John 8:31, 32 - Freedom in Christ!
John 8:31, 32 - Freedom in Christ!
John 8:31, 32 (NASB) Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews
who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly
disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free."
John 8:31, 32 (TEV) So Jesus said to those who believed in him,
"If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples; you will
know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
John 8:31, 32 (AMP) So Jesus said to those Jews who had
believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and
live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you
will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.
CONTEXT
The Son makes you free (v. 36), so trust Him and follow Him. His
truth makes you free (v.32), so study it, believe it, and obey it.
Satan imposes slavery that seems like freedom (2 Pet. 2:19); Jesus
gives you a yoke that sets you free (Matt. 11:28-30). [Chapter by
Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren Wiersbe re John 8]
APPLICATION COMMENTARY
The Greek expression for hold to (also translated "abide in" or
"remain in") has great spiritual significance in the Gospel of John (see
especially 15:1-17). We abide in Christ when we place ourselves in him and
continue there, drawing life from his words. This produces ongoing
discipleship. A true and obedient disciple will find the truth by knowing the
one who is the truth, Jesus himself (1:17; 14:6). This knowledge
frees people from their bondage to sin (see 8:34). (Life Application
Commentary)
Think of it this way. Sin put you in prison. Sin locked you
behind the bars of guilt and shame and deception and fear. Sin did
nothing but shackle you to the wall of misery. Then Jesus came and paid
your bail. He served your time; he satisfied the penalty and set you
free. Christ died, and when you cast your lot with him, your old self
died too.
The only way to be set free from the prison of sin is to serve
its penalty. In this case the penalty is death. Someone has to die,
either you or a heaven-sent substitute. You cannot leave prison unless
there is a death. But that death has occurred at Calvary. And when
Jesus died, you died to sin's claim on your life. You are free. [Grace
For The Moment SB By Max Lucado]
Jesus had quite an audience that day. The crowds had just
witnessed an intense scene when the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus
a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery (see John
8:11). Then they saw Jesus' liberating love in action as He looked at
her and said, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." This
woman walked away forgiven, free, and saved from certain doom.
A little later, Jesus proclaimed, "If you abide in My word,
you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32).
Consider these verses the believer's emancipation
proclamation. In verses 34-36, Jesus explains more of what He means: "Most
assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave
does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
On the surface, this sounds very simple; and in a foundational
sense, it is. But it's one thing to believe that Jesus can set you free
from patterns of sin. It's quite another to experience that freedom
in your own life.
Most of us have difficulty in the action stage of belief, the
vital link between knowing by intellect and knowing by experience (see
James 214-26). You are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ, but that
does not mean that you leap immediately into a full understanding of
your faith,
Your personal response to Jesus' commands determines whether
you will be able to live in the joys of that salvation, with the
freedom and exhilaration of learning to say no to daily sins. A man in
prison can receive a signed pardon and the warden can unlock the jail
door, but the man has to put one foot in front of the other and walk
outside those prison walls.
What can you do to begin living in the freedom Christ
purchased for you on the cross? There is no formula for discovering the
richness of His truth. But by obeying Christ, you'll be on the road to
the fresh, liberated life He designed for you. Always when you obey
God, you can count on watching Him reveal exciting, new things.
Remember, the key to crossing the bridge between belief and experience is
obedience. You must take the step of faith and do what He says. [Life
Principles SB By Charles Stanley]
The truth of verse 32 - the truth will set you free - is the
fundamental basis of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Dr David Burns
ILLUSTRATION OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY
I became a Christian when I was eighteen, so I should have
known better. But I still felt completely responsible for my mom's
alcoholism, drug addiction, and six marriages, as well as my brother's
suicide.
When I first read John 8:32, I understood it to mean that when
you come to know Jesus, he sets you free. The verse was all about
grace and how accepting that free gift releases you from the prison of
sin and one day gets you into heaven. That, of course, is true. And
fantastic. But I yearned for freedom in this life, freedom from the prison
of my past.
That's when I realized that although I had found Christ as my
source of freedom, I had not yet embraced him as my source for truth.
Finally, once I meditated on knowing the truth--the truth of my
situation--I released my haunting sorrows of the past. The truth confirmed
that I wasn't responsible for my mom's lifestyle or failed marriages.
It was my teenage brother--not I--who took his life. Knowing these
truths, I was set free from the guilt and shame that had tormented me
for so long. It took me twenty years to apply this verse, but once I
really understood it, it changed my life.
Suzy Ryan lives in California with her husband and three
children. [The One Year Bible Live Verse Devotional]
I grew up in a small town in the middle of America, the
youngest of three children. My father was a dentist and a pillar of the
community (whatever that is). Dad was a generous and kind man, and he was
an alcoholic.
Being raised in the home of an alcoholic made me the product
of a dysfunctional home, something I had never even heard of when I
was growing up. More than that, I was never encouraged to admit or
deal with the truth of my father's alcoholism. As a result, the
"secret" of our tumultuous home life held me in bondage. When, as a young
adult, I met Jesus and fell in love with him, I learned the importance
of the words of John 8:32: "You will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free."
When I began to live in the truth, especially the truth of my
past, I discovered freedom in Christ. Jesus is the Truth, and his
desire is for each of us to be free. "So if the Son sets you free, you
are truly free" (John 8:36).
Kendra Smiley, a national and international speaker, is host
of the daily radio show Live Life Intentionally. She is the author
of eight books, including High-Wire Mom; Aaron's Way; and Be the
Parent, written with her husband, John. [The One Year Bible Live Verse
Devotional]
CLOSING THOUGHT
God's truth never restricts you; it always sets you free! Are
you discouraged? Is there a sense of bondage in a particular area of
your life? A lack of victory over a certain sin? A harmful addiction?
It is possible that you do not yet understand a truth about God
that can release you.
If you feel powerless to meet the challenges before you, take
encouragement from the promise of Php 4:13: "I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me." If you are defeated by circumstance, hold
on to the truth of Ro 8:28 that God can work your most difficult
situation into His good. If you are enslaved to a particular sin, work the
truth of 1John 1:9 into your life, which promises that if you confess
your sin, God is faithful to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
All of these truths await the Holy Spirit's implementation into your
life.
It is one thing to know about the truth. It is yet another
thing to experience the truth of God being worked out in your life.
God's truth will have no effect upon you unless you accept it and
believe it. Perhaps you have already read and heard accounts of God
working mightily in the lives of others. But have you allowed God to
implement those truths into your life? What truth about God would you like
to be experiencing in your life? Ask Him to implement that truth
into your life today. [Experiencing God Day by Day by Henry and
Richard Blackaby re John 8:32]
Grace Notes:
http://www.e-gracenotes.org/index.php
A Better Way to Live:
http://www.itiswritten.com/betterway/
Excellent Spiritual Resource Site:
http://www.christianlifemediacenter.com/
More Spiritual Resources:
http://www.aBible.com
