John 8:21-47

International Children’s Bible

The People Misunderstand Jesus

²¹ Again, Jesus said to the people, “I will leave you. You will look for me, but you will die in your sins. You cannot come where I am going.”

²² So the Jews asked, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he said, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”

²³ But Jesus said, “You people are from here below. But I am from above. You belong to this world, but I don’t belong to this world. ²⁴ So I told you that you would die in your sins. Yes, you will die in your sins if you don’t believe that I am he.”

²⁵ They asked, “Then who are you?”

Jesus answered, “I am what I have told you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have many things to say about you and to judge you for. But I tell people only the things I have heard from the One who sent me. And he speaks the truth.”

²⁷ The people did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “You will lift up the Son of Man. Then you will know that I am he. You will know that these things I do are not by my own authority. You will know that I say only what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The One who sent me is with me. I always do what is pleasing to him. So he has not left me alone.” ³⁰ While Jesus was saying these things, many people believed in him.

Freedom from Sin

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “If you continue to obey my teaching, you are truly my followers. ³² Then you will know the truth. And the truth will make you free.”

³³ They answered, “We are Abraham’s children. And we have never been slaves. So why do you say that we will be free?”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. Everyone who lives in sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ A slave does not stay with a family forever, but a son belongs to the family forever. ³⁶ So if the Son makes you free, then you will be truly free. ³⁷ I know you are Abraham’s children. But you want to kill me because you don’t accept my teaching. ³⁸ I am telling you what my Father has shown me. But you do what your father has told you.”

³⁹ They answered, “Our father is Abraham.”

Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s children, you would do^[a] the things that Abraham did. ⁴⁰ 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. ⁴¹ So you are doing the things that 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.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were really your Father, you would love me. I came from God and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority. God sent me. ⁴³ You don’t understand what I say because you cannot accept my teaching. ⁴⁴ Your father is the devil. You belong to him and want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was against the truth, for there is no truth in him. He is a liar, and he is like the lies he tells. He is the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But I speak the truth. That is why you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ He who belongs to God accepts what God says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”