Hereditary and Spiritual Interest in the Covenant
Bp. Lake. John 8:38-47 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father.… The Jew was to have a double being in the covenant, an hereditary, a possessary; the hereditary was nothing but the birthright, which gave him jus ad rem; he, that lineally descended from Abraham, might claim to be admitted into the covenant which God made with him. The possessary consisted in his personal grace, which gave him jus in re, when he did not only descend from Abraham, according to the flesh, but communicated also with him in the graces of the Spirit. These two beings in the covenant were to concur in every Jew; and they could not be severed without danger, danger not to the covenant, but to the Jew (Romans 2:25-29; Galatians 3:9, 29). (Bp. Lake.) Parallel Verses KJV: I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. WEB: I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father."