One of the most moving scenes in Braveheart is when William Wallace leads the cry of “Freedom!” A people long oppressed fight for the freedom to make their own decisions and live without the tyranny of corrupt rulers always makes for moving stories.
The concept of freedom is what the United States is founded upon. Freedom was also important to the people who lived in Jesus’ day.
The Israelites believed that God had set them free from Egyptian captivity. They believed that they lived in freedom.
But in John 8, Jesus speaks of true freedom. And we’re only truly free when we’ve been set free in Christ. But what does that mean?
What Is the Context of John 8:38?
In John 8, there are many people who are beginning to believe in Jesus. But “belief” in the Gospel of John is a bit more fickle than it is for the other gospel writers. Those who “believe” are often the same ones who try to harm him later.
So, in John 8:31, Jesus invites his hearers into deeper discipleship. He says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples….” This abiding, Jesus says, will result in them knowing the truth — and when they know the truth, they will be set free.
If you’re offering freedom to someone, though, it’s implied that they aren’t truly free. This baffles Jesus’ hearers because, as “offspring of Abraham,” they believe that they have never been enslaved to anyone.
This is an incredibly strange and rather blinded response, given their history. There were more years when the Jewish people were in subjection to another foreign power than the number of years when they enjoyed political freedom.
So, it’s likely that what they mean is more that they are not spiritually enslaved to anyone. As sons of Abraham, they believed they were sons and heirs of the kingdom of God.
Jesus then must explain to them the true nature of freedom. Practicing sin, which is what they were doing, leads to bondage. Sin enslaves.
And all of humanity, including his audience in John 8, have made themselves captives. D.A. Carson, in The Gospel According to John, summarizes Jesus’ words well:
“For Jesus, then, the ultimate bondage is not enslavement to a political or economic system, but vicious slavery to moral failure, to rebellion against the God who has made us. The despotic master is not Caesar, but shameful self-centeredness, an evil and enslaving devotion to created things at the expense of worship of the Creator. This is why Jesus would not let himself be reduced to the level of a merely political Messiah” (6:14,15).
The context of John 8:38 then is a discussion about what true freedom is and what it means to be in bondage. John 8:38 is Jesus’ answer to the bondage that humans have put themselves in.
What Is the Meaning of ‘If the Son Has Set You Free, You Are Free Indeed’?
In order to understand this statement, we need to see from context what we are set free from. It’s not tyranny from political oppression.
It’s not even freedom from an addictive impulse (though that may be part of this). It is fundamentally freedom from the bondage of sin. We are not truly free unless Christ is the one who sets us free.
One of the places where you can see this bondage to sin is outlined clearly in Ephesians 2:1-4. There we see that we are enslaved to society, Satan, and ultimately ourselves.
This is what it means to be dead in our sin. It means that we think our actions are free (we do what we want), but in actuality, we are to live out of this slavery. In reality, we do what sin wants us to do.
Scripture declares that apart from the freeing work of the Son, we are enslaved to sinful society. When Paul says, “The course of this world,” what he means is that apart from Christ, we suffer from cultural bondage.
We follow the ways of the world. We laugh at what the world laughs at. We strive for the things the world strives for. It is an entire system that is set up in opposition to God.
The second thing that we are enslaved to is Satan. When we aren’t set free by Jesus, Satan has powerful influence in our lives.
We see this much in the text in John when Jesus tells them they are following their father, the devil (8:44). Those outside of Christ are living in the kingdom of darkness and serving the king of darkness, whether this is acknowledged or not.
Thirdly, we are enslaved to the self. And this is the central problem because this is where God begins His change and rescue. Paul talks about our enslavement to self in Ephesians 2:3 when he says, “Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.”
What does that mean? This means that we do what we want. And what we want is not Christ. We want to exalt ourselves. We want to be the center of the universe. We want to gratify all of our desires. We want what we want. And this drive in us enslaves us. We are in bondage.
So, when Jesus sets us free, this is what he is doing. He is setting us free from our self-centeredness. He is freeing us from the power of sin in our lives.
He is freeing us from the captivity that Satan has upon us, and he is freeing us from cultural captivity. He does this by abolishing the power and penalty of sin in our life. He deals a death blow to this enemy. And sets us free to be in union with Him.
How Do We Apply This Today?
There are several areas where we can apply this truth in our lives today. First, we must acknowledge that the freedom that Christ gives to us is not a freedom to now go and do whatever we desire.
It’s actually a freedom to now obey Christ. But that may not be the best way to phrase that reality because when Christ sets us free, we want to obey him. In this regard, we are free to do “what we want” because our desires have changed.
Secondly, this reality helps us with battling addictions or other issues related to sanctification. It is helpful to know the power of sin is defeated in our lives when we are in union with Christ.
That doesn’t mean that addiction doesn’t still have a strong pull. Old habits die hard. But we have a new owner now, and he is gentle and lowly. As we continue to grow in Christ, we continue to grow in our freedom in Jesus.
Lastly, the truth that the son has set us free is helpful when we are feeling the weight of shame, guilt, and condemnation. Christ has freed us from these enemies.
We are no longer defined by the things that we have done, the things which have been done to us, or even the things we have failed to do. We are defined by Christ and His victory. You are no longer a captive. If you are in Christ, you are free. Period.
Live free.
For further reading:
How Has the Freedom in Christ Set Us Free?
Is it True ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord Is There Is Freedom’?
What Does it Mean to be a Slave to Sin?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Lidiia Moor
Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing home is http://mikeleake.net and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a new writing project at Proverbs4Today.
