Truth Makes Us Free
John 8:31-32—“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." –“John 8:36--"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” NASU
When Jesus said that the truth makes us free, He was referring to Himself. It is Jesus who makes us free. John 14:6—“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” NASU
As John wrote earlier, John 1:17-18—“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” NASU
Yes, Jesus showed us truth by the life that He lived. We find truth in Jesus Christ, and are encouraged in truth by the Holy Spirit given to God’s children as a down payment on our inheritance, Eph 1:13-14—“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation -- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.” NASU
This knowing truth is not a process whereby we give right answers to the wrong questions. It is not complete knowledge that saves us. None of us knows much compared to God. If knowing truth completely is required in order for us to be saved, we are all lost. Each of us is ignorant of the righteousness of God in some ways.
Paul’s words are true, 1 Cor 8:1-3—“Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.” NASU
From this we can determine that knowing information is not the way to freedom. Knowing some information never made anyone free. But knowing Christ makes us free. The way to freedom is by a life transformed by being born again into the liberty that is in Jesus Christ, Eph 4:20-24—“But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” NASU
Therefore it is past time for us to quit thinking that salvation depends on having the right answers to things some might claim as necessary knowledge, but which may be matters of judgment and opinion. Truth is not a body of information determined by the human rational process of learning from examples and necessary inference. Such knowledge will not save us. Truth is Jesus Christ, and His words. It is Jesus who saves, and only by having the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ do we have hope of eternal life.
As Paul wrote, 1 Tim 2:3-6—“This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” NASU
The truth is that Jesus died for sinners, and all who come to Him in sincere faith can have eternal life. Freedom is in Jesus Christ. The Truth, the eternal Word, Who was in the beginning, and through Whom all things were made, makes us free, if we know Him. And one must be born again of the water and the spirit in order to truly know Him.
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