Verse 8

Make clear by your acts that your hearts have been changed; and do not say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children of Abraham.

Referenced Verses

  • Acts 26:20 : 20 But I went about, first to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, and through all the country of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, preaching a change of heart, so that they, being turned to God, might give, in their works, the fruits of a changed heart.
  • John 8:33 : 33 They said to him in answer, We are Abraham's seed and have never been any man's servant: why do you say, You will become free?
  • Isa 1:16-18 : 16 Be washed, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; let there be an end of sinning; 17 Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow. 18 Come now, and let us have an argument together, says the Lord: how may your sins which are red like blood be white as snow? how may their dark purple seem like wool?
  • Ezek 18:27-31 : 27 Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul. 28 Because he had fear and was turned away from all the wrong which he had done, life will certainly be his, death will not be his fate. 29 But still the children of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O children of Israel, are my ways not equal? are not your ways unequal? 30 For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil. 31 Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?
  • Matt 21:43 : 43 For this reason I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.
  • Gal 5:22-24 : 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith, 23 Gentle behaviour, control over desires: against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires.
  • Rom 4:16 : 16 For this reason it is of faith, so that it may be through grace; and so that the word of God may be certain to all the seed; not only to that which is of the law, but to that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
  • Rom 9:7 : 7 And they are not all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, In Isaac will your seed be named.
  • 2 Cor 7:10-11 : 10 For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death. 11 For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.
  • Gal 3:28-29 : 28 There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.
  • Phil 1:11 : 11 Being full of the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
  • Heb 6:7-8 : 7 For a land, drinking in the frequent rain and producing good plants for those for whom it is worked, has a blessing from God: 8 But if it sends up thorns and evil plants, it is of no use and is ready to be cursed; its only end is to be burned.
  • John 8:39 : 39 In answer they said to him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children you would do what Abraham did.
  • Luke 13:28-29 : 28 There will be weeping and cries of sorrow when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are shut outside. 29 And they will come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and take their places in the kingdom of God.
  • Luke 16:23-31 : 23 And in hell, being in great pain, lifting up his eyes he saw Abraham, far away, and Lazarus on his breast. 24 And he gave a cry and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may put the end of his finger in water and put it on my tongue, for I am cruelly burning in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Keep in mind, my son, that when you were living, you had your good things, while Lazarus had evil things: but now, he is comforted and you are in pain. 26 And in addition, there is a deep division fixed between us and you, so that those who might go from here to you are not able to do so, and no one may come from you to us. 27 And he said, Father, it is my request that you will send him to my father's house; 28 For I have five brothers; and let him give them an account of these things, so that they may not come to this place of pain. 29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets; let them give ear to what they say. 30 And he said, No, father Abraham, but if someone went to them from the dead, their hearts would be changed. 31 And he said to him, If they will not give attention to Moses and the prophets, they will not be moved even if someone comes back from the dead.
  • Luke 19:40 : 40 And he said in answer, I say to you, if these men keep quiet, the very stones will be crying out.
  • Matt 8:11-12 : 11 And I say to you that numbers will come from the east and the west, and will take their seats with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be put out into the dark, and there will be weeping and cries of pain.
  • Isa 48:1-2 : 1 Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly and not in good faith. 2 For they say that they are of the holy town, and put their faith in the God of Israel: the Lord of armies is his name.
  • Jer 7:4-9 : 4 Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. 5 For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour; 6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: 7 Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever. 8 See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit. 9 Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you; 10 And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things?
  • Josh 4:3-8 : 3 And say to them, Take up from the middle of Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests were resting, twelve stones, and take them over with you and put them down in the place where you take your rest tonight. 4 So Joshua sent for the twelve men, whom he had ready, one man out of every tribe of the children of Israel, 5 And he said to them, Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of Jordan, and let every one of you take up a stone on his back, one for every tribe of the children of Israel: 6 So that this may be a sign among you; when your children say to you in time to come, What is the reason for these stones? 7 Then you will say to them, Because the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the Lord's agreement; when it went over Jordan the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones will be a sign for the children of Israel, keeping it in their memory for ever. 8 So the children of Israel did as Joshua gave them orders, and took twelve stones from the middle of Jordan, as the Lord had said to Joshua, one for every tribe of the children of Israel; these they took across with them to their night's resting-place and put them down there.