Chapter 8:31-59

The twelfth class in the Wednesday evening study of John takes up 8:31-59, where Jesus tells the Jews who had believed him that the test is whether they abide in his word. Most of the hour goes to the argument over Abraham: the gap between being his descendants and being his children, the claim never to have been in bondage to anyone, and Jesus' reply that whoever sins is a slave to sin and only the Son can free him. It is a discussion class, with the room reading Romans 8, Mark 7 and Acts 6 aloud, and it ends on 'Before Abraham was, I am.'