SLAVERY OR FREEDOM
John
8:31-33 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?”
There are many who believe in Jesus and hold to
another set of beliefs. It can happen in churches where people have created rules
for members to follow so they do not fall under the world’s influences in a
particular time or place. After time passes and society changes, these rules
remain and take on greater importance. Some call these rules “traditions”, “the
way things have always been”. This problem faced Jesus and continues to trouble
the church today.
Being able to link your family tree back to Abraham
was important to the Jews. It documented the fact they were the people of God
and children of the covenant. They believed this lineage alone made them recipients
of the promises God made to Abraham and his descendants. But Jesus says that
holding to His teaching will reveal to them the truth and that then they would
be set free. They protest the fact that as covenant children and Abraham’s
descendants they have never been enslaved. They already had a spiritual
superiority as children of Abraham and were therefore exempt from any servant
relationship to others.
The truth
Jesus speaks is about himself. It is salvific truth. It is truth that saves.
Jesus speaks truth that is liberating to those who are enslaved. The freedom he
speaks of “is not that of a person to manage his life free of all the ties that
might hinder him in the development of his own identity or authority”. Rather,
Jesus is referring to “a freedom that a person does not possess within himself,
even if he thinks otherwise and attempts to live by that illusion.” (Herman
Ridderbos, The Gospel of John, pg. 308)