¹² and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(A)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(B)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(C)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(D)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.

²¹ For ^(A)to this you have been called, ^(B)because Christ also suffered for you, ^(C)leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, ^(A)one by a slave woman and ^(B)one by a free woman. ²³ But ^(C)the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while ^(D)the son of the free woman was born through promise. ²⁴ Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two ^(E)covenants. ^(F)One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. ²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;^[a] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But ^(G)the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written,

²⁸ Now you,^[b] brothers, ^(I)like Isaac, ^(J)are children of promise. ²⁹ But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh ^(K)persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, ^(L)so also it is now. ³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? ^(M)“Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” ³¹ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but ^(N)of the free woman.

^18 (A)I urged Titus to go, and sent ^(B)the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham ^(A)because they are his offspring, but ^(B)“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

²³ and in ^(A)Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and ^(B)saw Abraham far off and Lazarus ^(C)at his side. ²⁴ And he called out, ^(D)‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and ^(E)cool my tongue, for ^(F)I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that ^(G)you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ ²⁷ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have ^(H)Moses and the Prophets; ^(I)let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, ^(J)father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear ^(K)Moses and the Prophets, ^(L)neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ^(A)‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from ^(B)these stones to raise up children for Abraham.