John 8:33-39

8:33 “We are descendants¹ of Abraham,” they replied,² “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say,³ ‘You will become free’?” 8:34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth,⁴ everyone who practices⁵ sin is a slave⁶ of sin. 8:35 The slave does not remain in the family⁷ forever, but the son remains forever.⁸ 8:36 So if the son⁹ sets you free, you will be really free. 8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants.¹⁰ But you want¹¹ to kill me, because my teaching¹² makes no progress among you.¹³ 8:38 I am telling you the things I have seen while with the¹⁴ Father;¹⁵ as for you,¹⁶ practice the things you have heard from the¹⁷ Father!”

8:39 They answered him,¹⁸ “Abraham is our father!”¹⁹ Jesus replied,²⁰ “If you are²¹ Abraham’s children, you would be doing²² the deeds of Abraham.

John 8:53-56

8:53 You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you?²³ And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?” 8:54 Jesus replied,²⁴ “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless.²⁵ The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people²⁶ say, ‘He is our God.’ 8:55 Yet²⁷ you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him,²⁸ I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey²⁹ his teaching.³⁰ 8:56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed³¹ to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”³²

¹tn Grk “We are the seed” (an idiom).

²tn Grk “They answered to him.”

³tn Or “How is it that you say.”

⁴tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

⁵tn Or “who commits.” This could simply be translated, “everyone who sins,” but the Greek is more emphatic, using the participle ποιῶν (poiwn) in a construction with πᾶς (pas), a typical Johannine construction. Here repeated, continuous action is in view. The one whose lifestyle is characterized by repeated, continuous sin is a slave to sin. That one is not free; sin has enslaved him. To break free from this bondage requires outside (divine) intervention. Although the statement is true at the general level (the person who continually practices a lifestyle of sin is enslaved to sin) the particular sin of the Jewish authorities, repeatedly emphasized in the Fourth Gospel, is the sin of unbelief. The present tense in this instance looks at the continuing refusal on the part of the Jewish leaders to acknowledge who Jesus is, in spite of mounting evidence.

⁶tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

⁷tn Or “household.” The Greek work οἰκία (oikia) can denote the family as consisting of relatives by both descent and marriage, as well as slaves and servants, living in the same house (more the concept of an “extended family”).

⁸sn Jesus’ point is that while a slave may be part of a family or household, the slave is not guaranteed a permanent place there, while a son, as a descendant or blood relative, will always be guaranteed a place in the family (remains forever).

⁹tn Or “Son.” The question is whether “son” is to be understood as a direct reference to Jesus himself, or as an indirect reference (a continuation of the generic illustration begun in the previous verse).

¹⁰tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).

¹¹tn Grk “you are seeking.”

¹²tn Grk “my word.”

¹³tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.

¹⁴tc The first person pronoun μου (mou, “my”) may be implied, especially if ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) follows the second mention of “father” in this verse (as it does in the majority of mss); no doubt this implication gave rise to the reading μου found in most witnesses (א D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy). No pronoun here is read by Ì^66,75 B C L 070 pc. This problem cannot be isolated from the second in the verse, however. See that discussion below.

¹⁵tn Grk “The things which I have seen with the Father I speak about.”

¹⁶tn Grk “and you.”

¹⁷tc A few significant witnesses lack ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here (Ì^66,75 B L W 070 pc), while the majority have the pronoun (א C D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 565 892 Ï al lat sy). However, these mss do not agree on the placement of the pronoun: τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν ποιεῖτε (tou patro" Jumwn poieite), τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν (tw patri Jumwn), and τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν ταῦτα (tw patri Jumwn tauta) all occur. If the pronoun is read, then the devil is in view and the text should be translated as “you are practicing the things you have heard from your father.” If it is not read, then the same Father mentioned in the first part of the verse is in view. In this case, ποιεῖτε should be taken as an imperative: “you [must] practice the things you have heard from the Father.” The omission is decidedly the harder reading, both because the contrast between God and the devil is now delayed until v. 41, and because ποιεῖτε could be read as an indicative, especially since the two clauses are joined by καί (kai, “and”). Thus, the pronoun looks to be a motivated reading. In light of the better external and internal evidence the omission is preferred.

¹⁸tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

¹⁹tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

²⁰tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

²¹tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

²²tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

tn Or “you would do.”

²³tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).

²⁴tn Grk “Jesus answered.”

²⁵tn Grk “is nothing.”

²⁶tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

²⁷tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Yet” to indicate the contrast present in the context.

²⁸tn Grk “If I say, ‘I do not know him.’”

²⁹tn Grk “I keep.”

³⁰tn Grk “his word.”

³¹tn Or “rejoiced greatly.”

³²tn What is the meaning of Jesus’ statement that the patriarch Abraham “saw” his day and rejoiced? The use of past tenses would seem to refer to something that occurred during the patriarch’s lifetime. Genesis Rabbah 44:25ff, (cf. 59:6) states that Rabbi Akiba, in a debate with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, held that Abraham had been shown not this world only but the world to come (this would include the days of the Messiah). More realistically, it is likely that Gen 22:13-15 lies behind Jesus’ words. This passage, known to rabbis as the Akedah (“Binding”), tells of Abraham finding the ram which will replace his son Isaac on the altar of sacrifice – an occasion of certain rejoicing.