TRAPPED BY LIES
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
I wait on you, Lord, to teach me through your Word today. Use it to train me so that I can know your blessing in greater and greater measure.
Read JOHN 8:31–41
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.[a]”
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would[b] do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
According to your unfailing love … Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (Psalm 51:1, 2).Jesus’ claim that following his teaching leads to truth and that this can set us free (v. 32), has never been more relevant. When ‘fake news’, conspiracy theories, and ‘deep fake’ photos and video clips abound, then our view of the world becomes distorted: we don’t know what is true or who to trust. We may not even be aware that we are trapped, ‘slaves’ to a lie.
The lie that Jesus exposes here is the one that convinces us that family or cultural affiliation makes us right with God. The Jews thought that, as descendants of Abraham, they were automatically God’s children (vv. 33, 39). In the same way people now might assume they are Christian because their parents were, or they grew up in a ‘Christian’ country. Belonging to God’s family is not passed down in DNA, in cultural institutions, nor even in attending church regularly.
To dispel the lie, we must accept the uncomfortable truth (v. 34). Our thoughts and attitudes toward Jesus (vv. 37, 40) show where we truly are. The Jews couldn’t free themselves, and neither can we. Only Jesus can set us free (v. 36).
Apply
How would you articulate your reasons for saying that you are a Christian and part of God’s kingdom?
Closing prayer
Thank you, Father, for my freedom from sin, for the gift of your Spirit who assures me that I am truly your child (Romans 8: 14–16).
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.