Freedom Day
What’s the Significance of freedom?
Freedom is a gift from God! - We can’t earn it (John 8:36)
Committeth sin. That is, according to the Greek, habitually (see on 1 John 3:9).
Jesus had come to offer them genuine freedom (Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1). He alone is free who is free from sin. Those who desire this freedom must apply to the Lord Jesus Christ, and must comply with the conditions. It is His peculiar office and privilege to enfranchise all who accept Him. Only through spiritual freedom could the nation attain to the political freedom they so ardently desired (see Vol. IV, pp. 30-32).
With the strong asseveration I tell you the truth (cf. notes on 1:51), Jesus makes plain the kind of slavery (and, implicitly, the kind of freedom) he has in mind: everyone who sins is a slave to sin (cf. Rom. 6:12, 13, 17). Not only does the practice of sin (the Greek is literally ‘the one who does sin’; cf. 1 Jn. 3:4, 8, 9) prove that one is a slave to sin, but the practice of sin actively enslaves
In this context, the application is clear: the Jews think of themselves as sons (of Abraham), but in reality they are slaves (to sin).
The Son is he who gives power to become the sons of God.
Jesus’ self-righteous listeners did not believe in Him and hence were still slaves of sin both positionally and experientially (cf. John 8:7–9). Only those who were set free positionally (vv 31–32) could then be set free experientially by abiding in Jesus’ words.
To be free from sin’s bondage one must be set free by the Son of God. To be made free positionally, unbelievers would need to believe in Jesus. Implicitly Jesus is inviting these unbelievers to be born again and set free.
As descendants of Abraham they understand themselves to be free to practice their faith in an unbroken line of tradition. It is patently false to imply that the Jews had never been enslaved, as the exodus story indicates, but it is all the more ironic here in a situation in which they are seen to be under slavery to Rome (cf. 19:15).
The Greek word is a present participle, expressing the continuance of the deeds of sin. It means, not simply the committing individual sins, from which no man is free, but the state of the life which is sinful; the state which is opposed to doing the will of the Father, and is expressed in other words as “working iniquity” (Matt. 7:21, 23.)
There is need for the emancipation of which He has spoken, and His mission in the world is to proclaim it. If they will enter into spiritual union with Him, and abide in this new spiritual relation, it will make them new creatures, freed from sin by the power of truth
The Son of the divine household will make them free, and in Him they will become members of the great family of God Himself.
The freedom which the Son proclaimed was in reality freedom, for it was the freedom of their true life delivered from the thraldom of sin and brought into union with God.
Here, however, while ‘the Jews’ are the slave descendants, it is Jesus himself who is primarily in view as the free son who is able to liberate others—If then the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.
Freedom provides a gathering with God! - We have access to God’s house (John 8:35)
The Jews were slaves (see on John 8:34), and hence in danger of being rejected. But the Son could emancipate them by altering their status (see on chs. 3:3, 4; 8:36).
So if the Son sets you free—now not simply the son of the householder, but the Son of God, as that title is repeatedly used in this Gospel (cf. notes on 5:19ff.)—you will be free indeed.
Jesus not only enjoys inalienable rights as the unique Son of God, but exercises full authority, vested in him by the Father (3:35), to liberate slaves.
Those whom he released from slavery to sin enjoyed freedom from judgment (3:18; 5:24) and the power of death (5:24; 8:51), and an end to alienation from God, as they were adopted into God’s family (1:12).
Sonship is the only principle on which continuance in the house can be secured.
the son remains forever Membership by birth was superior to membership by obligation. The “son” imagery here is likely a messianic allusion to 1 Chr 17:13–14.
8:35. Old Testament law mandated that Jewish slaves be freed in certain years, and under Gentile laws slaves could be freed or sold to other households; a son, however, was always part of a household. Jesus may also make another allusion here: “house” (which can mean “household,” “family” or “home”) may include a wordplay with God’s house, the temple (2:16); only the “sons” will have a permanent share there (Ezek 46:16–17; cf. also Is 56:5).
76 sn Jesus’ point is that while a slave may be part of a family or household, the slave is not guaranteed a permanent place there, while a son, as a descendant or blood relative, will always be guaranteed a place in the family (remains forever).
In this verse the thought is that if they were really the children of Abraham they would be of Abraham’s spiritual nature, abiding in his home, and inheriting the promises made to him. They had not continued in the spiritual freedom of sons, but had departed from the house and had become, spiritually, bondmen.
The Son of the divine household will make them free, and in Him they will become members of the great family of God Himself.
Those whom he released from slavery to sin enjoyed freedom from judgment (3:18; 5:24) and from the power of death (5:24; 8:51), and an end to alienation from God as they were adopted into his family (1:12).
For those willing to acknowledge their sinful condition and need of liberation, the Son of God is able to constitute them as permanent members of the household, as free children of God (cf. 1:12).