood dripping off their hands.

They say that they are free because of their relationship with Abraham. Jesus

says you are slaves to your murderous sin and the only way to be set free is to be my

true disciple, abide in my word, and know the truth. The liberating truth is that I am sent

by God. The truth is that I know what I’m talking about. Truth is, you need spiritual

freedom that only I can give to you.

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Jesus acknowledges their natural descent from Abraham. He says, “I know that

you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in

you.” Christ is pointing out the fatal inconsistency of his enemies. You are supposed to

be children of Abraham, but you want to kill me because you don’t believe my words.

“My word finds no place in you.” This is the opposite of abiding in the Word. Instead,

my word does not abide in you and the whole thing unravels. You are not my true

disciples, and because you cannot recognize the truth, you remain slaves to your sins,

and your sinful task master is leading you down the dark corridor toward the murder of

the Son of God.

At this point, Jesus obliquely addresses the issue of their paternity and his own.

They brought up the issue of paternity, now Christ is going to deal with it. In verse 39,

He says, “I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard

from your Father.” Jesus is also a Jew and a son of Abraham, but he is pointing out to

his Jewish brethren that they really have two different fathers. Here is the first hint

given that Abraham is not their father in the greatest sense. And they must have gotten

the hint because of their reaction.

The Jews reassert their relationship to Abraham.

They respond, “Abraham is our father.” What do you mean, what we have heard

from “our father”? Abraham is our father. It is clear that they are following the argument

of the Lord Jesus because of their reflex to reassert Abraham as their father. Abraham

is is their security and defense.

Jesus responds more pointedly.

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Verse 39, Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children you would be

doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the

truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works

your father did.” The argument is explosive as Christ flatly contradicts their claims by

pointing out the obvious. They claim Abraham as their father, but they’re nothing like

him.

These individuals would have been well versed in the first five books of the Old

Testament. In particular, they would have been very familiar with the book of Genesis.

Turn with me to Genesis chapter 18.

“(1) And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. (2) He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself down to the earth (3) and said, ‘O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. (4) Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring you a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves. (6) And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, ‘Quick! Three seahs of find flour! Knead it, and make cakes. (7) And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the young men, who prepared it quickly. (8) Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them.”

Here we see a word picture of Abraham’s reception of the preincarnate Christ. The

Bible describes Abraham’s excited reaction when the LORD appeared to him. He ran

about and quickly instructed his servants and his household to be hospitable to the

LORD. The LORD was received with gladness, joy, and excitement. The same was

true of Abraham in Genesis 22. Abraham answered the call of God when he was

commanded to sacrifice his son, Isaac. And, he was overjoyed when his son was

spared and a ram was provided as the alternative—which prefigured Christ. Jesus said,

verse 56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was

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glad.” Abraham received a definite spiritual apprehension of Christ, and was glad to

see him.

But, Jesus tells the Jews, you’re nothing like Abraham. You seek to kill me, a

man who has told you the truth about what I heard from God. This is not what Abraham

did. You are nothing like Abraham, instead, you are doing the works of your father.

The Jews are upset by the truth that Jesus spoke, so they lash out at Him.

They retort in verse 41, “We were not born of sexual immorality, we have one

Father—even God.” They insult the Lord Jesus. They say, we know who our father is.

How about you? Who is your father? Are you a bastard child? It is no secret that by

the end of the first century, some Jews were commonly referring to Jesus as the

“bastard son of Mary.” Here again, our Lord suffers the contradiction of sinners in an

inexplicable way.

The irony is hard to miss. The unbelieving Jews claimed God was their father

because of their connection with Abraham. They accuse Jesus of having a demon and

being out of his mind. Ironically, Jesus is the Son of God and they are children of…well,

they will soon find out who their father really is.

Jesus continues his gracious response.

Verse 42, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and I

am here.” For the next several verses, our Lord makes the devastating case that the

Jews do not know God. They do not know God because they cannot recognize God’s

representative. They cannot recognize God in the flesh.

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The profound question is why can’t they understand what Jesus says? Jesus

answers, “It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.” Here it is again, this is the

opposite of abiding in the word. They cannot bear to hear the word. There is a deep-

seated problem in the heart of unbelievers. They cannot understand, which is to say

that they cannot accept, the words of Christ; they cannot bear to hear the word and

accept the implications of its meaning.

Then, our Lord speaks those unimaginable words. “You are of your father the

devil.” And then, with penetrating accuracy he proceeds to compare the crowd with the

devil himself. He holds up the portrait of Satan, as it were, and shows the crowd how

much like him they really are. As if to say, see, you have your father’s features.

First, your father was a murderer from the beginning. And what is it that you

folks would like to do to me? Oh, yes. You want to murder me. See, you’re just like

your father. He is a murderer. You are murderers. Second, your father cannot stand

the truth. And what is it about me that offends you? Oh yes, the truth. You cannot

stand the truth. Well, neither can your father. He does not stand in the truth—because

there is no truth in him. When he lies-he speaks his own character—he is a liar and the

father of lies. Your father is the enemy of truth and so are you. See, you’re just like

your father.

Jesus establishes the positive fact that they are of their father the devil. Then, he

demonstrates the negative fact that they are nothing like God. Jesus tells them the

truth, yet they reject him. Why? The reason they do not “hear the words of God is that

they are not of God. Whoever is of God hears the Words of God.” This is another way

of saying that you have to be born again in order to see the kingdom. You have to be

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born of God before you can hear the words of God. You must be born again before the

word can go anyplace with you.

What We Can Learn From the Jews as a Case Study?

1. People are oblivious to the chains that bind them.

Contrary to what they believe, unregenerate people are not free. They think they are

free and they often loudly proclaim their liberty. However, the sad reality is that their

perceived freedom is an illusion. They are not free at all. The fact is that the emperor

has no clothes and the lost are bound to their sin—sin which leads them in deadly paths

and controls them in devastating ways. Our Lord did the difficult and painful work of

telling the unbelieving Jews that they were slaves. As followers of Christ, we are called

to do no less. Part of sharing the gospel is to point out the reality of slavery to sin.

2. People are prone to trust in external things.

Abraham is our father, they said. Not in any way that truly matters, Jesus

responded. My family is Christian. I go to church. I do good things. I feel affirmed in

my salvation because I experienced a great church service: i.e. good music, exciting

sermon, or you “felt” the Lord’s presence. Human beings are prone to trust in external

things. We are called as Christ’s true disciples to trust in his words even when they

contradict or supersede external realities.

3. People are prone to squander earthly advantages which should lead them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Israel did it. To them belonged the prophets and the promises, yet, they could not

recognize the Messiah when he appeared. They squandered the earthly advantages

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that should have led them to repent of their sins and embrace Christ. Instead, they

frittered away the earthly advantages of having been the chosen nation. People do the

same thing today. People drive by gospel churches every day and squander the

advantage of easy access to the gospel. We have Bibles printed in our own language,

yet, people will not pick them up and read. Christians are everywhere. Yet, people

refuse to recognize them as evidence of the saving power of God. Young people and

children complain that their parents make them go to church and, therefore, squander

the benefits of being raised in a godly home. In all of these ways, people suck poison

from nourishing fruit.

Are these things true in your case? Is God your father? Are you a true disciple of

Christ? We cannot afford to deceive ourselves. You can’t claim to be one of his

disciples if you cannot bear to hear his words. You cannot be his disciple if you reject

him and trust in external things. However, if you abide in his word, you will know the

truth, and the truth will set you free.

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