A Study of John 8:31-38

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.””

John 8:31–38 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

Speaking to a group of Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” In response to this the Jews declared that they were children of Abraham who had never been enslaved to anyone. So, they asked, how can you say “We will become free?”. Jesus replied by telling them everyone who sins is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, only the Son remains forever. So, if the Son sets you free, you are really free. Jesus also acknowledged that they were descendents of Abraham, but also that they wanted to kill Him because they rejected His words. Finally, Jesus told them He spoke of what He saw with His Father, but they did what they heard from their father.

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

In the verse previous to this passage (John 8:30), we were told many believed in Jesus. Here, Jesus speaks to those who had this new seed of faith sprouting in their hearts and He tells them how to continue in belief. Jesus says that to truly be His disciple, a person must abide in His word. This is the way to follow Jesus; the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). “Abide” means to live in, dwell in, remain in. Jesus’ Word must become an integral part of our lives as we follow Him, and that is what He tells these new believers. Those who love God, will treasure His Word and live by it.

Jesus also went on to describe the result of abiding in His Word saying, “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Knowing the truth then goes beyond mere intellectual understanding or assent. Knowing the truth comes by making a spiritual, moral commitment to Jesus and His true words. And the result of knowing Jesus, and therefore the truth, is freedom. God’s word is not stifling or burdensome. His word gives freedom and leads to abundant life. True freedom to live life as it was always meant to be. Eternal, joyful and abundant life is obtained and experienced by following Jesus and abiding in His word.

In response to Jesus the people told Him they were offspring of Abraham who had never been enslaved, so, they asked, “How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”. The implication of Jesus’ statement that they could become free is that they currently were slaves. It is this notion that these new believers immediately protest. They roared back that as descendents of Abraham they had never been enslaved to anyone. They could not have been referring to political subjugation because as a people group they of course had been enslaved in Egypt and subjugated by Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Syria and currently Rome. They knew this all too well, so they must have caught onto the fact that Jesus was speaking of spiritual slavery and to this they protested. They thought they were spiritually free and justified before God because of their Jewish ethnicity. These fledgling believers did not get off to a great start in their belief as they immediately began to reject the idea that they too needed spiritual redemption. For this reason, Jesus will graciously and truthfully continue to explain in the following verses.

In verse 34 Jesus clarified what He meant by saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” This is true slavery. Jesus is not describing the mistakes and occasional sins we all commit. He is describing a continual, habitual practice of sin. The lie of sin is that it will liberate us and make us happy, but the truth is that sin enslaves and leads to death. According to Jesus then, true and ultimate slavery is not political or economic. True slavery is an enslavement to moral rebellion against God our Creator. This deepest level of slavery must be recognized in our hearts and dealt with. But none of us can deal with it. We are  born slaves to it. This is why Jesus came; to free us from slavery to sin and death, unto righteousness and life.

Continuing in verses 35-36, Jesus goes on to say, “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The Jews Jesus spoke to were confident, spiritually speaking, because they were descendents of Abraham. But here Jesus makes it clear to them that their ethnicity does them no good. They, and all of humanity, are in fact slaves of sin. This is the worst kind of slavery, but the good news is that Jesus, the Son of God, sets us free from sin when we trust in Him. The Pharisees erroneously claimed to be free in John 8:33, but they were not. True freedom comes only by submitting to God the Son, Jesus Christ, and believing in Him as Lord God and Savior. When any one of us believes in Jesus we are immediately transformed from slaves of sin into children of God. And it is the children of God, who have been set free by the one and only Son of God, who will dwell in the house of God forever. And importantly we are given true freedom. The freedom to do what we ought to and the desire to do so.

Next, in verse 37, Jesus acknowledged they were descendants of Abraham biologically speaking. But spiritually speaking, they were not true children of Abraham because Jesus’ word “finds no place” in them. True children of Abraham trust God and believe His word. In verse 31 Jesus said those who abide in His word are truly His disciples, but these people refused to abide in His word so they cannot truly be His disciples. In fact, they even sought to kill Jesus because of what He said. Spiritual paternity is far more important than biological paternity, and heavenly, spiritual paternity is determined or at least made evident by faith in God, right conduct, and love (1 John 3:10). To clarify, it is only through faith that we become children of God, but right conduct and love, though imperfect, will flow from faith in God and a restored relationship with Him thus providing evidence of one’s spiritual paternity being in God.

Crucially, true followers of God set aside their own prejudices and ideas when it becomes clear they clash with God’s. However, this group of people wanted to kill Jesus for contradicting their fallacious beliefs. This behavior then calls into question their previous profession of faith. Therefore Jesus said, “My word finds no place in you.” If Jesus’ word finds no place in them, then they are not abiding in His word and cannot be true disciples. True disciples do not follow Jesus’ word perfectly, but they do abide in and live by it, always confessing sin and receiving grace when they stumble (1 John 1:8-9).

Finally for this passage, Jesus told them, “I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” While the Jews Jesus spoke to wrongly claimed Abraham as their father, Jesus rightly claimed God is His Father. The words and actions of Jesus are evidence of His divine parentage, and sadly the words and actions of the people disputing with Him are evidence of their true parentage, which Jesus will soon reveal is the devil (John 8:44). 

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to consider what Jesus says His true disciples do and consider our own life. True disciples of Jesus abide in His word. Abiding in His word means to listen, read, study and live by it. No follower of Jesus does this perfectly in this world, but true followers of Jesus treasure His word and submit to it. And when we stumble and sin, we confess our sin and receive grace and forgiveness (1 John 1:8-9). It is people who willingly walk in unrepentant, habitual sin that are enslaved to sin and children of the devil. But, because God is loving and gracious, everyone can be set free from slavery to sin and become redeemed children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the truth, and the truth in Christ Jesus sets us free.

Self Reflection:

1. Am I abiding in Jesus’ word?

2. In what ways has the truth set me free?

3. How does abiding in Christ and His word affect my daily life?

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage (Source: Logos Exegetical Guide and Blue Letter Bible Interlinear):

-Jesus: “Ἰησοῦς”, “Iēsous”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | proper name – Jesus = “Jehovah is salvation”; the Son of God, the Savior of mankind, God incarnate.

-Abide: “μείνητε”, “meinēte”; verb, aorist, active, subjunctive, second person, plural | finite verb – stay, reside, hold fast to a thing.

-Word: “λόγῳ”, “logō”; noun, dative, singular, masculine | prepositional object – instruction, message.

-Disciples: “μαθηταί”, “mathētai”; noun, nominative, plural, masculine | predicate nominative – learner pupil.

-Truth: “ἀλήθεια”, “alētheia”; noun, nominative, singular, feminine | subject – truth, true.

-Abraham: “Ἀβραάμ”, “Abraam”; noun, genitive, singular, masculine | proper name – Abraham = “father of a multitude”; the son of Terah and the founder of the Jewish nation.

-Sin: “ἁμαρτίᾳ”, “hamartia”; noun, dative, singular, feminine | prepositional object – the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many.

-Slave: “δοῦλός”, “doulos”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | predicate nominative – one who gives himself up wholly to another’s will.
-Father: “πατήρ”, “patēr”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine | subject of the dependent clause – God is called the Father; the Father of Jesus Christ, as one whom God has united to himself in the closest bond of love and intimacy, made acquainted with his purposes, appointed to explain and carry out among men the plan of salvation, and made to share also in his own divine nature.