Reflection Questions: The Father of the Lie and the Great ‘I AM’ (John 8.44-59)

Romans 1:18-25, literal rendering from the Greek Text: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, they are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for THE LIE and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

1. In Sunday’s message we considered the tragic misuse of John 8:44 in the history of the Church. Martin Luther himself used it to engage in the grossest forms of antisemitism. Calling the Jews of his day “thieves and robbers” who “get rich on our sweat and blood, while we remain poor,” Luther suggests that Christians should “set fire to their synagogues or schools,” and “that their houses also be razed and destroyed,” and “that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them …” What do we do with such words coming from one of the most important Christian pastors in Church history – the very catalyst of the Reformation? Why do you think Satan hates the Jews (Genesis 12:1-3, Jeremiah 31:31-37; Romans 11:1-2a). Are you alarmed by the sharp rise in antisemitism in America today? Think back over your own Christian walk. How have you seen the Word of God used to hurt people rather than help them? Jesus is clear that those who reject His Gospel are “sons of the evil one.” But what should our response to them be (Matthew 5:44, 28:19-20)?
2. I presented “THE LIE” as Satan’s plan to (1) deny that God has come in the flesh in Jesus (1 Jn 2:22-23, 4:2-3; 2 Jn 7), and (2) to promote the worship/service of the creature over the Creator (Rom. 1:24-25). Observing the world around you, where do you see signs that he’s succeeded on both fronts? Where’s he failing?
3. We ended by reading the verses which follow Ephesians 4:25, which describes believers as those who have “once-and-for-all put off THE LIE” (a literal rendering from the underlying Greek text). The verses that follow 4:25 (and they are many!) describe what people who have “put off THE LIE” (that’s US!) should be like. Select a reader for your group. Move verse-by-verse through Ephesians 4:26-5:21, stopping briefly to consider what each verse is saying. For each verse, ask, ‘What is God asking of us here, we who have once-and-for-all put off THE LIE?’ Does He find these things when He looks at our lives? Imagine how the world might be different if everyone who names the Name of Jesus took these things seriously?
4. If you have time, discuss 2 Thessalonians 2:11, the difficult end-times passage where Paul promises that God will someday send the world “a powerful delusion, so that they WILL believe THE LIE” (again, a literal rendering from the Greek Text). What do you think is going on here? How can GOD send ‘delusion’?