39. They said, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said, “If you were really Abraham’s descendants, you would do what Abraham did.
40. I am someone who has told you the truth I heard from God. But you are trying to kill me. Abraham did nothing like that.
41. So you are doing what your own father did.” But they said, “We are not like children who never knew who their father was. God is our Father. He is the only Father we have.”
42. Jesus said to them, “If God were really your Father, you would love me. I came from God, and now I am here. I did not come by my own authority. God sent me.
43. You don’t understand the things I say, because you cannot accept my teaching.
44. Your father is the devil. You belong to him. You want to do what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He was always against the truth. There is no truth in him. He is like the lies he tells. Yes, the devil is a liar. He is the father of lies.
45. “I am telling you the truth, and that’s why you don’t believe me.
46. Can any of you prove that I am guilty of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe me?
47. Whoever belongs to God accepts what he says. But you don’t accept what God says, because you don’t belong to God.”