Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 8:38

Verse 38 38.I speak what I have seen with my Father. He had already made frequent mention of his Father; and now, by an argument drawn from contrary things, he infers that they are enemies to God, and are the children of the devil, because they oppose his doctrine. “For my part,” says he, “I bring nothing forward, but what I have learned from my Father. How comes it then that the word of God excites you to such fury, but because you have an oppositefather ?”He says that he speaks, and they do,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 8:39

Verse 39 39.Abraham is our father. This altercation shows plainly enough how haughtily and fiercely they despised all Christ’s reproofs. What they continually claim and vaunt of is, that they are Abraham’s children; by which they do not simply mean that they are the lineal descendants of Abraham, but that they are a holy race, the heritage of God, and the children of God. And yet they rely on nothing but the confidence of the flesh. But carnal descent, without faith, is nothing more than a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 8:31-59

describe a further conversation, not with the same audience. The words record a vivid conflict between the Lord and the Jews who believed him, who accepted the Messianic claims, but persisted in interpreting them, not by his word, but by their own ideas of the theocratic kingdom, by their privileges as children of Abraham, by their national animosity to their nearest neighbours the Samaritans, by their inability to press behind the veil of his humanity to his Divine nature. Their faith was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 8:33-46

(5) The offer of spiritual freedom to the seed of Abraham provoked bitter hostility and misapprehension. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 8:37

I know ( οἶδα , I know absolutely, I do not come to know it from your retort) that ye are the seed of Abraham. They belonged to the noble race, "whose are the fathers;" they were the σπέρμα of him who received the promises. Christ admitted the pedigree, but he proceeds to show that mere hereditary descent would be of no avail to them apart from moral considerations. These ideas, these revolutionary conceptions, so far as Judaism was concerned, were not the evolution of Christian... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 8:37-47

The spiritual parentage of the faithless Jews. Jesus does not deny their legitimate descent from Abraham. Truth must be conceded to an adversary. I. THEIR MORAL PARENTAGE CANNOT BE TRACED TO ABRAHAM . "But ye seek to kill me, because my Word makes no progress in you." 1 . Our Lord concedes that his Word had somehow made an entrance, but national prejudices hindered its thorough acceptance in heart as well as mind. 2 . The explanation of the resistance given... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 8:38

I speak the things £ which I have seen with the ( my ) Father: £ and do you therefore the things which ye heard £ from the £ ( your ) father; or, and you therefore do the things which ye heard from your father. We need not, with Meyer, limit the Lord's vision of the Divine things which he saw with the Father to his premundane Personality. He describes himself in constant communion with the Father. The Father is with him. He knows the mind and will and good... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 8:39

They answered and said. If the second interpretation be accepted, then, irritated by the suggestion that "the Father" whose properties and claims he saw and revealed to them was different from "the father" whose nature and ways they "heard" and practised, and counting, moreover, on the concession of the fact that they were Abraham's "seed," they cried, Our father is Abraham; we are spiritually, ethically, related to him, and if we are doing that which we have heard from our father, then we... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 8:37

I know ... - I admit that you are the descendants of Abraham. Jesus did not wish to call that in question, but he endeavored to show them that they might be his descendants and still lack entirely his spirit. See the notes at Matthew 3:9.Ye seek to kill me - John 5:16; John 7:32.Because my word - My doctrine; the principles of my religion. You have not the spirit of my doctrine; you hate it, and you therefore seek to kill me.Hath no place - That is, you do not embrace my doctrine, or it exerts... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 8:38

I speak ... - John 3:11-13.My Father - God.Your father - The devil. See John 8:44. To see here means to learn of. They had learned of or been taught by the devil, and imitated him. read more

Group of Brands