They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? — the believers misunderstand Jesus's promise, interpreting 'free' in political and social terms. They protest that as 'Abraham's seed' (sperma Abraam), they are already free, never in bondage. The historical claim is not accurate (Israel has been enslaved in Egypt, Babylon; they are currently under Roman rule), but the believers seem to mean that as descendants of Abraham, they have a privileged status before God. They are blind to their deeper bondage—to sin and to spiritual ignorance.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

Publish a note on this verse