John 8:31-59 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Son Will Make You Free

³¹So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “^aIf you abide in My word, then you are truly My ^bdisciples; ³²and ^ayou will know the truth, and ^bthe truth will make you free.” ³³They answered Him, “^aWe are Abraham’s seed and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^aeveryone who commits sin is the slave of sin. ³⁵“^aAnd the slave does not remain in the house forever; ^bthe son does remain forever. ³⁶“So if the Son ^amakes you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷“I know that you are ^aAbraham’s seed; yet ^byou are seeking to kill Me, because My word ¹has no place in you. ³⁸“I speak the things which I have seen ¹with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from ^ayour father.”

³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is ^aour father.” Jesus *said to them, “^bIf you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. ⁴⁰“But now ^ayou are seeking to kill Me, a man who has ^btold you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. ⁴¹“You are doing the deeds of ^ayour father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; ^bwe have one Father: God.” ⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, ^ayou would love Me, ^bfor I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have ^cnot even come of Myself, but ¹^,^dHe sent Me. ⁴³“Why do you not understand ¹^,^awhat I am saying? It is because you cannot ^bhear My word. ⁴⁴“^aYou are of ^byour father the devil, and ^cyou want to do the desires of your father. ^dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because ^ethere is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks ¹a lie, he ^fspeaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of ²lies. ⁴⁵“But because ^aI speak the truth, you do not believe Me. ⁴⁶“Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If ^aI speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷“^aHe who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”

⁴⁸^aThe Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a ^bSamaritan and ^chave a demon?” ⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I do not ^ahave a demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰“But ^aI do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. ⁵¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone ^akeeps My word he will never ^bsee death—ever.” ⁵²^aThe Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You ^bhave a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone ^ckeeps My word, he will never ^dtaste of death—ever.’ ⁵³“Surely You ^aare not greater than our father Abraham who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴Jesus answered, “^aIf I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; ^bit is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ⁵⁵and ^ayou have not known Him, ^bbut I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be ^ca liar like you, ^dbut I do know Him and ^ekeep His word. ⁵⁶“^aYour father Abraham ^brejoiced ¹to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷^aSo the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ^aI am.” ⁵⁹Therefore they ^apicked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus ¹^,^bhid Himself and went out of the temple.