A LOOK AT JOHN 8:31-32

The Scottish historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), a leading author of the Victorian era who had a profound influence on 19th-century literature and philosophy, observed, "No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or disbelieve." We are free to choose what we believe or disbelieve. Coerced belief does not equate to conviction; seeking to impose beliefs upon others against their will is tyranny.

Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899) rightly stated, "He who endeavors to control the mind by force is a tyrant, and he who submits is a slave." In the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom (dated 1786).

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) wrote, "Almighty God - Yehovah has created the mind free." In the closing words of the classic work titled "The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology" (dated 1796).

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) wrote, "When opinions are free, either in matters of government or religion, the truth will finally and powerfully prevail."

This brings to mind the words of Jesus in John 8:32: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

What many Christians do not seem to realize, especially those who call us back to a system of law and religious regulation is that one of the major messages of Jesus is that "YOU ARE FREE" from such institutional imposition! Jesus himself declared: "If the Son, then, sets you free, you are really free" (John 8:36). The apostle Paul reminded the Galatian brethren, and us as well: "You were called to freedom, brethren!" (Galatians 5:13). Indeed: "it was for freedom that the Messiah set us free; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery - bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

Nevertheless, as has been true in every generation since the lord Messiah Jesus set us free, there have been some among us who reject this freedom, and who seek to undermine it and try to get us to return to the bondage of religious restriction and regulation. Paul stated it this way: "False brethren sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in the Messiah Jesus, to bring us into bondage" (Galatians 2:4). I like the way this passage is rendered by J. B. Phillips in his translation: "Some pseudo-Christians, who wormed their way into our meeting to spy on the liberty we enjoy in the lord Messiah Jesus, then attempted to tie us up with rules and regulations" [The New Testament in Modern English]. Because "the truth of the Gospel was at stake," Paul wrote that the true believers "did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour!" (vs. 5). Freedom is too precious to surrender to those who try to bring us into slavery!

There are many people, and even religious groups, i.e., The World Wide Church of God and it’s affiliates, who are sadly far more attached to the Scriptures than to the Savior to whom those writings seek to direct them. They believe their salvation is tied to observing all the rules they can deduce from the scriptures as they understand them. This is nothing new. Jesus had to deal with it, telling the religionists of his day [the Pharisees]: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, but it is these that testify about me, and you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). The eternal life we seek is in a Person. "And this is the testimony: God - Yehovah has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11-12).

It really is that simple! Eternal life is not achieved by keeping a long list of religious rules and regulations; it is given as a gift of God’s – Yehovah’s grace to those who believe in His Son, and who by that belief/faith/trust enter into a relationship with him and obey him. Jesus says to those who do not obey him: “Why do you call me lord, lord, and do not do the things that I tell you” (Luke 6:46) Those who do not obey his words will not enter into the coming kingdom of God – Yehovah.

The Scriptures are a guide; they provide the revelation that leads us to the one who saves. Paul told Timothy about these writings "How from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which can give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in the Messiah Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in his wisdom, power and goodness]." (2 Timothy 3:15).

The Message phrases it this way: "There’s nothing like the written word – revelation of God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in the Messiah Jesus." Jesus freed us from systematic religion; He freed us from institutionalism legalism and sectarianism. We are now sons and daughters of our God and Father Yehovah, who seek in our daily walk to look and act more and more like His Son, to live out the lord Messiah Jesus in our lives, enabled by the spirit of God – Yehovah to do so!

How tragic, then, that so many have virtually made an idol of the Bible! For some, it is viewed with more reverence than the Lord - Yehovah Himself. Along with such a twisted view of the Scriptures comes a twisting of various texts within these writings to promote this misunderstanding. One such text is John 8:31-32: "Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'" (NASB).

Before we delve more deeply into that, however, there is something else in this passage that needs to be highlighted. The text informs us that Jesus was addressing these remarks to "those Jews who had believed him" (vs. 31). This statement is in stark contrast to one made just one verse earlier, where, following some teaching given by Jesus, we are informed that "many came to believe in Him" (vs. 30b). Though the casual reader might not notice the distinction in these two statements, biblical scholars have spotted it immediately.

The noted Greek scholar Dr. Marvin Vincent wrote, "Note the different phrase, distinguishing the Jews from the mixed company in John 8:30" [Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 2, p. 49]. In verse 30 we find people believing in him, whereas in verse 31 we are told that some merely "believed him."

The Scottish pastor Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910) wrote, "The variation in these two contiguous clauses can scarcely be accidental in so careful a writer as the apostle John. And the reason and meaning of it are obvious enough on the face of the narrative" [Expositions of Holy Scripture, e-Sword].

John is making a distinction between those who had come to a faith that embraced Jesus as their Savior, committing themselves to obediently following him, and those who simply believed what he said, but who had yet to be moved in their hearts to accept him as their lord. The latter "believed him," but they had yet to "believe in him, accept his lordship over them." It was to these Jews that Jesus spoke about what constituted true discipleship and what was needed to find liberating truth.

"To believe in/on the lord Messiah Jesus was to trust him and obey him as their lord and savior. Merely to believe him was to accept his words as true without submitting to his will. True discipleship is not according to one’s profession but by one’s actions; it is a life one lives and not a doctrine which one subscribes.

Jesus discerned in these men who were said to have 'believed him' shallowness and a lack of a full commitment, and he proceeded immediately to make it clear to them what real discipleship consisted, rather than superficial profession produced by momentary excitement in religion" [Guy N. Woods, A Commentary on the Gospel According to John, p. 172].

Yes, some of the Jews believed what Jesus was saying, or at least believed some of it, according to how they understood the scriptures, but they were not committed to him. Indeed, by the end of the chapter these Jews were calling him a demon-possessed Samaritan and were picking up stones to kill him. If they had continued learning from him, they would have come to know the truth that "would have liberated them from legalism and superstition" [The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 9, p. 95].

They were in bondage to a legalistic system by which one sought to merit God's favor through the externals of a rigid religion. "Their minds were still held in the bondage of a carnal understanding. Their idea of discipleship was that of an external adherence to the Messiah. They were caught in the meshes of the same delusion which to this day holds the minds of so many so-called Christians captive" [Dr. Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible - The NT, vol. 1, p. 458]. These Jews "who believed Him, accepted the Messianic claims, but persisted in interpreting them, not by his word, but by their own ideas" [The Pulpit Commentary, vol. 17, pt. 1, p. 360].

The Greek scholar Dr. A. T. Robertson wrote, "They believed him as to his claims to being the Messiah with their own interpretation (cf. John 6:15), but they did not commit themselves to him" [Word Pictures in the New Testament, e-Sword].

Jesus informed these individuals that mental assent to what he taught did not constitute genuine discipleship. "You are truly disciples of mine," He declared, "IF you continue in my word" (John 8:31). "Continue" is a translation of the Greek verb "meno," which means "to remain, abide; to dwell or settle down in; to lodge, sojourn" [The Analytical Greek Lexicon, p. 263]. "Continuance in the word (i.e., teaching) proves the sincerity or insincerity of the profession. It is the acid test of life" [Dr. A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the NT, e-Sword]."

Our abiding place, where we are to settle, is far more than a "what" or a "where" - it is in a Whom! It is the lord Jesus the Messiah in Whom we continue to remain, as “new creations”. Jesus brought to this world the words his God and his Father Yehovah gave him to give the world. That message is the message about the coming Kingdom of God and what he [Jesus] was and is now, the Son of God. All that Jesus spoke forth was about the kingdom [kingship] of God and how to enter into that kingdom.

The message of God - Yehovah to mankind was encapsulated in Jesus. His teaching, his attitude, his actions, how he lived his life in harmony with the will of God and as a result was the only perfect, sinless man who has ever lived - this was what a genuine disciple would "continue in" as he/she lives out the lord Messiah Jesus in this world.

Not a single sentence of the 27 books of the New Testament [Covenant] would be written until a few decades later when Jesus uttered his statement to the disciples. Yet to "continue in" this "word" and to come to know "truth", and obey, was something those disciples could do right then. Jesus wanted them to do more than just believe him; he desired for them to believe in him: to commit their lives to him, to abide with him, to walk with him, to embrace him in the fullness of obedient faith.

Jesus' message about the kingdom of God was given to him by his God and Father Yehovah to give to mankind, those who accepted it were reconciled to God - Yehovah We are urged to trust/believe/obey the message of the kingdom of God that Jesus brought. As for "truth," again, it was Jesus himself, who said: "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father - Yehovah but through – because of me" (John 14:6).

Just before his arrest, Jesus prayed his great High Priestly prayer in John 17. In John 17:17, of that chapter, we find this appeal to the Father - Yehovah on behalf of his beloved disciples: "Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth." Although some may choose to "search the Scriptures" for eternal life, I choose to embrace the word [the prophetic word given in Genesis 3:15] which became flesh; I choose to "hear you him," for he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

To become a true disciple of the lord Messiah Jesus one must believe in his message of the coming kingdom of God and repent – die to self and be baptized, crucified with the lord Messiah Jesus as you enter the water and rise up out of the water to enter into newness of life, and receiving the Spirit of God become “new creation” in the lord Messiah Jesus.

A true disciple from that point on is a slave to the lord Messiah Jesus bought and paid for by his shed blood [the sin-offering sacrifice he offered up to his God and Father Yehovah] As a slave of the lord Messiah Jesus and of Yehovah, we own nothing and all that we do should be done according to the will of Yehovah our God. He gives us the privilege of stewardship over all we have and expects us to exercise that stewardship according to His will. Furthermore as “new creations” in the lord Messiah Jesus; our God – Yehovah by His spirit of adoption makes us sons and daughters and places us in His household. Amazing Grace.

As a son/daughter of God – Yehovah we live by the creed of the lord Messiah Jesus, found in Mark 12:28-32: To love God – Yehovah with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves! Disciples can only do this by the enabling power of the spirit of God – Yehovah working in them and through them. It is all of Him and nothing of us, to be totally committed to obeying His will and living out the lord Jesus in our lives and words. As disciples, we know that when God – Yehovah asks us to do anything, He will always provide us with the enabling power of His Spirit to accomplish what He has asked us to do! Truly it is all of Him and nothing of us but to obey and live according to His will completely.