Dorothy Mae
Member
In a recent discussion, I was reminded of long ago when I was told that this verse in John is referring to knowing the Gospel. The person I was discussion this thought this "truth" was Jesus himself although I have not figured out what she means exactly.
And maybe I believed that at the time as well. I was only 16. But now after having walked with the Lord these 50 years, that is no longer my view. First, let us look at the scripture itself:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slaveb to sin.35The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
So let us look at this. In the first phrase, we see the people he is talking to, that is, his audience. Is he talking to unbelievers? No, he is specially talking ONLY TO THOSE who already believed in him. He is telling believers this. So this abiding in his word, being truly his disciples (remember already saved people) brings about knowing the truth. Now the position I had believed was that this "truth" is the gospel. But that cannot be his meaning because he is talking to those who already believe. So what is this truth?
Is it merely information? We have already established it is NOT the gospel as they already know that (his audience.) Now is this freedom from sin? Yes to some degree but none of can truthfully say that we no longer sin at all. (I am far from saying nonchalantly that we sin every day in thought, word and deed implying no big deal as it IS A BIG DEAL.) So what are we set from from?
Clearly being freed from the power of sin over one's life is certainly a freedom. How does this work? Does it mean sinlessness? Apart from a few who redefine what sin is in order to be able to claim being sinless, none of us think we are. But maybe it does not mean sinlessness. Let us think of those in the power of say alcoholism or addiction or anger or gluttony. They describe it as being out of their power to be free from. Jesus can set us free from the power sin has over our choices. There are many testimonies of those who turned to Jesus and experienced a freedom from a particular sin that had them. So this certainly is one of the freedoms which is why he gave the Jews who did not believe him an example. He who commits sin is or becomes a slave to that sin.
When Jesus offered this example, he was addressing non-believers. It seems to me what he did was select an example that was understandable to them. They were thinking slavery or not free in a different way ("sons of Abraham who were never slaves") but he gave them the example of a man caught in a behavior pattern that was sinful that he could not break out of. This they would have known so it was a clear example of one kind of freedom he gives. That is the appeal to non-believers. That is actually what the gospel is, God forgives us and set us free from the power of sin if we repent and believe.
But this is not what he was saying to those who believe, the ones he addresses in verse 32. It cannot be himself, as they already know that truth. Let's look at what one has to do to arrive that this freedom. One has to keep his teaching. What is that? Believe the Gospel? We already established that is not it. What can it be except that we DO what he teaches. We obey his teaching. He "keep" it in the same sense as we "keep" the law of say driving a motor vehicle. And I think this is what Jesus is saying to his believers. Do what he teaches and you will come to know the truth about yourself and others and why the world is the way it is.
I am fairly convinced about this because I can say something I could not say at 16. I have keep the teachings of Jesus for 50 years, although not perfectly but sufficiently apparently, such that I have been come to understand why people do what they do, why God does what he does as well as what He does and what He does not do and there is a tremendous freedom in that. What am I free from?
There is a freedom from the fear of having my whole thinking crumble, that is, that I am shown that I have been deceived my whole life. When one tests the word of God, that is, one DOES what the Bible says in ones interactions with people, one comes to understand and that brings freedom. One is not surprised by what people are capable of doing and one is not afraid of new input that brings down the house of one's world view.
The difference is striking when one encounters believers (or atheists) who are faced with input that does not match with their world view. They lash out in anger as being told something they do not want to be true. They shoot the messenger. Now I can imagine that this fear of being found out to be wrong binds you. You are not free. They are certainly not free to learn or even listen to contrary views. For example, I have been listening to clips and interviews from people who left the faith to see if I can find out where they went wrong. There wasn't the least fear that their reasons would persuade me because I KNOW that I KNOW that they are dead wrong. How do I know this? Because of stubbornness? No, that closes the mind. I know because in over 50 years I have tested the teachings of Jesus by doing them and have come to an understanding, like the wise man who build his house upon the rock of keeping Jesus' teaching, that what Jesus taught is rock solid truth. I am free to explore why people left the faith and there are lots of and lots of them. Why they left is a the subject for another time, but I did find out where they went wrong in their thinking.
So this freedom he speaks of comes from know this truth. Not the truth about Jesus as every true disciple knows that at the start. You come to know the truth about God, his ways, man, his ways, and why things are they way they are and what can be done about it and what cannot be done about it. And there is a confidence and freedom that comes with that understanding.
One closing Scripture, Deut 4:8 tells us that God sees the laws he is giving that ancient nation of Israel as good and wise compared with the nations around them.
See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
Do as God teaches us, a choice we as followers of Christ can make, and wisdom and understanding will be ours such that we will enjoy a freedom others bound in their own teachings will never enjoy.
(all scripture from ESV)
And maybe I believed that at the time as well. I was only 16. But now after having walked with the Lord these 50 years, that is no longer my view. First, let us look at the scripture itself:
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slaveb to sin.35The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
So let us look at this. In the first phrase, we see the people he is talking to, that is, his audience. Is he talking to unbelievers? No, he is specially talking ONLY TO THOSE who already believed in him. He is telling believers this. So this abiding in his word, being truly his disciples (remember already saved people) brings about knowing the truth. Now the position I had believed was that this "truth" is the gospel. But that cannot be his meaning because he is talking to those who already believe. So what is this truth?
Is it merely information? We have already established it is NOT the gospel as they already know that (his audience.) Now is this freedom from sin? Yes to some degree but none of can truthfully say that we no longer sin at all. (I am far from saying nonchalantly that we sin every day in thought, word and deed implying no big deal as it IS A BIG DEAL.) So what are we set from from?
Clearly being freed from the power of sin over one's life is certainly a freedom. How does this work? Does it mean sinlessness? Apart from a few who redefine what sin is in order to be able to claim being sinless, none of us think we are. But maybe it does not mean sinlessness. Let us think of those in the power of say alcoholism or addiction or anger or gluttony. They describe it as being out of their power to be free from. Jesus can set us free from the power sin has over our choices. There are many testimonies of those who turned to Jesus and experienced a freedom from a particular sin that had them. So this certainly is one of the freedoms which is why he gave the Jews who did not believe him an example. He who commits sin is or becomes a slave to that sin.
When Jesus offered this example, he was addressing non-believers. It seems to me what he did was select an example that was understandable to them. They were thinking slavery or not free in a different way ("sons of Abraham who were never slaves") but he gave them the example of a man caught in a behavior pattern that was sinful that he could not break out of. This they would have known so it was a clear example of one kind of freedom he gives. That is the appeal to non-believers. That is actually what the gospel is, God forgives us and set us free from the power of sin if we repent and believe.
But this is not what he was saying to those who believe, the ones he addresses in verse 32. It cannot be himself, as they already know that truth. Let's look at what one has to do to arrive that this freedom. One has to keep his teaching. What is that? Believe the Gospel? We already established that is not it. What can it be except that we DO what he teaches. We obey his teaching. He "keep" it in the same sense as we "keep" the law of say driving a motor vehicle. And I think this is what Jesus is saying to his believers. Do what he teaches and you will come to know the truth about yourself and others and why the world is the way it is.
I am fairly convinced about this because I can say something I could not say at 16. I have keep the teachings of Jesus for 50 years, although not perfectly but sufficiently apparently, such that I have been come to understand why people do what they do, why God does what he does as well as what He does and what He does not do and there is a tremendous freedom in that. What am I free from?
There is a freedom from the fear of having my whole thinking crumble, that is, that I am shown that I have been deceived my whole life. When one tests the word of God, that is, one DOES what the Bible says in ones interactions with people, one comes to understand and that brings freedom. One is not surprised by what people are capable of doing and one is not afraid of new input that brings down the house of one's world view.
The difference is striking when one encounters believers (or atheists) who are faced with input that does not match with their world view. They lash out in anger as being told something they do not want to be true. They shoot the messenger. Now I can imagine that this fear of being found out to be wrong binds you. You are not free. They are certainly not free to learn or even listen to contrary views. For example, I have been listening to clips and interviews from people who left the faith to see if I can find out where they went wrong. There wasn't the least fear that their reasons would persuade me because I KNOW that I KNOW that they are dead wrong. How do I know this? Because of stubbornness? No, that closes the mind. I know because in over 50 years I have tested the teachings of Jesus by doing them and have come to an understanding, like the wise man who build his house upon the rock of keeping Jesus' teaching, that what Jesus taught is rock solid truth. I am free to explore why people left the faith and there are lots of and lots of them. Why they left is a the subject for another time, but I did find out where they went wrong in their thinking.
So this freedom he speaks of comes from know this truth. Not the truth about Jesus as every true disciple knows that at the start. You come to know the truth about God, his ways, man, his ways, and why things are they way they are and what can be done about it and what cannot be done about it. And there is a confidence and freedom that comes with that understanding.
One closing Scripture, Deut 4:8 tells us that God sees the laws he is giving that ancient nation of Israel as good and wise compared with the nations around them.
See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
Do as God teaches us, a choice we as followers of Christ can make, and wisdom and understanding will be ours such that we will enjoy a freedom others bound in their own teachings will never enjoy.
(all scripture from ESV)
