You are doing the things your own father does.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

“illegitimate children” can mean 2 things:

  1. the Israelites were called “children of adultery” when the nation fell away from God (Hosea 2:4). The Jews are making the tremendous claim that they are not the members of an adulterous nation that has gone astray from God. Isn’t it interesting how self-righteousness can blind us to the truth about ourselves?
    Hosea 2:4  I will not show my love to her children, because they are the children of adultery.
  2. They may have heard a little about the unusual circumstances of the birth of Jesus and are slamming Him for what they think Him to be.