You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free
(John 8:32)
What truth is this, and how does it set us free?
Among Bible readers, and especially some teachers of God’s Word, this statement is understood in terms of a knowledge of biblical truth that would set free from religious lies commonly taught in many Christian congregations. For example, knowing that the Bible does not teach the existence of purgatory, limbo, or a fiery hell where the wicked would be eternally tortured has a liberating effect on people. Indeed, it is comforting to know that these religious lies, such as fiery hell, purgatory, the Trinity, the immortality of the soul, and other superstitions linked to the occultism, are not taught in the Bible. In a way, the comfort of biblical truth has a liberating effect on people who have been enslaved by these superstitions and false religious teachings. However, should Christ’s statement (above) be applied in the context of an accurate knowledge of the Bible that would set free from religious lies? Given the context of John’s Gospel, such an explanation does not respect the immediate context of Christ’s statement, nor even the whole context of the Gospel of John.
Let us read Christ’s statement, this time in its immediate context: « Then Jesus went on to say to the Jews who had believed him: “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They replied to him: “We are Abraham’s offspring and never have been slaves to anyone. How is it you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them: “Most truly I say to you, every doer of sin is a slave of sin. Moreover, the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free. I know that you are Abraham’s offspring. But you are seeking to kill me, because my word makes no progress among you. I speak the things I have seen while with my Father, but you do the things you have heard from your father.” In answer they said to him: “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them: “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. But now you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father.” They said to him: “We were not born from immorality; we have one Father, God” » (John 8:31-41).
What kind of truth is it? What is this truth Jesus Christ is speaking of? Is it the whole body of knowledge contained in the Word of God, or something else?
Jesus Christ explains that abiding in his word will allow one to know this truth that will set them free. The Jewish interlocutors are offended by what Christ says because it implies that they are slaves, even though they are descendants of a free man, Abraham. There is a misunderstanding between what Christ says and what the Jews understood, and therefore Jesus Christ clarifies his thinking. He tells them that it is the slavery of sin, meaning the sinful condition that all humanity inherited from Adam. This slavery leads to death (Romans 5:12). Then, delicately, he makes them understand that he is the truth, who has the means to set them free. Jesus Christ presents himself as the embodiment of the truth that sets free: « So if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free » (John 8:36). This understanding is reinforced by another statement he made some time later: « Jesus said to him: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me » » (John 14:6). Therefore, it is obvious that using this text of John 8:32 to explain that biblical truth sets free from religious lies is simply inaccurate and does not respect the context of this statement of Christ.
While Jesus Christ refers to himself as the truth that sets free, he explains more specifically in the rest of his statement: « Most truly I say to you, if anyone observes my word, he will never see death at all » (John 8:51). Jewish religious fundamentalists take his statement literally, while Jesus Christ refers to never seeing death without the possibility of resurrection. For example, on another occasion, speaking to Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, in referring to this hope, Jesus Christ referred to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as being « alive » in the perspective of this hope: « Regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, who said: ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is the God, not of the dead, but of the living » (Matthew 22:31, 32).
Thus, this truth that set us free from the slavery of sin that leads to death, is faith in the truth that is Jesus Christ, which leads to everlasting life: « For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord » (Romans 6:23).
***
The Commemoration of the Death of Jesus Christ (Luke 22:19)
Table of contents of the http://yomelyah.fr/ website
Reading the Bible daily, this table of contents contains informative Bible articles (Please click on the link above to view it)…
Table of languages of more than seventy languages, with six important biblical articles, written in each of these languages…
***