Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed: (32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (33) They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? (34) Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. (35) And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever. (36) If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (37) I know that ye are Abraham's seed: but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. (38) I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your Father. (39) They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. (40) But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. (41) Ye do the deeds of your Father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication: we have one Father even God. (42) Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God: neither came I of myself; but he sent me.
In this part of our Lord's discourse, we have a subject equally interesting with the former; but Jesus takes another form, by way of discriminating his people from the world. He adopts a beautiful figure, of an house, and family; in order to shew the striking difference. He represents the image of that fallen state of Adam, by reason of sin, as a servant; and shews, that everyone who committeth sin, is the servant of sin. And the similitude is just. Every son and daughter of Adam, by transgression hath forfeited all right of inheritance; and is in bondage to sin and Satan. The Lord calls his people, the lawful captives of the mighty; and the prey of the terrible. Isaiah 49:25. And the Lord represents the children of his kingdom as his, by virtue of his adoption; and shews, that by his abiding in his own house, as a Son forever, he preserves them, and makes them free. Whereas the servant, having no inheritance, is shortly turned to the door.
This forms a beautiful illustration of the subject. As the whole Adam-race, were all alike involved in the ruin of the fall; they all come forth from the womb of nature in the same natural bondage of sin; all alike serving divers lusts, and pleasures; all under the guilt of sin, the curse of sin, the dominion of sin, the punishment due to sin; the wrath of God, and the terrors of his justice. It is only such as the Son of God makes free, that are free indeed! The carnal Jews could not brook this pointed discourse of Christ. Priding themselves on being lineally descended from Abraham, they thought that they were entitled to all Abraham's privileges. But Jesus taught, that freedom was only in himself. It was not Abraham's seed in nature, which gave a right and title to Abraham's inheritance; but Abraham's seed in grace. He saith not and to seeds as of many, but as of one; and to thy seed which is Christ. Galatians 3:16. Hence all the natural children of Abraham only, (and he had many), were servants in the family, and no other; and had no part, nor lot, in the promises. But the charter of grace ran in these words: In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Romans 9:7
I beseech the Reader to pause over our Lord's own illustration of this subject, as here set forth. Nothing can be more plain, nothing more evident, in proof of that everlasting and irreconcileable separation, between the Church and the world; between the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. Both the one, and the other; the Israel after the flesh and the Israel after the Spirit, possess for a time, as servants and children in the same family, apparently the same privileges. In respect of ordinances, and means of grace, they sit down under the same. And like those Pharisees, who never believed in Christ, and those true disciples of Jesus who did; the same discourses were delivered before all. But by and by, when the Lord comes to take account, the Ishmaels, and the Isaacs, are found to be of very different stock; and an everlasting separation takes place. For what saith the scripture; Cast out the bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be here with the son of the free woman. Reader! learn to estimate the vast distinction. See whether you can enter into a relish of the Apostle's conclusion, when he, saith: So then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. Galatians 4:22 to the end.