Gospel of John 09.vp

94

The Gospe l of John

what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father , 8.38.

a. Both have spiritual parentages .

b. These “ heads of the households ” are diametrically opposed to each other.

c. Each of us is doing precisely what our father has told us to do.

C. Identifying the Pharisees’ father: You are of your father, the devil , 8.39-47.

1. The Pharisees’ popular belief: Abraham is our father , 8.39 (major mistake: equating physical lineage and association with spiritual transformation ).

a. John 8.33 – They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

b. Rom. 2.28-29 – For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. [29] But a Jew is one inwardly, and circum cision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. c. Rom. 4.16 – That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring– not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all