Bible Strands
Matthew 3:9
And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — John the Baptist, in the Jordan wilderness, addresses a crowd including Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt 3:7), in the gap between his call to repentance (v. 8) and his threat of the axe (v. 10).
The words — δόξητε (doxēte), "may you presume," is not a mild "think" but a strong assumption without warrant; it frames the prohibition as a correction of self-deception rather than mere error.
The thread — Luke 3:8 repeats the warning; Romans 9:7 draws the same line between physical descent and true sonship; Galatians 3:27 names the actual criterion — being in Christ.
Why it lands — It removes the one credential the listener thought was safest: ancestry. The demand is fruit, and no inheritance can substitute for it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Cross-references
- Luke 3:8 Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
- Romans 9:7 Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
- John 8:33 “We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”
- Acts 13:26 Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.
- Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has discovered?
- Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
- Luke 16:24 So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’
- Ezekiel 33:24 “Son of man, those living in the ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as a possession.’
- Matthew 8:11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.