How did the Pharisees respond when Jesus said they do the deeds of their father?
They retorted that they were not born of fornication and that they had one Father, even God. In doing so they denied His virgin birth, implying Jesus was conceived out of wedlock, and asserted God as their Father while rejecting His claim.
Les explains that when Jesus said, you do the deeds of your father, they responded, 'We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.' Les points out they were throwing at Him their refusal to believe in His virgin birth. The story going through Nazareth was that Mary and Joseph, even if Joseph was the father, had conceived out of wedlock, and perhaps Joseph was not even the father. So they were accusing Jesus of Nazareth of being the result of fornication, an immoral act. Les says you have no idea how low these people were. Jesus then answered that if God were their Father, they would love Him, because He proceeded forth and came from God; He did not come of Himself, but God sent Him. He asked why they did not understand His speech, answering that they cannot hear His word. Then He told these Pharisees, 'You are of your father, the devil.'
Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
More Questions
What did the Pharisees mean when they said to Jesus 'we be not born of fornication'?
When the Pharisees told Jesus 'we be not born of fornication,' they were attacking him with the circulating charge that he was the product of an immoral act, since they did not believe in his virgin birth.