John 8:39-59—Is the Devil Is Your Daddy? + PDF Teacher's Notes

1. Anyone who believes in Jesus, regardless of ethnic background, is the true child of Abraham. Thus, the church is the ultimate, true fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that he would have a multitude of descendants.

2. Conversely, even if a person is Jewish, but does not believe in Jesus, he is not a true offspring of Abraham. A true Jew is someone who is not merely a Jew outwardly, but inwardly also.

Jesus clearly said that those Jews who considered Him and then rejected Him were not of God, but were of their father, the devil (8:44).

3. God does not have two peoples, the church and Israel. God only has one people: the church. Theologically, the present situation is not, the church and Israel; it is, the church is Israel.

However, this does not mean that God has utterly rejected the Jewish race. According to Romans 9-11, because of God's promises to Abraham, God has elected Jews in every generation (a remnant) to believe in Jesus and come into the church, and in this way all the elect within physical Israel will be saved.

John Resinger: Resinger wrote about Abraham's four seeds:

1. Natural Offspring (through Isaac and Ishmael).
2. Special Natural Offspring (through Isaac, then Jacob, then the 12 tribes).
3. Unique Offspring (Jesus the Messiah).
4. Spiritual Offspring (all believers of all ages and all nationalities).

3. God does not have two peoples, the church and I