Truth and Freedom
Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32 (NKJV)
We like to quote, “The truth shall make you free.” We apply it to many things, thinking that knowing the truth about a specific situation will make us free. For example, knowing the truth about a bad person’s character can cause us to break free from their control and manipulation. While this application is true to a certain extent, that is not what is meant in this passage. We can’t take that phrase out of context because it loses the true meaning of what Jesus was saying. We have to read both verses.
Jesus told His followers that in order to be His disciples, they must abide, or remain, in His Word. When we remain in His Word; reading, studying, and meditating on it continually; it gets in us. Jesus is called the Word (John 1:1) and He is also called the Truth (John 14:6). This means the Word is the Truth. When we know the Word, we know the Truth because they are one and the same. So, this means that we can’t have the freedom promised in verse 32 without being in the Word as stated in verse 31.
The Word of God is what produces freedom through the truth it tells. That is how we can be transformed, changed, and liberated- through His Word. And as we spend time in the Word more and more, we become more and more free. As we know more of the truth, more freedom comes. We can spend time in His Word and become free in one area of life. Then, we spend more time in the Word and get free in another area. And on and on it goes. Progressively, we become freed and transformed by living and remaining in God’s Word. Eventually, we don’t even resemble the enslaved and bound person we were before.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. II Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified Bible, AMP)
In our spirits we are brand new creatures, but transformation must come to our souls through God’s Word. As we continue in it, we can live life as free children of God.
