To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
“Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. (John 8:31–42 NIV)
Jesus tells the group in John 8:31 that to be a disciple or follower of Jesus, they are to hold to the teaching of Jesus. The Greek word for “hold” means to “stand fast or to dwell and abide in.” Jesus is saying that to fully embrace a relationship to God in Jesus and to live in the teaching of Jesus will bring freedom. This freedom will bring life change and transformation.
The listeners to Jesus’s teaching do not think they need to be set free. They believe this based on who they are as the descendants of Abraham. They see themselves as those who are guaranteed to inherit God’s Kingdom. I know of people who are also stuck right here. They are good people; they point to who they are and all they do. They would also say they do not need to be set free because they are not enslaved. They take offense at any suggestion they are not good enough on their own.
Jesus says in John 8:34 that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. To sin means “to miss the mark.” This mark is God’s mark, God’s will, God’s intention. To sin is to choose what God does not want for our lives. Sin is an act and an attitude or disposition, and to be its slave means we consistently make choices and decisions where we miss God’s mark. It is in Jesus we are given freedom from sin and the slavery of sin. This is what Jesus means when he says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Our freedom is in Jesus; our freedom gives us an intimacy with God and a focus on what God wants in our lives.
In these verses, Jesus is challenging those in his audience to consider the actions of their lives. Are they walking in ways that do not reflect the ways of God? Jesus mentioned that they are seeking to destroy him and his word and message. They are living in a way that does not reflect that they belong to God’s family, and Jesus points out that this is evident by their disconnect from him and his way. Jesus is the one God has sent to earth to bring us to freedom in God. To follow God is to love Jesus.
The challenge here is for me and for you to consider the walk of our lives. Do we walk in freedom? Do we walk seeking the way and will of God? Do we walk in a love for Jesus? By God’s grace, we have freedom in the truth of God found in Jesus.
Dr. Harry Kelm is the executive director of the North American Baptist Conference.
