Gene’s Daily Scriptural Postings

True Freedom: John 8:31-59

Focus Passage: John 8:31-59 (NIV)

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, He goes to Jerusalem for a festival and stands up to speak in the temple. In the message He shares, we find a powerful challenge to those present, and one that they may have not been ready to receive.

John’s gospel opens by sharing a detail I had never noticed before about the people Jesus spoke this message to. John tells us that, “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.’” (v. 31-32)

One of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is shared here, and perhaps it was because I always gravitated to this verse, I missed seeing the truth contained before. When reading the opening John shares to this portion of Jesus message, I am amazed to learn that Jesus spoke this message to “Jews who had believed Him”. (v. 31a)

This detail is significant because it makes me wonder if these Jews had believed in Him at some point in the past while then discounting Him in the present, or if these Jews had believed in Jesus up to the point that He challenged them with this message. Perhaps these Jews said they believed in Jesus, but they discounted or ignored His teaching.

Jesus opens His message to this group of Jews by saying, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” (v. 31b)

By opening in this way, Jesus makes this challenge to everyone who calls themselves Christians, believers, followers, and/or disciples of Jesus. In this passage, the context happens to be Jews who said they believed in Him at one point, but Jesus frames His response in a much broader fashion.

Part of me wonders what is so significant about holding to Jesus’ teachings. Perhaps it has to do with the next verse, which happens to be included among my favorites. Jesus continues by saying, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (v. 32)

As I read this opening to Jesus’ message, we get a progression that says: When we hold to Jesus’ teachings (implying that we remember and obey them) then we are His disciples. As disciples of Jesus who hold onto His teachings, we will then be able to see the truth (spiritual truth, physical truth, social truth, and Godly wisdom), and the truth that we discover will set us free. The freedom we discover comes through knowing the truth that we can only find because we are obeying Jesus’ teaching. This freedom is not freedom from obedience, its freedom within obedience!

A portion of culture is trying to craft itself as opposite to God’s way in every way imaginable, but the challenge this group has is that they trap themselves through their actions because they essentially must know the Bible better than they might want to. They trap themselves because they let the Bible dictate what they are opposed to instead of using the minds God gave them to decide freely what is right.

While they claim freedom from the Bible, they are truly trapped, because they let the Bible force them into a corner that they are unwilling to come out of.

The freedom Jesus offers comes through obedience, and all of Jesus’ followers are invited to obey and experience God’s freedom for themselves!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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