Matthew 3:7-9

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ¹  and Sadducees ²  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 3:8 Therefore produce fruit ³  that proves your ⁴  repentance, 3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

John 8:39-41

8:39 They answered him, ⁵  “Abraham is our father!” ⁶  Jesus replied, ⁷  “If you are ⁸  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ⁹  the deeds of Abraham. 8:40 But now you are trying ¹⁰  to kill me, a man who has told you ¹¹  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ¹²  8:41 You people ¹³  are doing the deeds of your father.”

Then ¹⁴  they said to Jesus, ¹⁵  “We were not born as a result of immorality! ¹⁶  We have only one Father, God himself.”

Romans 4:16

4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ¹⁷  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ¹⁸  who is the father of us all

Ephesians 2:3

2:3 among whom ¹⁹  all of us ²⁰  also ²¹  formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath ²²  even as the rest… ²³ 

[3:7]  ¹ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ² sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[3:8]  ³ sn Fruit worthy of repentance refers to the deeds that indicate a change of attitude (heart) on the part of John’s hearers.

[3:8]  ⁴ tn Grk “fruit worthy of.”

[8:39]  ⁵ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ⁶ tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ⁸ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ⁹ tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[8:40]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “seeking.”

[8:40]  ¹¹ tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

[8:40]  ¹² tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.

[8:41]  ¹³ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[8:41]  ¹⁴ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (א B L W 070 it sy^s,p co) lack the conjunction here, while the earliest witnesses along with many others read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì^66,75 C D Θ Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the combined testimony of two early papyri for the conjunction is impressive, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 52). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:41]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:41]  ¹⁶ sn We were not born as a result of immorality! is ironic, because Jesus’ opponents implied that it was not themselves but Jesus who had been born as a result of immoral behavior. This shows they did not know Jesus’ true origin and were not aware of the supernatural events surrounding his birth. The author does not even bother to refute the opponents’ suggestion but lets it stand, assuming his readers will know the true story.

[4:16]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”

[4:16]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”

[2:3]  ¹⁹ sn Among whom. The relative pronoun phrase that begins v. 3 is identical, except for gender, to the one that begins v. 2 (ἐν αἵς [en Jais], ἐν οἵς [en Jois]). By the structure, the author is building an argument for our hopeless condition: We lived in sin and we lived among sinful people. Our doom looked to be sealed as well in v. 2: Both the external environment (kingdom of the air) and our internal motivation and attitude (the spirit that is now energizing) were under the devil’s thumb (cf. 2 Cor 4:4).

[2:3]  ²⁰ tn Grk “we all.”

[2:3]  ²¹ tn Or “even.”

[2:3]  ²² sn Children of wrath is a Semitic idiom which may mean either “people characterized by wrath” or “people destined for wrath.”

[2:3]  ²³ sn Eph 2:1-3. The translation of vv. 1-3 is very literal, even to the point of retaining the awkward syntax of the original. See note on the word dead in 2:1.