The truth will set you free

John 8:32,36  (NLT)

Jesus said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free……So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” 

There are two obvious key words in this passage—truth and free.  What is truth and what is being set free? 

Truth

Truth is perhaps one of those words that you think that you know what it means (opposite of lie), but to define it further is difficult.  The Greek word for truth is “alétheia”, meaning factual and connoting the character of God.  Numbers 23:19 states that “God is not a man that He should lie….” and Hebrews 6:18 states “….it is impossible for God to lie”.  Who is the main liar in the Bible?  The devil!   Jesus called him “… a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

One of the saddest segments of the Bible is found in John 18:37-38 when Pilate asked Jesus “What is truth?”, but the Bible does not record an answer.  The few commentaries I have read seem to agree that Pilate’s question was one of skepticism or cynicism, not one where he really cared to know the answer.  Of course, since Jesus described Himself as the truth, Pilate was face to face with the truth so there was no need for an answer.  Yet, Pilate represents humankind, some more than others, where humans do not want to know the truth.  The truth can be too hard, too embarrassing, and/or requires too much from us for us to accept/believe it.   And, perhaps, Jesus knew this about Pilate and did not answer his question.   

Jesus defines the Bible as the truth (John 17:17).  So, when He speaks of the truth in these verses, He is referring to the Word of God.  In the latter part of verse 31 Jesus said that “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples” so verse 32 connects truth with “My word” or the Bible.

Free

To be free means to be delivered from enslavement, to be liberated from whatever controls you.  From a biblical perspective, what is the main thing that enslaves you, that keeps you from being completely free?  SIN!  Knowing the truth of God through the Word of Christ sets you free from the enslavement of sin.  This means both freedom from the enslavement of the sin nature of an unsaved person and freedom from any specific sin that may continue to enslave or dominate the life of a saved person.

To be free from the control of sin is a wonderful thought, feeling, and experience. What are the specifics in your life with respect to either sin nature or specific sin(s)?  Do you believe the words of Christ in these verses?  Can you find the specific guidance in the Word that will free you from whatever is keeping you from the kind of freedom Jesus is talking about?  If He sets you free, you are free indeed.  To be free you must know the truth.  To know the truth, you must be a disciple of Christ.

Godliness with contentment

I Timothy 6:6-8 (NIV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 

Here’s a thought-provoking question: Does a richer, highly materialistic life produced a better life?  Do people who have the most possessions have the greatest happiness?  Of course, the answers are “no”, yet why do so many people, even Christians, pursue riches and materialism?

It’s one thing to believe that materialism is the only reality in the universe.  Those who believe this have absolutely no room for God in their lives.  It’s another thing to be materialistic in more subtle ways that endangers the testimony of a Christian and positions him/her to be serving the wrong master (Matthew 6:24).

Paul reminds his readers that you need to be content with whatever you have.  You must be on guard against the natural human urge to be more eager financial and materialistic gain than spiritual gain.  Indeed the word contentment (autarkeia) is a technical Greek philosophical term for the virtue of independence from material goods.    

So many years ago when I was graduating from high school the superintendent of my school system wrote the following story to the senior class in the school newsletter.  Likely you have heard this before too, but it’s worth repeating here:

"In 1928 a group of the world’s most successful financiers met at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. The following were present: The president of the largest utility company, The greatest wheat speculator, The president of the New York Stock Exchange, A member of the President’s Cabinet, The greatest “bear” in Wall Street, The president of the Bank of International Settlements, The head of the world’s greatest monopoly. Collectively, these tycoons controlled more wealth than there was in the U.S. Treasury, and for years newspapers and magazines had been printing their success stories and urging the youth of the nation to follow their examples.

Twenty-five years later, this is what had happened to these men. The president of the largest independent steel company, Charles Schwab, lived on borrowed money the last five years of his life and died broke. The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cutten, died abroad, insolvent. The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, served a term in Sing Sing Prison. The member of the President’s Cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from prison so he could die at home. The greatest “bear” in Wall Street, Jesse Livermore, committed suicide. The president of the Bank of International Settlements, Leon Fraser, committed suicide. The head of the world’s greatest monopoly, Ivar Drueger, committed suicide.”

John W. Rockefeller said, “I have made many millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” W. H. Vanderbilt said, “The care of $200 million is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.”  John Jacob Astor said, “I am the most miserable man on earth.  Henry Ford was known to have said, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”  Andrew Carnegie said, “Millionaires seldom smile.”

All of these men had learned how to make money, but not one of them had learned how to live with contentment. 

Paul claims that godliness with contentment is great gain.  Godliness is being more focused on God than on yourself (John 3:30).  Contentment comes from learning to be satisfied with the basics of life.  Contentment is reinforced and strengthened by decreasing the focus on yourself and being more concerned for others.  The more that you serve others rather than serving yourself, the more content about your life you will be.  What great gain in life it is to be content with what God has given you.

Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God

Colossians 1:15-17 (NLT)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.  Everything was created through Him and for Him.  He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.

I admit that my finite brain cannot comprehend what this passage is saying.  How can any finite human being comprehend what it means to exist before anything was created?  How can any human being comprehend the claim that through Jesus Christ God created everything in the heavens and earth?  Who can understand things we cannot see such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers and authorities in an unseen world?  What is Paul writing about?  What in the world does it mean that Jesus holds all creation together? 

If I don’t know what Paul is writing about here, how can I write anything further?  Well, I am simply going to write about what I do understand.  First, Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  Jesus said in John 14:9 that “He who has seen Me has seen the Father also”.  God the Father came to the earth in the form of a human being who was/is Jesus Christ.  This is a key belief of Christianity, that God the Father and Jesus the Son are the same person.  Maybe a bad analogy, but it’s like saying that a man is a father and also a son or a woman a mother and also a daughter.

Paul wrote in Philippians 2:6-8 that (and I’m paraphrasing) Jesus was God, but emptied Himself from being God to take the form of being human.  The Message Bible says: “When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!  Having become human, he stayed human.  It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.”  So I can understand that God became visible to all mankind through Jesus Christ coming to the earth to live for 33 years just like any other human being although He committed no sin and was willing to die a sacrificial and very horrible death to save all sinful people from eternal death.

Second, while I cannot comprehend how He existed before anything was created, I can accept that Jesus is eternal.  Since humanity and all of earth are temporal we don’t know what eternal means, but we can accept it since we are not God.  If you reject this claim, you have no basis other than you choose to be arrogant in your intellectual limitations and cannot accept anything based on faith alone. 

Third, I can accept the claim, without needing to understand, that if Jesus is God, He created all things.  The creation story in Genesis 1 is very familiar to followers of God.  Yet how many have carefully read what Genesis 1:26 says---“The God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image…”.  Did you notice that the pronouns are plural?  God is not speaking of Himself alone.  He also is not speaking of Himself in a third person way.  He also spoke using plural pronouns in Genesis 3:22, Genesis 11:7, and Isaiah 6:8.  Who is He including?  He is including Himself, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  So if Jesus was involved in the creation of human beings, He also was involved in the creation of all things. 

No, I nor anyone else can explain these claims about Jesus’ divinity and humanity.  All we can do is believe them based on our faith that the Word of God is true.  Do you have such faith?  If your answer is “yes”, you are blessed.  If your answer is “no”, you have a choice of never believing or continuing to pray and seek the God and the faith He can give you through His Word imparted by His Spirit into your spirit (prayerfully study Romans 8).