And some understand these words in this way: "He who sent Me is true" – I could judge you even now, but I leave it until the age to come. But you do not believe and do not pay attention to the time of retribution. But if you do not believe, my Father is true, who has appointed a day for your recompense, and has sent me to declare it, and has revealed to the world his righteousness and power.

Therefore Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that it is I, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father has taught me, so I say." He who sent Me is with Me; The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.

Jesus performed many miracles, and yet He did not draw the Jews to Himself. Now he tells them about the Cross. You, he says, think that when you crucify Me, you will be free from all care, and you will be delivered from Me. But I say that you will know that it is I, that is, Christ, the Son of God, who bears and holds all things (Heb. 1:3), and that I am not an adversary of the Father, nor do I act or speak of myself, for I have no will of my own, which is different from the will of the Father. How would they recognize Him on the cross? From the signs of that time, from His resurrection and their captivity. For all these things could reveal His power. Therefore, when you crucify Me, you will know both these things, and My power, and My oneness of mind with the Father. For the Father would not have delivered up your city to the Romans in vengeance for me, nor would he have performed signs on the cross, if I had not been his Son, and of one mind, and not contrary to God. Then you will know that whatever I teach and whatever I say, it is from Him, undoubtedly divine, and not Mine, but Him who sent Me. Then, lest it should be thought that the epistle and the embassy signify subjection, He saith that My Father is with Me. Though He sent Me as a Man, yet I am inseparable from Him, and He is with Me as God is with God. After this he again descends to humiliated speech and says: "And He did not leave Me alone," because I do what is pleasing to Him. Thus He humbly speaks to the Jews. They said that He was not of God, because He did not keep the Sabbath. And He says, "I do what is pleasing to Him," so that if I break the Sabbath, I do what is pleasing to Him. However, by such humiliating speech He does not in the least harm His glory, but He benefited His listeners, and strengthened His glory through this. For the hearers, hearing that He attributed everything to the Father, were more willing to be attached to Him and believed in Him, so that humility exalted Him more. Do you see the dignity of blessed humility? And what is so, listen further.

When He said this, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, "If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

I said that the listeners were more carried away by humble speeches. The Evangelist also hints at this. When He said this, he remarks, many believed; he said "this," that is, humble speeches and as if unworthy of His glory. Therefore, when you hear Him say something small and imperfect about Himself, do not be dismayed in any way, for He says this for listeners who cannot understand anything higher and are immediately enraged. What would not have happened to them, unable to comprehend the depths of the theological mystery, when the height of His glory remained incomprehensible even to Christians who knew His power and were saved by Him? When you hear that many have believed, understand that they believed simply and as it happened, and not as it should have been, they believed because they liked humility in speech. And that they were not believers in the exact sense is obvious. For He said to the Jews who believed: "If ye continue in My word." This shows that, although they believed, it was superficial, and therefore they would not remain in the faith. By rebuking them of this, He shows that He knows their hearts and is God. And since some of His former pretended disciples departed, therefore He now says to those who believe: "Though they have departed, yet if ye abide in My word and faith, ye shall know the truth," that is, Me, for I am the Truth (John 14:6). But now you do not know the truth, because the law, of which you consider yourselves to be the guardians, is not the truth, but an image and a shadow. If you know Me who is true, then "the truth will set you free," that is, I will free you from your sins. For whoever believes in the world who takes away the sin of the world is undoubtedly free from sins. As unbelievers, He said, "You will die in your sins." (John 8:21), so to those who continue in the faith, he promises freedom from sins. For lawful sacrifices and sprinklings, as images, did not free us from sins, but spiritual and true sacrifice through faith and knowledge frees us, who no longer remain slaves, but are made sons of God.

They answered him, "We are the seed of Abraham, and have never been slaves to anyone; how then sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, "Verily, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." But the slave does not dwell in the house forever; The Son abides eternally. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

The proud Jews are again attached to vain nobility and say with fury: "We are the seed of Abraham." If they needed to be indignant, it was something else. He said to them, "You will know the truth." Therefore they ought to say, "Well, do we not now know the truth? Are all the precepts of the law and our knowledge false? But they cared about nothing of the kind: they worry about the affairs of the world, thinking that He reproaches them with slavery and low birth. "We are Abraham's seed." Nowhere do they mention their own merits, but turn to the fathers. For this reason John also says to them: "Do not begin to say that our father is Abraham" (Matt. 3:9). When they said that they were slaves to no one, they were clearly lying. For every time they were taken captive, they were enslaved by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and many other nations. The Lord does not convict them of lying. His purpose is not to prove that they are slaves of men, but that they are slaves of sin. And this slavery is the most grievous, and only God can deliver from it. For to forgive sins is the work of God alone. Therefore He says, "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin," and therefore you, too, because you are sinners, are also slaves. To this they could say that although we are subject to such slavery, we have sacrifices, there are priests who cleanse us from sins. He says that they also are slaves, because all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). However, your priests, being themselves slaves, do not have the power to forgive the sins of others. The Apostle Paul speaks more clearly about this, namely: that the priest must offer sacrifice also for himself, as for the people, because he himself is burdened with infirmities (Heb. 5:2, 3). "The servant," he says, "does not dwell in the house," that is, he has no power to give anything, since he is not the master of the house, but the son is the master of the house and dwells in the house. He calls the authority home, just as in another place he calls the principality home, saying that "in My Father's house there are many mansions" (John 14:2). Therefore those your priests, being slaves, had no power to forgive sins. But I, the Son who dwells in the house, that is, having authority and independent rulership, the Lord of the house, will grant you freedom, because all things are mine, and I am of one power and one power with the Father. When I set you free, then you will be honored with true freedom. Now you arrogate to yourselves a false freedom, and by Me you will be freed essentially and truly.

I know that you are the seed of Abraham: yet you seek to kill me, because my word cannot be contained in you. I say what I saw in my father; but you do what you have seen in your father.

You, he says, consider yourselves to be the seed of Abraham. I agree that you preserve a carnal kinship with this saint, but you have no kinship with him in spirit, He is righteous, philanthropic and hospitable, and you (I am silent about other aspects of your life, but I will expose the most obvious thing that you are doing now) breathe murder and hatred for people. For you seek to kill me, and plot against me. How are you his true children, when you are so far from the qualities of your father? If you boast of affinity, then you must imitate his virtue. Lest it be said that we rightly seek to kill You, He gives a reason. You, he says, are mad against Me for no other reason than because My word is beyond your understanding and does not fit into you. Yet for this it would be necessary not to kill, but to respect and revere, and to desire more strongly that I would teach the loftiness of dogmas. Lest it be said to Him again that we hate Thee justly because of Thy word, because Thou speakest to us not from God, but from Thyself, and therefore we cannot accept Thy teaching, He adds: I do not speak of Myself, but I speak what I have seen in My Father; but you do what you have seen in your father. I, he says, declare the divine and the heavenly things, and thereby manifest My Father, and by your works you manifest your father, that is, the devil. When you hear these words: "I say what I have seen," do not think about bodily vision, but understand natural, true, and most certain knowledge. As the eyes that see the matter and the truth see truly, and are not deceived, so do I truly say what I have learned from the Father.

And they answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, "If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham." And now seek to kill Me, the Man who told you the truth which I heard from God, that Abraham did not do it. You do the works of your father. And they said to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God.

He makes the devil their father, because in their deeds he sees them like him; and they constantly put Abraham out. The Lord often reminds them of their criminal intent and denies their kinship with the righteous in order to stop their excessive boastfulness and convince them that hope should be placed not in vain pride in carnal kinship, but in the similarity of will. Verily, as the Physician of souls, He calms in them the inflammation arising from the dream of kinship with Abraham and preventing them from coming to Christ, for they considered this affinity sufficient for their salvation. Therefore you who breathe murder and seek to kill Me are not the children of Abraham. Then, lest anyone should say that they are rightly seeking to kill You, He says: I am a Man, not rebelling against God, not seeking My own glory, but speaking what I have heard from My Father, and telling the truth. What was this truth? That He is equal to the Father and not a slave, like one of the prophets, but the Son, who does not do or say anything of Himself, but everything is from the Father. For for this they sought to kill Him. And again they say: "We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God." Look, how arrogant! The Lord denies their kinship with Abraham, and they are so vain that in their madness they call themselves children of God Himself. They boast of the sonship of God, probably because they have heard the words: "My son is the firstborn Israel" (Exodus 4:22). But they should have known that God also said in another place: "He begat sons and exalted them, but they rejected Me" (Isaiah 1:2). The Lord could have rebuked them for the fact that many of them were born of fornication, since Jewish wives had relations with Gentiles contrary to the law, and pagan wives with Jews; yet He does not do so. For He did not care to prove their bodily ignorance, but mainly wanted to prove that they were low in soul.

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and came; for I did not come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you cannot hear My words.

Since He excluded them from their kinship with Abraham, they rose even higher, calling God their father. He rebuked them as murderers, and they, defending themselves, say that they avenge God and therefore form a council against Him. For this reason the Lord, showing that they do not intercede for God, but by their very design want to kill Him, and are not the children of God, as they thought, but even opponents of God, says: "If God were your Father, you would love Me." For I came down from God into the world, that is, I appeared in the flesh. I am not an opponent of God. I come from Him. Wherefore, when ye rise up against me, ye are enemies of God. Why do you not know My speech, and understand and understand what I say? Without a doubt, not in any other way, than because you cannot hear My words, that is, you do not want to. For "not to be able" is used instead of "not to want". As long as envy and murderous design dwell in you, how can you listen to what I say?

Your father is the devil; and you want to fulfill the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.