John 8:33 Commentary - Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

1) "Then answered him," (apekrithesan pros auton) "They replied to him," the yet unbelieving Jews who had sneaked in to carp and criticize at His teaching, the obstinate and unpersuaded of the Pharisees especially, Joh 8:13.

2) "We be Abraham's seed," (sperma Abraam esmen) "We are (exist as) a seed of Abraham," of kingly lineage, of national grandeur, of racial pride, a thing they doted on before John the Baptist who called them to repentance, from their hell-bent self -righteousness, Mat 3:7-12.

3) "And were never in bondage to any man:” (kai oudeni dedouleukamen popote) "And to no one have we been enslaved, no, never;- Were they ignorant of their Egyptian bondage years, or their repeated captivity years to the Philistines under the judges, or their subjection for six centuries to the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, or were they just so intoxicated with their racial pride that they just outright lied, like their father, the Devil, Joh 8:44. The latter seems to be the truth.

4) "How sayest thou, ye shall be mad free?" (pos au legeis hoti eleutheroi genesesthe) "How do you say that you all will become free or liberated?" Upon what premise do you promise what we already have, they asked or challenged Him, They considered themselves the very depository of truth, having the law. Yet they did not keep it! Joh 7:19; Rom 3:19; Paul called the law a "Yoke of bondage," from which Christ had made men free, Gal 5:1; Act 15:7-10.