To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”My Understanding: I find it interesting that the word “believe” is used here, because the passage makes it quite clear that the people with whom Jesus was speaking were not true believers in him. I know that it is recorded in the book of James that even the demons believe that there is one God, and they shudder (James 2:19). So, the word “believe” appears to have more than one meaning. So, I looked the word up in the dictionary.
33 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?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
The Children of the Devil
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
To believe something or someone could mean merely “to be of the opinion that something exists or is a reality; and/or to be of the opinion that something is right or beneficial” (Encarta). Or, it can mean to accept something or someone as true and/or to put your trust and confidence in, have reliance upon, be certain of and have faith in someone or something. One appears to be more of an intellectual assent to something, or based in an emotional feeling or decision, and the other seems to be centered more in the heart.
It appears then, from this context, that the Jews who believed Jesus, with whom he was speaking, had more of the intellectual belief, but not the heart belief that involved placing their complete trust and confidence in, certainty of, and reliance upon Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives. And, there are many people today who claim belief in Jesus whose belief in him has never moved from opinion that something exists as a reality and is beneficial, to heart-felt belief that places one’s life in Jesus Christ’s loving arms, and makes a conscious decision of the will to follow him wherever he leads them in all things. Jesus, in this discourse with the Jews who had believed his message, makes the distinction very clear and explains to us today, as well, what it means to truly believe in him.
IF
Jesus’ first word was “if.” The word “if” means “doubt; uncertainty; unknown; question mark; stipulation; condition; qualification; and/or provision.” In other words, when the word “if” is spoken in a passage of scripture, we need to look carefully at what is being said, because the reason it is there is to let us, the readers, or the listeners know that a conditional situation exists, i.e. a requirement or prerequisite, stipulation or uncertainty exists within the statement. Jesus’ stipulation was that to truly be his disciples a person had to hold to his teaching. To hold to something means to embrace, keep, own and maintain and/or to incorporate something into one’s life. Jesus’ teachings, themselves, let his listeners know, time and time again, the cost of being one of his disciples.
Many people today want to say that salvation is not conditional, i.e. that it is provided freely for all who “believe” without any cost to us at all because Jesus paid the price so we could go free and it is a free gift. There is a lot of truth in that, but it has some holes, too. While it is true that we can do nothing within ourselves to earn our own salvation, that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin so that we could go free, and it is a free gift, i.e. we don’t earn it, still it is not without cost to us. Jesus said that if anyone was to come after him, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow him. Throughout the New Testament we are taught that repentance (turning from our sin) and obedience to our Lord’s commands are necessary for salvation. And, the word “if” is frequently used throughout the New Testament with regard to teachings on salvation.
Jesus told his listeners that “if” they held to his teaching, not only would they be his disciples, but they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. Again, as in times previous, Jesus’ listeners took him literally instead of figuratively, or I should say that they were thinking more in a physical realm rather than in a spiritual context. They said they had never been slaves to anyone, so how could Jesus say that they would be set free. Yet, Jesus was not speaking of physical bondage to men. He was speaking of spiritual bondage to sin.
Active Tense
Then, Jesus said something that can be a little confusing because our English language does not have as many verb tenses as the Greek language and thus verbs are not always translated in their proper tense. Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Ok, we know from reading the New Testament that when we come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior via faith (repentance, submission and obedience), that we are freed from bondage to (the control of) sin over our lives and we thus become slaves to righteousness. Yet, we also know that scripture allows for the fact that, even as believers in Jesus, we will sin, but that when we do sin we should confess our sins and thus be restored to fellowship with our Lord. If we have sinned against someone else, we should go to him or her and work to make it right with them. So, even true believers in Jesus will sin from time to time.
So, what does this statement of Jesus mean? In the Greek language, there is a verb tense that indicates something is actively going on and is continual. The word used here for “sins”, as translated into English, literally means “Everyone who is committing sin is a servant of the sin” (Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible). So, when Jesus said “everyone who sins,” he was really saying, “everyone who is actively and continually sinning” is a slave to sin.
Jesus was speaking of those who had not yet been set free from their sins and who were still enslaved to them. Sadly enough, many professing Christians are still enslaved to sin and have never truly been set free because they never came to the cross and died to their own selves, and took up their cross and followed Jesus with their lives. And, partly, at least, this is the fault of those who preach a watered-down gospel message that teaches them that they don’t have to repent of their sins, they don’t have to obey God’s commands, that they can still have the free gift of salvation, and that Jesus is pleased with them no matter what they do. So, they get the idea that salvation does not require anything of us and it does not cost us anything to be followers of Jesus Christ, and so they think they can “believe” and have their ticket into heaven without heart-change and life-style change.
Yet, Jesus made it clear here that if we are slaves to sin, i.e. if we are continually and actively sinning without repentance and without regard for obedience to God’s commands, perhaps because we think we have our salvation secured and repentance is not necessary, that we have no permanent place in God’s family. Ouch! Jesus went on to state that if the Son sets us free, we should be free indeed. The apostle Paul often hit upon this theme of Jesus setting us free from sin and of how, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we die to our sins so that we no longer are controlled by its lusts and desires but, instead, as those set free by the power of God, we are being led by the Holy Spirit of God.
Whose Child Are You?
The Jews were claiming a relationship with God via being physical descendants of Abraham. Many passages of scripture in the New Testament refute this idea that being a physical descendant of Abraham somehow qualifies you to be in God’s family. The scriptures teach clearly that it is not circumcision of the physical flesh or acts of righteousness or good deeds that qualify us to be in God’s family. Rather, it is circumcision of the heart, i.e. the cutting away of our fleshly and sinful nature and its desires, and it is a heart transformation via the Holy Spirit of God that qualifies us to be children of God.
Jesus acknowledged that the Jews with whom he spoke were indeed Abraham’s physical descendants. And, we, too, can be “Christian” by physical heritage and by growing up in the church, and yet never truly possess a personal relationship with Jesus Christ nor truly be saved. Jesus said that even though they were Abraham’s physical descendants, they were ready to kill Jesus, because they had no room for his word. And, many “believers” in Jesus Christ are right there with these Jews in that they kill the works of Jesus and his truth from coming into their own lives and out through the lives of those who are truly following Jesus, because they truly have no room in their hearts for God’s word, or at least no room for the parts they don’t want to hear. And, so they “kill” Jesus, too, by suppressing his truth.
Jesus took it a step further when he told them that their father was not Abraham, for if he was truly their father, they would do the things that Abraham did. And, many such words are spoken in the New Testament regarding our relationship to God the Father and to Jesus Christ, God the Son, too. If we are truly God’s children, and we truly believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then we should do the things that Jesus did. As well, Jesus told them that if God were truly their Father, that they would love him (Jesus), because he came from the Father, yet they were unable to understand Jesus’ words. Jesus said this was because their father was really the devil, and that they wanted to carry out the devil’s work and desires. BIG OUCH! Yet, what he said is so true! If we are not living to please God, and we are continually and actively living lives of sin, then we are serving the devil, not God.
Jesus said that those who belong to God hear what God says. Now, the people in Jesus’ hearing were physically hearing and listening to his words, and yet they did not understand or believe or act upon his words, which is what it means to truly “hear” what God says.
God is still speaking to each and every one of us today, and he is calling out to us to invite him into our lives in the sense of truly putting our faith and trust in him, in doing what he says, in being his true listeners, and in embracing and in incorporating his truths into our daily lives. He loves us so very much, which is why he died on the cross for our sins. He is asking us to love him, too, by making him our Lord and the desire of our lives, no longer living to please our fleshly desires, but committed to obeying Jesus’ teaching. If we have this kind of faith, then we will be granted eternal life with God and will have his daily blessings in our lives, as well.
His Loving Arms / An Original Work / May 31, 2011
When I’m with you, hear My call.
I died once, shed blood for all.
Hear Me calling you today.
I’ll wash all your sins away.
Don’t delay to let Me in.
I’ll purify, cleanse within.
I’ll heal all your heartaches, too;
Wrap My loving arms ‘round you.
I love you, won’t you love Me?
I’ll give life eternally;
Wipe away tears from your eyes,
When I meet you in the skies.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Link to song
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