John 8:31–47

Freedom from Sin

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “If you continue to obey my teaching, you are truly my followers. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

³³They answered, “We are Abraham’s children, and we have never been anyone’s slaves. So why do you say we will be free?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, everyone who lives in sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵A slave does not stay with a family forever, but a son belongs to the family forever. ³⁶So if the Son makes you free, you will be truly free. ³⁷I know you are Abraham’s children, but you want to kill me because you don’t accept my teaching. ³⁸I am telling you what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”

³⁹They answered, “Our father is Abraham.”

Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s children, you would do ⁿ the things Abraham did. ⁴⁰I am a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that. ⁴¹So you are doing the things your own father did.”

But they said, “We are not like children who never knew who their father was. God is our Father; he is the only Father we have.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were really your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority; God sent me. ⁴³You don’t understand what I say, because you cannot accept my teaching. ⁴⁴You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning and was against the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he shows what he is really like, because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵But because I speak the truth, you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷The person who belongs to God accepts what God says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”