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Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (Jn. 8:56 KJV)

In Matthew 1:1 we read that Jesus is the son of Abraham, but in the context of chapter 8 of the Gospel of John, Jesus always refers to Abraham with the term "your father" to the Jews. Why didn't Jesus use "our father" with these Jews?

Betho's
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  • +1 Excellent question. Of course the literal interpretation is Jesus claims the Father, not Abraham is His Father. From His perspective there is a significant diffference between “our” which would include Himself and “your” which would exclude Himself. – Revelation Lad Nov 23 '23 at 17:55

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Because the Lord uses here a rhetorico-ironical means of disputation and education: in this context, the Jews are affirming that they are not slaves, in virtue of the fact, that they are "children/descendants of Abraham" (8:33). Since the Lord confronts exactly this claim of Jews, He tells them that Abraham, their father, did not oppose Him, but on the contrary, rejoiced in Him (John 8:56). If so, then the sentence acquires a new rhetorico-ironic dimension, implying that they cannot legitimately claim the sonship of Abraham, given the fact that their behavior and disposition is totally, radically, at odds with those of Abraham. A hidden premise for reaching this conclusion is that a real, legitimate son and heir will also inherit the behavior and disposition of the father.

Therefore we can read the Lord's sentence like that: "You claim to be free in virtue of believing to be descendants of Abraham, however, you are not behaving freely, like Abraham, the essence of whose freedom was expressed in the fact that He rejoiced in Me, for only a man free from sinfulness or eager to overcome sinfulness can be considered as free or in the process of getting freedom; you, on the contrary, deny the essence of Abraham's freedom, which is rejoicing in Me, in quite a radical way, desiring to kill Me; this cannot be the sign of freedom, but rather, a sign of sinfulness and slavery, for everybody who sins is a slave of sin (John 8:34); therefore, think for yourself, are you really children of Abraham? Is the genetical/blood affinity enough to make such a claim when spiritually you deny altogether Abraham's morality and disposition?" Since the question is addressed only to those who claim sonship of Abraham and simultaneously betray morality and disposition of Abraham, Christ cannot include Himself in this class, and thus He says "your father Abraham" and not "our father Abraham".

Levan Gigineishvili
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  • Excellent explanation about rhetoric and irony in speech. Jesus aim was to prove that the evildoers were sons of devil, not Abraham, by their works. John 8:44. And this is why Jesus was called son of God for doing God's work and being Messiah, which led to believers tendency to remove his biological parents increasingly, due to misinterpretation of spirituality. First his father Joseph (by later gospels) and then Gnostics deified his mother Mary to remove any earthly origin. – Michael16 Nov 24 '23 at 03:17
  • @Michael16 Thanks! – Levan Gigineishvili Nov 24 '23 at 07:24
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Great question!

When talking to the Jews, who took great spiritual pride in being Jews and having Abraham as their ancestor, Jesus uses "You Father" (Abraham) in contradistinction to "Our Father", namely God the Father.

Such a distinction is consistent with the teaching of the OT and NT. In the OT, the "Father" of Israel is clearly the LORD:

  • Deut 32:6 - Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
  • Ps 89:26 - He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’
  • Isa 63:16 - Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
  • Isa 64:8 - But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

The same teaching is repeated by Jesus and others in the NT:

  • Matt 6:9 - So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
  • 1 Thess 1:3 - and continually recalling before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and your enduring hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 1 Thess 3:11 - Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.
  • 1 Thess 3:13 - so that He may establish your hearts in blamelessness and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. Amen.
  • 2 Thes 2:16 - Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope

In John 8:56, the Jews had forgotten this and boasted about their biological lineage - Jesus reminding them of there true spiritual lineage from the father. Unfortunately, their actions actually suggested something quite different because Jesus actually declared about the wicked Jews:

John 8:44 - You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires.

Recall that Jesus had just said:

41 You are doing the works of your father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.”

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.

Thus, Jesus is trying to get the Jews' minds away from the earthly and onto the greater moral truths of the heavenly kingdom.

Dottard
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