So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “If you continue to obey my teaching, you are truly my followers. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
They answered, “We are Abraham’s children, and we have never been anyone’s slaves. So why do you say we will be free?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, everyone who lives in sin is a slave to sin. A slave does not stay with a family forever, but a son belongs to the family forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be truly free. I know you are Abraham’s children, but you want to kill me because you don’t accept my teaching. I am telling you what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you.”
They answered, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s children, you would do the things Abraham did. I am a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that. So you are doing the things your own father did.”
But they said, “We are not like children who never knew who their father was. God is our Father; he is the only Father we have.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were really your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority; God sent me. You don’t understand what I say, because you cannot accept my teaching. You belong to your father the devil, and you want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning and was against the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he shows what he is really like, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you don’t believe me. Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? The person who belongs to God accepts what God says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”
They answered, “We say you are a Samaritan and have a demon in you. Are we not right?”
Jesus answered, “I have no demon in me. I give honor to my Father, but you dishonor me. I am not trying to get honor for myself. There is One who wants this honor for me, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, whoever obeys my teaching will never die.”
They said to Jesus, “Now we know that you have a demon in you! Even Abraham and the prophets died. But you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never die.’ Do you think you are greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died, too. Who do you think you are?”
Jesus answered, “If I give honor to myself, that honor is worth nothing. The One who gives me honor is my Father, and you say he is your God.
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