John 8:31-38

Verses 31-47 make up one of the most revealing passages in all of Scripture of the depths of human sinfulness and the necessity of God's electing grace in bringing us to genuine saving faith in Christ. It's one of my favorite passages. Let's look at it today and tomorrow.

³¹To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, "If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." ³³They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can You say that we shall be set free?" ³⁴Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill Me, because you have no room for My word. ³⁸I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.

John sets a new context now. Jesus had been teaching to the crowd, likely the day after the Feast of Tabernacles ended. The Pharisees interrupted, and Jesus rebuked them repeatedly, as we saw last time. But through that dialogue, many Jews “put their faith in Him” (v30). And I mentioned as we closed last time that these people had a fraudulent faith – a people group John often discusses in his Gospel. Jesus now turns to this group of Jewish people professing faith in Him, and He begins to teach them about genuine discipleship.

Jesus is suggesting here that many profess to be disciples are, in reality, not His disciples and thus have no right to be called His disciples. Those who do not hold fast to His teaching are rightly considered hypocrites – frauds. They say they believe one thing, yet their actions show that they believe another. They do not live consistently with what they proclaim, and it is sad that we are all guilty of this at times. It has been said that hypocrisy within the Church is the top thing keeping potential visitors away. With His words, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.” Jesus is saying that it is not enough for anyone to have merely heard the word gladly (as in the parable of the sower – the four soils). It is true and good that faith starts out, but it was never genuine if perseverance – namely repentance and fruit – doesn’t accompany it. Do you want to be called a disciple of Jesus? Then hold fast to His teaching; persevere in the message of the Gospel. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8), so that others may see the good that you do and glorify God (Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12).

Next, having claimed that people with genuine faith will continue to believe His words, Jesus says that it is only by holding fast to the truth of His teaching that the Jews would find true truth and freedom. He says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Only by holding fast to the teaching of Jesus will you come to know the truth; and only by knowing the truth will you be set free. And we’ll talk about why it is that we need to be set free in a minute. For now, note that the lifelong pursuit of Christ’s teaching, which is the Word of God, which is truth, should be our aim as believers, for we are set free by it. Calvin says, “In order that the truth may be fully revealed to us, we ought sincerely and earnestly to endeavor to attain it.” Nothing is more excellent or desirable than the knowledge of the Gospel.

At Jesus’ teaching, the shallowness of their faith becomes apparent – for their hope of freedom, which they are unconvinced that they need, is actually in their being descended from Abraham, not in holding fast to Jesus’ teaching by grace through faith. Jesus has raised the issue of liberty and freedom; these people were imprisoned, and they didn’t know it. They are insulted when Jesus suggests freedom to be a blessing they do not yet possess. The Jews had the audacity to say they’ve never been slaves to anyone; yet the sound of Roman soldiers could be heard everywhere in Jerusalem. But that’s not even what Jesus was talking about.

Jesus wasn’t speaking of political tyranny or shackles-and-chains style physical bondage. He says very clearly what He’s talking about in v34, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” It’s the message He had come to preach. His opening message in the gospel accounts is a quotation from Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me…to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” It’s liberty from the bondage of sin and its effects, freedom from the shackles and chains of sin and guilt.

Calvin notes that “it is astonishing that men are not convinced by their own experience, so that, laying aside their pride, they may learn to be humble.” Many philosophers understand Jesus’ teaching here to mean that man is a slave by his own choice, and that by the same choice he is able to return to freedom. But Jesus is not saying that at all. Rather, He means that all who are not set free by Him, who alone has inherent freedom, are sinners by nature, enslaved to the sin nature from conception. Yet this slavery is voluntary, so that they who necessarily sin are not compelled to sin. Jesus is comparing grace and nature; men are destitute of freedom by nature, unless they gain it through the channel of faith, received by grace. And the truth Jesus teaches, the Gospel, is the instrument by which we obtain our faith, and our freedom.

Do you know where this bondage manifests itself the most? It’s in our native inability to believe the Gospel. People say, “I can believe in Jesus any time I want.” No they can’t. Do you remember what Jesus just said twice in chapter six: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” You cannot come to Jesus in your own strength or by you own native ability. Unless Jesus’ Father in heaven draws (drags) you to Jesus, you cannot come, believe, or repent. That’s where your bondage is evidenced the most, and Jesus is saying, “I’ve come to set you free. I’ve come to show you the way out of that bondage, and the way out of that prison.” All men are free to obey their greatest desire; but every man will always be captive to his greatest desire. Thus, when Jesus sets us free by regeneration, He changes our natures, which yield new desires. This commences the battle within that we all know about and struggle with. Until we die or Jesus returns, we must wrestle with desires that pull us both ways. We cannot believe unless our greatest desire is to believe; we will not have belief as our greatest desire until we experience regeneration by the Spirit. Once we are drawn in that way, we will believe, because freed from bondage to the sinful nature, belief becomes our greatest desire.

Lastly, notice that Jesus concedes their point that they are Abraham’s descendants; yet He ridicules them for glorifying themselves by that title without following in the footsteps of this hero of the faith. They lacked his most commendable trait – the obedience of faith, or the obedience that comes from faith (Romans 1:5). Nothing is farther from the truth, as they do not resemble the man whom they claim as their father. Jesus says that there is no room for His Word in them. Wishing to see Him dead, they more clearly resemble their true father – Satan – a liar and murderer, as we’ll see. At the end of v38, our text reads, “you do what you have heard from your father.” Perhaps a better rendering would be that of a challenge, “Go ahead and do what you have heard from your father. I challenge you to act on your desires and take My life. Prove Me right; show that you are children of the devil!”