John Chapter 8, Verse 33
From BibleWiki
33: απεκριθησαν αυτω σπερμα αβρααμ εσμεν και ουδενι δεδουλευκαμεν πωποτε πως συ λεγεις οτι ελευθεροι γενησεσθε
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?
33: They answered him: We are the seed of Abraham: and we have never
been slaves to any man. How sayest thou: You shall be free?
They answered him. Not those who believed on him, but some who stood by and heard him.
We be Abraham's seed. We are the children or descendants of Abraham. Abraham was not a slave, and they pretended that they were his real descendants, inheriting his freedom as well as his spirit. They meant that they were the direct descendants of Abraham by Isaac, his heir. Ishmael, also Abraham's son, was the son of a bond-woman (Gal 4:21ff), but they were descended in a direct line from the acknowledged heir of Abraham.
Were never in bondage to any man. This is a most remarkable declaration, and one evidently false. Their fathers had been slaves in Egypt; their nation had been enslaved in Babylon; it had repeatedly been subject to the Assyrians; it was enslaved by Herod the Great; and was, at the very time they spoke, groaning under the grievous and insupportable bondage of the Romans.
