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JOHN 8:41 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 8:40John 8:42
“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”
Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God — the authorities object to Jesus's implication that they have another father. They assert, 'We have one Father, even God.' Yet in doing so, they ironically prove Jesus's point: they are claiming descent from God directly, bypassing the Law and the patriarchs. The mention of 'fornication' (porneia) is obscure—perhaps alluding to themselves as products of covenant breaking or to the charge that they are spiritually illegitimate. Jesus will clarify who their true father is in the next verse.

Church Fathers on John 8:41

The Jews had asserted they were free, because they were Abraham’s seed. Our Lord replies, I know that you are Abraham’s seed; as if to say, I know that you are the sons of Abraham, but according to the flesh, not spiritually and by faith. So He adds, But you seek to kill Me.

Augustine · 4th century

He says this, that they might not attempt to answer, that they had no sin. He reminds them of a present sin; a sin which they had been meditating for some time past, and which was actually at this moment in their thoughts: putting out of the question their general course of life. He thus removes them by degrees out of their relationship to Abraham, teaching them not to pride themselves so much upon it: for that, as bondage and freedom were the consequences of works, so was…

Chrysostom · 4th century

whereas men, to whom the revelation is made, were not witnesses.

Origen · 3rd century · This is proof that our Savior was witness to what was done with the Father
Read all 32 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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