Note 10 at Jn. 8:33: The Jewish people were direct descendants of Abraham. However, as with so many Bible truths, there was much more to the Abrahamic covenant than what a casual glimpse would reveal. In truth, these Jews were not actually a part of the spiritual children of Abraham.

The Holy Spirit revealed through the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:16 and 29 that God's covenant was to Abraham and his singular "seed" or descendant, which was Christ. No one ever became an heir of God's promises through his natural birth. Before Jesus gave Himself as an offering for our sin, the Old Testament saints were justified by faith in God's promises concerning the Messiah which was yet to come. After Jesus' death and resurrection, New Testament saints are justified by faith in what Jesus has already accomplished. No one has ever been saved because of who his parents were.

A true Jew, by New Testament definition, is a person who has the faith of Abraham (Rom. 4:16). "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:28-29). Those who believe on God's Son are true Jews (Rom. 9:6-8). Those who reject the Son of God are separated from God (Isa. 59:1-2) regardless of their nationality. "You must be born again" (Jn. 3:7).