The Son of God also has the authority to liberate spiritual slaves from their bondage to sin and its consequences. Real freedom consists of liberty from sin"s enslavement to do what we should do. It does not mean that we may do just anything we please. We are now free to do what pleases God, which we could not do formerly. When we do what pleases God, we discover that it also pleases us. Hope for real freedom, therefore, does not rest on Abrahamic ancestry but Jesus" action. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
John 8:31-38 - The Source Of True Liberty
Sin is not a necessary part of our being. The servant abideth not in the house for ever. Your child is an integral part of the household; he has become one with it. However far he travels, he can never break the link of indissoluble connection. But it is different with a servant, especially under the provisions of the Levitical law. In like manner, a man may have served sin, but, though tightly held, it has no necessary rights over him. The trumpet of Jubilee may sound, and he may go free. It is not freedom to do as we like. Jesus sets us free from the trap and the bird-lime, that is, from the unnatural conditions fastening and confining us from being what God meant us to be. The swallow would not thank you to be freed to live on carrion, but only to mount again into the sunny air.
Jesus frees us by the truth. The slave-girl will no longer serve in the house of her cruel oppressor, when she learns that the act of emancipation has passed and he has no longer any claim upon her. When we understand that we are accepted and triumphant because of our union with Christ, we begin to exercise our privilege and to draw upon the grace which he has made available. Thus we become free. [source]
Chapter Summary: John 8
1Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery 12He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine; 31promises freedom to those who believe; 33answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham; 48answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity; 59and slips away from those who would stone him
Greek Commentary for John 8:36
If therefore the son shall make you free [εαν ουν ο υιος υμας ελευτερωσηι] Condition of third class with εαν ean and first aorist (ingressive) active subjunctive. “If therefore the Son set you free,” as he has the power to do. Ye shall be free indeed Old and common adverb from participle οντων ontōn actually, really (cf. Luke 24:34). But this spiritual freedom was beyond the concept or wish of these Jews. [source]
Indeed [ὄντως] Used by John only here. It means essentially. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 8:36
John 8:24For except ye believe [εαν γαρ μη πιστευσητε] Negative condition of third class with εαν μη ean mē and ingressive aorist active subjunctive of πιστευω pisteuō “For unless ye come to believe.” That I am he Indirect discourse, but with no word in the predicate after the copula ειμι eimi Jesus can mean either “that I am from above” (John 8:23), “that I am the one sent from the Father or the Messiah” (John 7:18,John 7:28), “that I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12), “that I am the Deliverer from the bondage of sin” (John 8:28,John 8:31., and John 8:36), “that I am” without supplying a predicate in the absolute sense as the Jews (Deuteronomy 32:39) used the language of Jehovah (cf. Isaiah 43:10 where the very words occur ινα πιστευσητεοτι εγω ειμι hina pisteusēte -εγω ειμι hoti egō eimi). The phrase egō eimi occurs three times here (John 8:24,John 8:28,John 8:58) and also in John 13:19. Jesus seems to claim absolute divine being as in John 8:58. [source]
John 8:32And ye shall know the truth [και γνωσεστε την αλητειαν] Truth is one of the marks of Christ (John 1:14) and Jesus will claim to Thomas to be the personification of truth (John 14:6). But it will be for them knowledge to be learned by doing God‘s will (John 7:17). The word is from αλητης alēthēs See also John 8:40,John 8:44,John 8:45. And the truth shall make you free Future active indicative of ελευτεροω eleutheroō old verb from ελευτερος eleutheros (from ερχομαι erchomai to go where one wishes and so free). One of Paul‘s great words for freedom from the bondage of the law (Romans 6:18; Galatians 5:1). The freedom of which Jesus here speaks is freedom from the slavery of sin as Paul in Romans 8:2. See John 8:36. This freedom is won alone by Christ (John 8:36) and we are sanctified in truth (John 17:19). In John 1:17 truth is mentioned with grace as one of the marks of the gospel through Christ. Freedom (intellectual, moral, spiritual) is only attainable when we are set free from darkness, sin, ignorance, superstition and let the Light of the World shine on us and in us. [source]
Galatians 5:1 [] d In the liberty wherewith. This is according to the reading τῆ ἐλευθερίᾳ ᾗ . Different connections are proposed, as with stand fast, as A.V.: or with the close of chapter 4, as, “we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free with the freedom with which Christ freed us”: or, “of her who is free with the freedom with which,” etc. But ᾗ wherewithmust be omitted. A new clause begins with τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ . Rend. for freedom did Christ set us free. For, not with freedom. It is the dative of advantage; that we might be really free and remain free. Comp. Galatians 5:13, and John 8:36. [source]
What do the individual words in John 8:36 mean?
IfthereforetheSonyoushall set freeindeedfreeyou will be
Greek Commentary for John 8:36
Condition of third class with εαν ean and first aorist (ingressive) active subjunctive. “If therefore the Son set you free,” as he has the power to do. Ye shall be free indeed Old and common adverb from participle οντων ontōn actually, really (cf. Luke 24:34). But this spiritual freedom was beyond the concept or wish of these Jews. [source]
Used by John only here. It means essentially. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 8:36
Negative condition of third class with εαν μη ean mē and ingressive aorist active subjunctive of πιστευω pisteuō “For unless ye come to believe.” That I am he Indirect discourse, but with no word in the predicate after the copula ειμι eimi Jesus can mean either “that I am from above” (John 8:23), “that I am the one sent from the Father or the Messiah” (John 7:18, John 7:28), “that I am the Light of the World” (John 8:12), “that I am the Deliverer from the bondage of sin” (John 8:28, John 8:31., and John 8:36), “that I am” without supplying a predicate in the absolute sense as the Jews (Deuteronomy 32:39) used the language of Jehovah (cf. Isaiah 43:10 where the very words occur ινα πιστευσητεοτι εγω ειμι hina pisteusēte -εγω ειμι hoti egō eimi). The phrase egō eimi occurs three times here (John 8:24, John 8:28, John 8:58) and also in John 13:19. Jesus seems to claim absolute divine being as in John 8:58. [source]
Truth is one of the marks of Christ (John 1:14) and Jesus will claim to Thomas to be the personification of truth (John 14:6). But it will be for them knowledge to be learned by doing God‘s will (John 7:17). The word is from αλητης alēthēs See also John 8:40, John 8:44, John 8:45. And the truth shall make you free Future active indicative of ελευτεροω eleutheroō old verb from ελευτερος eleutheros (from ερχομαι erchomai to go where one wishes and so free). One of Paul‘s great words for freedom from the bondage of the law (Romans 6:18; Galatians 5:1). The freedom of which Jesus here speaks is freedom from the slavery of sin as Paul in Romans 8:2. See John 8:36. This freedom is won alone by Christ (John 8:36) and we are sanctified in truth (John 17:19). In John 1:17 truth is mentioned with grace as one of the marks of the gospel through Christ. Freedom (intellectual, moral, spiritual) is only attainable when we are set free from darkness, sin, ignorance, superstition and let the Light of the World shine on us and in us. [source]
Construe with hath made me free. Compare John 8:36. [source]
With the exception of John 8:32, John 8:36, only in Paul. [source]
d In the liberty wherewith. This is according to the reading τῆ ἐλευθερίᾳ ᾗ . Different connections are proposed, as with stand fast, as A.V.: or with the close of chapter 4, as, “we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free with the freedom with which Christ freed us”: or, “of her who is free with the freedom with which,” etc. But ᾗ wherewithmust be omitted. A new clause begins with τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ . Rend. for freedom did Christ set us free. For, not with freedom. It is the dative of advantage; that we might be really free and remain free. Comp. Galatians 5:13, and John 8:36. [source]