Or, What We Need to Know about Believing
Scripture: John 8:31-32
Date: October 7, 2012
Speaker: Sean Higgins
This section includes one of the most famous and significant statements in Scripture. From the lips of Jesus we learn what makes the difference between true and temporal, between true and faking disciples. We also learn from Jesus how a man gets to be free, in fact, how to be free indeed. Maybe the only thing more significant than how to identify true disciples and how to be truly free is that some believing men don’t want either.
Jesus’ comments, while a fine sound bite on their own, come to us in context. We should consider that context. Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths early in chapter seven. We find Him teaching at the Temple again and again, telling the people about His mission from the Father. His Father, the one from above, sent the Son with authority to reveal the Father, to make sacrifice, to forgive sin, and then return to the Father.
Most recently we saw Jesus tell the Jews that He would be going away soon and that they wouldn’t be able to find Him (John 8:21). They mistakenly supposed that Jesus referred to killing Himself (v.22). Jesus went on to say that they would kill Him and that when He was lifted up (killed), then His identity would be confirmed (v.28). The reason is that the nature of sacrifice comes from the nature of God. His death would show His divinity. The Father gave His Son authority to die. The Father communed with His Son all the way to death. The Father was pleased with everything the Son did, including His death.
”As he was saying these things,” John summarizes, “many believed in Him” (v.30). It seems, perhaps as one of the few bright spots in the Gospel, that some people are starting to get it.
The next section, which extends to the end of the chapter, belongs with the preceding section. Verse 31 starts with So or “Therefore.” We could read it as one sentence: “many believed in Him so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him…” (v.31). When was the last time He wasn’t responding to those who disagreed with Him or who were trying to discredit Him? These men apparently agree. Here’s what He told them:
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32, ESV)
We’ll dissect the goodness in a moment or two. But a good and necessary question is, Why is this here? Why did Jesus say this and why did He say it now? Was He affirming their believing? Was He encouraging them with the benefits of true discipleship? Was He explaining the path to perseverance? Was He concerned about something?
He just finished telling them about being lifted up, about His death. He just finished telling them about His Father (which, at least up to verse 27, they still didn’t grasp). Either what Jesus said in verses 28 and 29 finally helped it click, or this is a problematic believing.
Because of what happens, we know that Jesus tells them about abiding in His Word because they weren’t; they couldn’t bear His word (v.43). He tells them about truth because their father was liar (v.44). He tells them about freedom because they were slaves (v.34). And these were the believers! Jesus said, “The truth will set you free” and they said, “We *are free.” He said, “The truth will set you free” and they said, “Who are you talking to? Certainly not us!”
It goes downhill from there. They question Him (v.33). They correct Him about their heritage (v.39). They imply His illegitimate birth (v.41). They accuse Him being demon possessed (vv.48, 52). And then they get to the point where they pick up stones to kill Him (v.59). Again, these are the believers.
Some who have studied this passage argue that these cannot be the behaviors of the believers. In verse 31, “the ones believing in Him” get the encouragement from Jesus about abiding and then some bystanders reply in verses 33 and following. “They answered him” must be a different group of people. While that’d be nice, it doesn’t fit the narrative.
John is going out of his way to say that many believed and that Jesus spoke to the ones believing and they answered. It’s not a different group at all. This doesn’t mean that everyone in the crowd believed; Jesus was not talking to the entire crowd. John could have said, “and others answered him” or “the ones not believing answered him.” But he didn’t.
We’ve seen it before, believing based on Jesus works and Jesus’ words that was not legitimate. In 2:23 many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He was doing. Jesus didn’t entrust Himself to them because their believing was insincere. In 6:14-15, many ate the bread and fish and wanted to make Him king. In chapter seven many believed in Him because they figured that no one else could do more signs (v.31). All of these demonstrate that not all believers are truly disciples. So, who are truly disciples?
They were believing in Jesus because of His words and He responds by saying that believing in His words isn’t enough.
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, (John 8:31b, ESV)
The key word is abide . There must be perseverance, an ongoing remaining, not just an initial tasting of His Word. Abide returns as a high point in John 15 with the vine and the branches illustration.
What does it mean to abide in Christ’s Word? It cannot mean to be always reading your Bible. Why? Because none of His original hearers had their own copy of God’s Word, not to mention a copy of the New Testament. We have a great advantage to own multiple complete copies in a variety of versions, but that makes us more accountable to abide, it does not equal abiding.
To “abide” in His word means to get energy by it, be directed by it, have life from it. Abide means to have a life controlled by it, not just a mind thinking on it. It belongs with discipleship, staying and sticking with the master and his teaching. It isn’t how much we know but how well we hold to what we know.
My word is singular, not “My words,” so referring to the sum of His teaching, to the sum of truth, to the sum of the gospel about God and about God’s sacrificing nature. When we consider later connections in John 14 and 15, to abide in Jesus’ word can also be understood as to abide in Him. Jesus is the sum of truth, He is the truth. We shouldn’t divide the Word from the Word. We remain in relationship with the Son through the Scripture.
For example, we can’t divide the email from the spouse. My wife’s communication to me is part of our ongoing relationship. I love to get cards and notes, to read and reread special parts, because we are connected. The individual words are part of a defining, controlling life orientation.
These believing Jews were not abiding in His Word Jews. They are not truly disciples.
This is the then after the if. If you abide, then:
you are truly my disciples, (John 8:31c, ESV)
This is not a way to become a disciple, this is how to identify a disciple. Jesus doesn’t say, “If you abide in Me, then you will be” or “then you can become,” He says then you are . If the tree produces apples in the harvest, then it is known as an apple tree.
This identification also addresses the existence of those who are un-truly His disciples. There are those who follow for a while, temporary disciples. There are posing disciples, those who play the part externally but do not believe all the way through.
And this identification shows true discipleship, not second level discipleship. Jesus isn’t describing what extra special believers do, this is what true disciples, true followers do. In other words, there aren’t genuine disciples and also genuine true disciples.
You are truly my disciples, present tense, with a two-step resulting will.
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32, ESV)
In saying that these are fruit, that doesn’t mean that they are far off in the future. In some sense, they are further descriptions of true disciples. It’s interesting, though, that we would probably switch the order around. If you know the truth, then you will be free to abide in the truth. Or, if you get free, then you will know the truth and be able to abide in it.
But there is something eye-opening about obedience, another way to speak of abiding and following. Obedience opens more eyes than education. The first result of abiding in Jesus’ words is that you will know the truth .
How do we get the light of life? By following Jesus (8:12). Getting up close to Him doesn’t keep us from seeing, it enables seeing. That’s part of the point now, too.
The second step is that the truth will set you free . Free from what? Jesus doesn’t now say, though He’s about to after they deny that they need to be free. He will say free from sin, from the penalty (they will be forgiven and not die in their sins) and from the power. In context, this freedom includes freedom from darkness and also from Satan and his lies.
The Jews will argue that they are already free and Jesus points out that they are slaves of sin (v.34). They are so enslaved to sin that they think that they aren’t. They are blinded by their captivity. The darkness is good at deceiving.
But the opposite of slavery to sin is not independence. The opposite of captivity is not self-government. Those who are bound to Jesus, who abide in His Word, they know the truth and that is freedom.
It isn’t only a free from what, but a free for what? It isn’t free to do whatever they please, it is free to please God in whatever they do.
All of the college mottos and insignias that include this great statement about truth and liberty miss that true liberty comes in submission to the truth, it comes by following Christ. We do not have the liberty option to be God. God can make us free to serve and reflect Him.
There is no neutral zone. You can be free in the Son or you cannot be free. In God’s world, He sets free those who follow Christ.
John writes this story for the same reason he included all the other stories in John, so that we would believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that by believing in Him we may have eternal life. This passage reveals that true life is only a reality when we are united to Christ, abiding in His word. Unless our lives are oriented by our relationship with Jesus, we do not have life.
True freedom comes in knowing the truth that we are made by and for God, and then enjoying the freedom of depending on Him. True freedom also includes full recognition and repentance of our sin. That’s what the Jews refused to do. They believed the lie that they were already free so they had no need to repent.
Sinful slavery includes irrational defensiveness about our sin. It doesn’t make any sense that men would hear Jesus’ offer of freedom and argue that they already were. Sin convinces us that it is less work to protect our reputations rather than to acknowledge our sin and be forgiven.