²⁸ So he said to them, “You will lift up^[a] the Son of Man. Then you will know that I Am. You will know that whatever I do is 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 pleases him. So he has not left me alone.” ³⁰ While he was saying these things, many people believed in him.

Jesus Talks About Freedom From Sin

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

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

³⁴ Jesus said, “The truth is, everyone who sins is a slave—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, you are really free. ³⁷ I know you are Abraham’s descendants. But you want to kill me, because you don’t want to 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 said, “Our father is Abraham.”

Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s descendants, you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ I am someone who has told you the truth I heard from God. But you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that. ⁴¹ So you are doing what 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 the things I say, because you cannot accept my teaching. ⁴⁴ Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies.

⁴⁵ “I am telling you the truth, and that’s why you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God accepts what he says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”

Jesus Talks About Himself and Abraham

⁴⁸ The Jews there answered, “We say you are a Samaritan. We say a demon is making you crazy! Are we not right when we say this?”

⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I have no demon in me. I give honor to my Father, but you give no honor to me. ⁵⁰ I am not trying to get honor for myself. There is one who wants this honor for me. He is the judge. ⁵¹ I promise you, whoever continues to obey my teaching will never die.”

⁵² The Jews 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.’ ⁵³ Do you think you are greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

⁵⁴ 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 that he is your God. ⁵⁵ But you don’t really know him. I know him. If I said I did not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey what he says. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was very happy that he would see the day when I came. He saw that day and was happy.”

⁵⁷ The Jews said to Jesus, “What? How can you say you have seen Abraham? You are not even 50 years old!”

⁵⁸ Jesus answered, “The fact is, before Abraham was born, I Am.” ⁵⁹ When he said this, they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid, and then he left the Temple area.