Freedom and Bondage (8:31–47)

Freedom and Bondage (8:31–47)
​
Who does the pronoun "they" in John 8:33 refer to? In the verses before this, Jesus talked to the "believers" from John 8:30 and told them that staying in the Word—being a disciple—was proof of real salvation. We learn more about God when we follow His Word, and as we learn more about God, we become less sinful. Life teaches us things, and those things set us free.

The pronoun "they" probably does not pertain to these new believers, as they would likely accept their Savior rather than argue. If John 8:37 is any guide, "they" probably means the same Jewish leaders who didn't believe in Jesus and had been against Him throughout the conversation (John 8:13, 19, 22, 25). They still didn't comprehend what He was saying. They were contemplating political freedom, but Jesus was talking about true spiritual freedom, which is freedom from sin.

It was definitely not true that Abraham's descendants had never been slaves, and the Old Testament Scriptures proved it. The book of Judges says that seven powerful nations had enslaved the Jews. Assyria had taken the ten northern tribes as slaves, and the two southern tribes had been in Babylon for seventy years. At that very moment, the Romans had the Jews under their iron heel! It's challenging for proud religious people to admit when they need help or when they make mistakes.

Jesus said that the difference between being spiritually free and being in bondage is whether you are a son or a servant. The servant lives in the house but is not family and has no future. Jesus may have been thinking of Isaac and Ishmael when he said these words (see Gen. 21). "Whosoever keeps on practicing sin [literal translation] is the servant of sin." These religious leaders would not only die in their sins (John 8:21, 24), but they were also living in sin at the time!

What is the way to free people who are slaves to sin? By the Son alone. How does He do it? By the power of His Word. In John 8:38–47, there is a lot of emphasis on the Word. He had already told them, "The truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). They wouldn't "make room" in their hearts for His Word.

The rest of this section is about the debate over the word "father." Jesus said that He was like the Father in heaven, but He also said that they were like the father from hell, Satan. The Jews said that Abraham was their father (Luke 3:8ff.), but Jesus made a clear difference between "Abraham's seed" (his physical descendants) and "Abraham's children" (his spiritual descendants because of personal faith; Gal. 3:6–14).

These Jewish leaders said they were like Abraham, but they were very different from him. They wanted to kill Jesus because Abraham was "God's friend" and loved Him (Isa. 41:8). Abraham heard and followed God's truth, but these religious leaders didn't.

Birth determines nature, and paternity determines birth. If God is your Father, you have God's nature (2 Peter 1:1–4), but if Satan is your father, you have his evil nature. The Lord did not say that every lost sinner is a "child of the devil," but He did say that every lost sinner is a child of wrath and disobedience (Eph. 2:1–3). In this passage and in the parable of the tares (Matt. 13:24–32, 36–43), Jesus said that the Pharisees and other "fake" believers were the devil's children. Satan is an imitator (2 Cor. 11:13–15), and he gives his children a false righteousness that will never allow them into heaven (Rom. 10:1–4).

What traits did these religious leaders who were part of the devil have? They rejected the truth (John 8:40) and tried to kill Jesus because He told it. They didn't love God (John 8:42), and they couldn't understand what Jesus said (John 8:43, 47). Satan's children may know a lot about their religion, but they don't know what the Word of God means.

Satan is a liar and a killer. He lied to our first parents ("Yea, hath God said?") and made sure they died. Cain was a child of the devil (1 John 3:12) because he lied and killed people. He murdered his brother Abel and then lied about it (Gen. 4). Is it any surprise that these religious leaders lied about Jesus, hired false witnesses, and then had Him killed?

The worst kind of bondage is the kind that the prisoner doesn't even know about. He believes he is free, but he is not. The Pharisees and other religious leaders thought they were free, but they were really slaves to sin and Satan in a terrible spiritual way. They wouldn't accept the truth, but it was the truth that could set them free.