<p>3:8 <i>Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves: We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you, that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones</i>- The eagerness of John for the inculcation of faith is seen in the way He foresees the likely thought processes within men. &ldquo;Begin not to say within yourselves....&rdquo; (Lk. 3:8), He told a generation of vipers; and the Lord eagerly strengthened the centurion&rsquo;s faith when it was announced that faith was pointless, because his daughter had died. Always the Biblical emphasis is upon internal thought processes and the need to be aware of them. John's great convert Paul several times uses the same device in his letters- foreseeing the likely thought process in response to his message, and answering it ahead of time (e.g. 1 Cor. 15:35).</p><p>&quot;These stones&quot; was said perhaps pointing to the stones. Perhaps they were the 12 stones set up after the Jordan crossing (Josh. 3 and 4). There is a word play between&nbsp;<i>avanim</i>, stones, and&nbsp;<i>banim, </i>sons.&nbsp;<i>Avanim</i>, stones, in turn sounds like&nbsp;<i>evyonim</i>, the term for the poor, the social outcasts- these were the &quot;stones&quot; which were being accepted into the covenant of grace.&nbsp;</p>