Being Set Free

KEY VERSE: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” —John 8:32

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: John 8:31-47

THE “FREEDOM” which the bible speaks of as desirable for the Christian is a release from enslaving cords of sin and death. The Jews had tried to conquer sin and be free by keeping the Law, but failed, with the result that it was proven the Law itself could not lift mankind out of their condemned condition in the great prison house of death.

The ‘truth’ Jesus spoke of was that through faith in Christ they had been made free from the condemnation of the Law, so Paul wrote, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”—Gal. 5:1

By taking this text completely out of its setting, it can be used to substantiate the arguments of those who offer the brethren freedom, and encourage each one to go his own way, insisting that the ideal state of the Christian community is one in which all are free to think and to act as they please.

There is only one condition under which a Christian is warranted in doing just as he pleases, and that is when his heart is so in tune with the divine will, and so glad to give up all his own preferences and notions, that all he really desires to do, all that he pleases to do, is the will of God. Those who are fully devoted to God in this manner, can enjoy a glorious liberty. They can be free indeed.

But such freedom is not wholly obtainable this side of the veil, for the mind of the flesh strives against the mind of the Spirit, causing the latter to be more or less hampered in carrying out the entire will of God. This restraint is referred to in the Bible as the “bondage of corruption” (Rom. 8:21), and from this bondage every true Christian longs to be delivered in order to be entirely free to serve the Lord in every detail of his holy will.

This is the “glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:21) It will be enjoyed beyond the veil only by those who have humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God, and who have learned to love the will of God so completely that even a thought that is contrary thereto would be painful to them. While these will, indeed, enjoy a liberty which to them will be “glorious,” their rejoicing will not be on account of finally having the privilege of doing as they please, but because in their resurrection body they will have the ability to do God’s will perfectly, with no cords of imperfection to restrain them from doing the will of God which they have learned to love.

Comprehensively speaking, the truth to Jesus was the will of his Heavenly Father. On behalf of his disciples he prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.” (John 17:17) The Word of God to Jesus was the Old Testament Scriptures—the “volume of the Book”—which he agreed to obey at the time of his consecration at Jordan. Supplemental to the Old Testament, his followers have been blessed with the New Testament Scriptures. These enlarge upon and elucidate that which had previously been written, and in this way the will of God is made plain to those who are sanctified by it.

The ‘truth’, then, not only makes us free but it sanctifies us. But these two results of the Word of God in our lives are in reality merely parts of one accomplishment. First, the truth separates us from the binding influence of error, and then sets us apart to do the will of God. It liberates us from being slaves of sin, and makes us the bond servants of Jesus Christ.—Eph. 6:6; Phil. 1:1

In other words, the freedom which Jesus offered his followers through the truth was not personal liberty to chart their own course in life, because no one knew better than Jesus did that such liberty leads to death. He wanted them to be free from traditions of men, and from the burdens imposed upon them by the religious leaders of that day; and in the place of that bondage he invited them to take his “yoke” upon them. His yoke, he said, they would find easy, and his burden light. (Matt. 11:30) It would be easy and light because they would learn to love it.

This was true of Jesus. He did not exercise personal liberty in his service of God and of the truth. “I came … not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me,” was the Master’s testimony. (John 6:38) However, the will of God was not burdensome to the Master, but a delight—“I delight to do thy will, O my God: thy law is within my heart.” (Ps. 40:8) God was his head, his governor, and the head of the church is Christ. (Eph. 1:22; 5:22) This means that as Christians we have freedom only within the circumscribed limits of the will of God and of Christ, our head.

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