John 8:40-58

⁴⁰I have been telling you the truth that I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham did not do things like that.

⁴¹No! You are doing the things that your real father does.” They said to him, “ We do not know about you, but we are not illegitimate children. And spiritually, we have only one Father. That is God, and you do not know who your father is!”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, because I came from God, and now I have come here to this world. My coming was not ◄because I appointed myself/with my own authority►. He sent me.

⁴³◄And I will tell you why you do not understand what I say./Do you know why you do not understand what I say?► RHQ It is because you do not want to accept my message.

⁴⁴You belong to your father, ◄the devil/Satan►, and you desire to do what he wants. He has caused people to become murderers from the time when people first sinned. He has abandoned God's truth because he is a liar by his nature. Whenever he lies, he is speaking according to his nature, because he is a liar and is the one who originates MET all lies.

⁴⁵But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me!

⁴⁶Since I have never sinned, ◄none of you can show that I have sinned./can anyone among you show that I have sinned?► RHQ So, since I tell you the truth, ◄there is no good reason for your not believing me!/why is it that you do not believe me?► RHQ

⁴⁷Those who belong to God habitually obey God's message. You do not belong to God, so you do not obey his message.”

⁴⁸The Jewish leaders SYN replied to him, “◄We are certainly right by saying that you believe what is false as the Samaritans do!/Are we not right by saying that you believe what is false as the Samaritans do?► RHQ And that ◄a demon/an evil spirit► controls you!”

⁴⁹Jesus replied, “A demon does not control me! I honor my Father, and you do not honor me!

⁵⁰I am not trying to honor myself. There is someone else who desires to honor me, and he is the one who will judge whether it is I who am telling the truth or whether it is you who are telling the truth.

⁵¹But the truth is that anyone who obeys what I say will never die!”

⁵²Then the Jewish leaders SYN, thinking that he was talking about ordinary death and not about spiritual death, said to him, “Now we are sure that a demon controls you! Abraham and the prophets died long ago! But you say that anyone who obeys what you teach will never die!

⁵³◄You are certainly not greater than our ancestor Abraham!/Do you think you are greater than our ancestor Abraham?► RHQ He died, and all the prophets died, so who do you think you are by saying something like that?”

⁵⁴Jesus replied, “If I were honoring myself, that would be worthless. My Father is the one who you say is your God. He is the one who honors me.

⁵⁵Although you do not know him, I know him and have a close relationship with him. If I said that I did not know him, I would be a liar like you are. But I know him, and I obey what he says.

⁵⁶Your ancestor Abraham was happy when he thought about what I would do during my life MTY. It was as though he saw that, and was happy.”

⁵⁷Then the Jewish leaders SYN said to him, “You are not fifty years old yet! So ◄you certainly did not see him!/how could you have seen him?► RHQ Because he died long ago!”

⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “The truth is that I existed before Abraham was born!”