TRUE FREEDOM
TRUE FREEDOM
JOHN 8:31-47
Is your Christian experience best expressed in terms of slavery or sonship?
The debate moves on from the question of authority to that of freedom. The basis for the proper enjoyment of this most treasured human possession is discipleship and truth. But few concepts are so much misunderstood as freedom. National pride revolts against the suggestion that they are in need of liberation. Is not the fact of their ancestry sufficient guarantee of their freedom?
The assertion of their descent from Abraham gives Jesus an opportunity to discuss the real issues of their ancestry and his. Only the Son of God is able to offer them the true liberty of God. Whatever their physical ancestry, their rejection of his offer shows their failure to enter into that liberty and their consequent enslavement by sin. To be Abraham’s children in the true sense required moral conformity to Abraham, and this they clearly did not have. They must, spiritually, have another father. Oh, yes, they agree about that. Their father in that sense is, of course, God. No, says Jesus. If that were true they would recognize God’s message which he had come to proclaim. Their complete failure to do so marked them off as children of the devil with all his hatred and falsehood. They could find no moral fault in him, yet they did not believe him. Their attitude proved quite plainly that they did not belong to God.
Notes 8:31: “believed in him”—as the discourse shows, they must have been nominal believers. True discipleship is shown in continuing obedience to him and only in this way can true freedom be attained. 8:33: despite periods of foreign domination, such as the Roman occupation at this time, they always thought themselves to be truly free as Abraham’s sons. For reliance upon their descent from him, cf. also Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8. It is similar to their reliance upon being Moses’ disciples (9:28). Pedigree is no substitute for faith. 8:34: “commits sin”—lives a life of sin (cf. 1 John 3:4,8). 8:35: the position of servants and sons in a house and their relationship with God are often contrasted in the New Testament (Hebrews 3:2-6; Galatians 4:1-6). 8:41: the emphatic “we” suggests that there may be a charge against him of physical illegitimacy after he has accused them of spiritual illegitimacy. 8:43: they cannot understand the words he speaks because their heart is not open to his word.
To ponder It has been well said that God has no grandsons. What is meant by this? How is it possible for apparently God-fearing men to be so spiritually enslaved as to merit the condemnation of 8:44? How can we avoid this?