J. G. asks a great question:
I’m really struggling to understand John 8:39: “If you were really Abraham’s children, you would do the works Abraham did.”
How would you take this verse in light of other verses such as “to all who believed He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)—where “children” in both verses use the same word (teknon)?
It sounds like Jesus is doing a test-of-life where He’s telling the Pharisees that because they’re not doing the works of Abraham, they’re not saved.
At first, I thought maybe this meant that they didn’t have the Holy Spirit working within them, but Christ had not yet been crucified at this point in John, and therefore even if they had believed in Christ, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have been given to them yet.
Any insight is appreciated! God bless.
In 2002 Alan Stanley completed a dissertation at DTS entitled, “The Relationship Between Works and Salvation in the Synoptic Gospels.” In 2006 he released a book based on his dissertation: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? The Role of Works in Salvation in the Synoptic Gospels. Stanley cited John 8:39 five times (pp. 114, 121, 131n, 144n, 271) to support his view that Jesus taught salvation by works. However, in each case he does no more than to mention the verse as supporting his position. He fails to exegete the verse.
Interestingly, Stanley acknowledges that his view contradicts other Scripture: “I, probably like most, have been well endowed with a substantial diet of Paul’s teaching on salvation. So much so that Jesus’ teachings on the subject are so strikingly different as to appear sometimes completely contradictory” (p. xiii, italics added). I would add that Jesus’ teachings on the subject in John’s Gospel also are completely contradictory to salvation by works (cf. John 3:14-18; 5:24, 39-40; 6:28-29, 35, 47; 11:25-27).
J. G., there are two ways to answer your question.
First, we know from John 3:16 and many other verses in John that everlasting life is the present possession for all who simply believe in Jesus, apart from works (cf. John 6:28-29). Since Scripture can’t contradict Scripture, John 8:29 is not contradicting John 3:16 or any of the other faith-alone verses in John.
Second, even a cursory study of John 8 shows that the Lord Jesus was teaching that faith alone is the only way one can be born again. In John 8:30, we learn that there were some people in the large crowd listening to Jesus that day who “believed in Him.” We know from John 3:16 that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life. So, these new believers had everlasting life, apart from works. Then the Lord Jesus called them to be His disciples by abiding in His word (John 8:31). If they did, then the truth would set them free from sin’s bondage in this life (John 8:32; compare Rom 6:17-18).
At this point, the unbelieving Jews in the crowd argued with Jesus that they had never been in bondage to anyone (John 8:33). He pointed out that they were slaves of sin (v 34).
In v 37, He points out that though they are Abraham’s physical descendants, “you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.” In other words, you seek to kill Me because you do not believe in me (compare John 8:45-46). Verse 39 then expands on v 37: “If you were Abraham’s [spiritual] children, you would do the works of Abraham.” Abraham did not seek to kill Jesus (v 40).
To do the works of Abraham would be to follow in his steps. First and foremost, Abraham believed in the Lord, and it was reckoned to Him as righteousness (Gen 15:6; John 8:56; Rom 4:1-5). Ed Blum writes, “But Jesus responded by stating that spiritual descendants of Abraham do what Abraham did, that is, they believe and obey God. They should respond in faith to the heavenly messenger and do what He says. John the Baptist had earlier warned the Jews against the danger of trusting in their Abrahamic lineage (Luke 3:8)” (“John” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 305). Carson likewise comments, “By contrast, the rising antipathy Jesus’ interlocutors display to the one who has passed on the truth that he heard from God can only mean that, unlike Abraham, they have no real heart for God, no sensitivity to his voice. Their ‘father’ must therefore be someone else” (John, p. 352).
Certainly, in John 8:39 there is an implicit suggestion that they should obey the Lord Jesus Christ. However, in terms of what they must do to have everlasting life, the point is that they must believe in Him. Believe in Him for everlasting life. Abide in His word for fullness of life. There is no hint in John 8:39 that belief in Jesus must be joined with ongoing good works for one to have everlasting life.
The very idea that Jesus was chiding His audience for not paying enough attention to good works completely misreads the Fourth Gospel. They were constantly searching the OT Scriptures to make sure they were doing enough good works to be saved (John 5:39). But the Lord Jesus told them that the OT Scriptures testified about Him and that in order to have everlasting life they must believe in Him (John 5:40). They needed to stop thinking they could be saved by their works and to realize that Jesus was telling the truth that only by faith in Him could anyone have everlasting life.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are not evangelistic books. It is a mistake to misread the Synoptic Gospels and then impose a works-salvation message upon the Fourth Gospel. The opposite is what we should do. We should find the saving message in John’s Gospel and recognize that the Synoptic Gospels are not telling anyone how to be born again.
