John 8:41

41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

John 8:41 in Other Translations

41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

41 You are doing the works your father did." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father--even God."

41 No, you are imitating your real father.” They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.”

41 You persist in repeating the works of your father." They said, "We're not bastards. We have a legitimate father: the one and only God."

41 You're doing what your father does." "We weren't born of sexual immorality," they said. "We have one Father-God."

John 8:41 Meaning and Commentary

John 8:41

Ye do the deeds of your father
Not Abraham, but the devil.

Then said they unto him, we be not born of fornication:
meaning either literally, that they were not a brood of bastards, children of whoredom, illegitimately begotten in unlawful copulation, or wedlock; or figuratively, that they were not the children of idolaters, idolatry being called fornication in Scripture; but that they were the holy seed of Israel, and children of the prophets, who had retained the pure word, and the true worship of God, though in all this they might have been contradicted and refuted; to which they add,

we have one Father, [even] God;
Israel being called by God his Son, and firstborn to them belonged the adoption, in a national sense, and of this they boasted; though few of them were the children of God by special adoption, or God their Father by regenerating grace.

John 8:41 In-Context

39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did.

40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.

41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.

43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

Cross References

• 1. ver 38,44
• 2. Isaiah 63:16; Isaiah 64:8