John 8:31-36

TRUTH BRINGS FREEDOM

Text 8:31-36

31

Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples;

32

and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

33

They answered unto him, We are Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

34

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin.

35

And the bondservant abideth not in the house forever: the son abideth for ever.

36

If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Queries

a.

How does the truth make a person free?

b.

How does sin enslave?

c.

What does Jesus mean, the bondservant abideth not in the house forever?

Paraphrase

So Jesus said to those Jews who had said they believed in Him, If you are living and dwelling in My word, then you are beyond doubt My followers, and you will apprehend and experience the truth and the truth will liberate and emancipate you. They answered Him, We are the descendants of Abraham, a chosen people above all that are upon the face of the earth, and we have never given ourselves into bondage to anyoneGod alone is our Master. How can you dare to say, You will be set free from bondage? Jesus answered them, I assure you most solemnly, Whosoever continually practices sin is the prisoner and slave of sin. Now those who are slaves may enjoy the privileges of the household temporarily, but not permanently, but the son remains forever. If, therefore, the son liberates the slave and he is adopted into a family relationship, then you are really and unquestionably free.

Summary

Abiding in the doctrine of Christ constitutes genuine discipleship. All else is enslavement to sin. Servitude to Christ brings genuine freedom. The Jews, by their sin, have become slave and have no permanent dwelling place within the kingdom. They must be set free through the authority of the Son in order to have a permanent place within God's household.

Comment

It is very evident that Jesus is addressing His remarks to a group of the Jews here at the Feast of Tabernacles who had, in some way, manifested a superficial belief in Him. They wanted to believe in a Messiah, but not the Messiah. They were willing to follow, fight or die for a temporal King, but they would have none of a spiritual King who demanded sovereignty over their motives and deeds. They would gladly serve Him with their lips, but not their hearts.

And in John 8:31 Jesus plainly declares the requirements for genuine discipleship to the true Messiah. To abide in His word is to make it one's dwelling placeto live by it as the Bread of Life (see our comments on John 6:56, Vol. I, page 250). His word is the only source of life (cf. John 6:63) and to abide in it is to keep it stedfastly (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:58; Acts 2:42; Colossians 1:23; 2 John 1:9). In John 13:35 Jesus tells how we are to witness our discipleship to the worldby loving one another as He has loved us.

Now in John 8:32 comes the beautiful paradox, To become really and absolutely free, every man must submit himself to servitude to Christ's word. Much more than intellectual recognition is involved in knowing the truth as Jesus means it. To know the truth is also to do it, to experience it (cf. John 7:17; Psalms 1:1-6). There are those who are aware of the truth but do not know it, because they refuse to live according to precepts of truth (cf. John 3:19, see our comments, Vol, I, page 114).

When Jesus says truth He means all that is embodied in the Life He manifested and the doctrines He taughtboth in His Incarnation and by the Holy Spirit through the apostles (cf. John 1:14; John 1:17; John 14:6; John 16:13; John 17:17). That which is truth is that which is real, genuine and veritable. The truth is not a philosophical abstraction which is reached by the reasoning of the human mind. It is not relative to time, change or feeling. Truth, all truth, originates in God and is divine and everlasting fact. See also these references: Psalms 25:10; Psalms 119:142; Psalms 119:151; Psalms 119:160; Ephesians 4:21. The truth which Jesus brings and wishes men to trust in is the eternal verities of God which are in contradistinction to things which are temporal (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:18 to 2 Corinthians 5:7; John 6:27; Hebrews 12:27; 1 John 2:15-17; Psalms 102:25-26). But the truth of God abides forever and is unchangeable (cf. 1 Peter 1:22-25; Hebrews 13:8).

Those who abide in these eternal verities and walk by faith and not by sight are those who are unquestionably free. The man who depends entirely upon human wisdom certainly cannot be free for He is imprisoned by the very limitations of human reason! That the mind of the flesh cannot possibly plumb the depths of wisdom is evident from Romans, the first chapter, and from I Corinthians, Chapter s one through three. The truth that is found in Christ gives men freedom in at least three ways: (a) Freedom from the habits and enslavements of the flesh can come only through knowledge and obedience of the truth; (b) freedom from spiritual lies, falsehoods, deceptions and prejudices which evil men use to enslave the minds and souls of men and women through their perversions of the truth; (c) freedom from sin and all its consequencesguilt, fear of death, penalty and sentence of sin which is eternal death.
Freedom or victory through the truth of God is the theme of the great apostle Paul's eighth chapter of Romans, Galatian epistle, and eighth, ninth and tenth Chapter s of First Corinthians. We like the way Hendriksen says it: N. T. Commentary, Gospel of John, Vol. II, page 5, One is free, therefore, not when he can do what he wishes to do, but when he wishes to do and can do what he should do.

Religiously the Jews enjoyed a unique position among all the peoples of the earth until after Christ brought truth and salvation to the Gentiles. They alone were the repositories of God's revealed will for men. An illustrious remnant of Israel had never been, enslaved to idolatry or philosophical schemes of religion. Especially would the Pharisees claim to be free of all the passions and failures of the flesh common to other men for they, by their tradition-enforced asceticism remained aloof from the more sensual indulgences of the flesh. One commentator has paraphrased their reply in John 8:33 like this: If the truth you speak of is good only for slaves, do not trouble us, Abraham's seed, with it! We are a freeborn, royal nation and acknowledge no one as our master save God. To him we belong as children and to no one else. This is the truth which makes us free! (cf. Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 7:6; Amos 3:2; John 8:41). They wanted to be sure that they were not connected with the other line of descendants of Abrahamnamely, Ishmael, the son of the handmaid who was cast out (cf. Genesis 21:10; Galatians 4:21-31). Remember, also, that Abraham was in the line of Shem and it was prophesied that the descendants of Ham would be servants of Shem's offspring (cf. Genesis 9:25-26). Although they had been politically subservient for hundreds of years to many different rulers (excepting brief periods of temporary freedom) within their hearts burned a fierce freedom of spirit and worship of the One True Jehovah-God. Many Jews through the ages had spilled their very life's blood defending this religious freedom. Even during the Roman rule hundreds were beheaded for refusal to worship the Roman emperor or heathen idols.

Little did they realize, however, that they were slaves to the most binding of all masters, sin! John 8:34 is Jesus-' answer to the Jews. When He says committeth sin, He uses the present participle, ho paion (the one doing), which indicates not merely a single sin, but to live a life of continual sin (cf. 1 John 3:6; 1 John 3:8-9). This bondage to sin is true of every man who has not been freed from sin by belief and obedience to the Gospel. The libertine is indeed the most wretched of slavesenslaved to passions and controlled by his flesh. His very soul is a prisoner mastered by his appetites and sensory organs. He allows his will and reason to be controlled by lust. Any man who allows himself to be dominated and led about by sinful habit is a slave, Such a man does not do what he likes, but he does what sin likes! He has allowed a pleasure to master him so completely that he cannot do without it, That man is a slave to sin and ignorance of the truth who allows himself to be deluded and duped by false doctrines and perversions of the truth. Paul had to fight and battle constantly for his own freedom in Christ and the freedom of the Gentile Christians against the Judaizers. The church has had to wage a constant war for freedom from evil men who would bring men into bondage by prejudice, perversion of the truth and going beyond the things that are written. Men who do not know the truth soon become slaves to their sinful ignorance (cf. Romans 8:2; Galatians 5:1). Finally, sin enslaves man by guilt, fear of death, and penalty or sentence pronounced. It is this guilt and burden of condemnation which keeps sinners from realizing joy, peace and fulfillment in their hearts. Every man has some conscience and feels some sense of guilt and condemnation through it (cf. Romans 2:14-16). All men are guilty (cf. Romans 3:19; James 2:10). Men were in bondage to the fear of death until Jesus came and conquered death (cf. Hebrews 2:14-15). That men in sin are men in bondage is evident from these Scriptures: Proverbs 5:22; Acts 8:23; Romans 6:16-23; Romans 7:23; 2 Timothy 2:26; 2 Peter 2:19. Praise be to God, the Truth was manifested in the flesh to bring sight to the blind, release to the captives and to set at liberty the bruised (cf. Luke 4:18). Freedom from sin means, on one hand, deliverance from all created forces that would prevent men from serving and enjoying their Creator, and on the other, the positive happiness of living in fellowship with God in the place where He is pleased to bless. Christian liberty is precisely freedom to love and serve to the fullest extent, and is therefore abused when it is made an excuse for loveless license (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16; 2 Peter 2:19; 1 Corinthians 8:9-12).

Men in bondage to sin cannot be sons of God; they are slaves to the devil. A slave may remain within the house, but he is not a permanent member of the household and has no inheritance or can claim no rights. The slave may be driven out or sold at any time (cf. Hagar and her son). Thus Jesus gives a solemn warning to these Jews who could not see their need for regeneration. They were not children of God, but slaves of sin, and unless they become sons of God by adoptionthrough faith in Jesus Christthey were in danger of being cast out. He had warned them before that they could not follow Him to Heaven because they were unregenerate (John 8:21-24). This is the same warning couched in different language. If they expect to be carried to Abraham's bosom in paradise they must become true sons of Abraham by faith and regenerate obedience (cf. John 8:39-40).

The Son is the rightful heir and abides forever in the house. If by his authority the slave is set free, he shall be free indeed. The indeed in this case means more than mere freedom. When a man is freed from his slavery to sin by the Son of God, the former slave is not only pardoned and freed from his shackles, but he is adopted into the family and given the place of a fellow-heir (cf. Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:29; Galatians 4:1-7).

Quiz

1.

What is required to become truly a disciple of Jesus?

2.

What is involved in knowing the truth?

3.

What is truth?

4.

Name the three freedoms which come from knowing the truth.

5.

How could the Jews claim freedom from bondage?

6.

What brings every man into bondage? How?

7.

Explain the figure of slave and Son abiding in the household.