So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s seed and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
John 8:31-47
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s seed; yet you are seeking to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”
They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. But now you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
Introduction
Have you ever been called out for a sin and wondered why you were so compelled to commit it? Have you ever simply recognized you have done something that upsets another person and found yourself with a surprising lack of regret? I have experienced both these things, and they are the result of sin entering the world through Adam.
Jesus presents this difficult teaching to the Jews who were a part of the chosen people of God, set apart and separated from the nations. Their entire identity was wrapped up in the fact that they were descendants of Abraham, and the Lord flips this on its head. In step with John the Baptist, Jesus gives no merit to bloodline, but only to faithfulness.
Gotta serve somebody
He presents the people with a gift they did not even realize they needed. Responding to the offer of freedom, they instinctively reject it by claiming they have never been slaves by the merit of their being Abraham’s children. This is where the big reveal happens. Slavery is not merely servitude to man. It is much bigger and more severe than that.
A slave desires to do the will of his master, and a slave’s master is easily uncovered when the deeds of that slave are brought to light. And so, the one who does sin is a slave to sin, because his desires are focused on sin. The lustful person obsesses over lust. The lying person cannot help but lie even when it makes little sense. The thieving person continually finds new and better ways to steal because stealing is his passion.
Sin does not need a practical basis. It is an ends unto itself. When Cain’s offering was rejected in favor of Abel’s, God issued a warning to Cain: “If you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” As only one among many to follow, Cain did not heed that warning. He succumbed to sin, and it devoured him. Out of selfish rage, Cain gave himself fully over to sin, enslaving himself to it, and he murdered his brother (Genesis 4:1-8).
This pattern has played out over and over again throughout human history, as sin gained a foothold in the lives of men, enslaving them to their selfish desires. Without any regard for the will of God, humanity fell into deep depravity, and it was not restricted to the nations apart from Israel. The entire books of Kings and Chronicles record a history of the chosen people of God straying from His commands, even to the point of being driven into exile and captivity.
Becoming a child of Abraham
So it is a strange thing these men responded to Jesus’ offer of freedom by saying they have never been slaves to anyone. Especially in their appeal to Abraham, since the descendants of Abraham have been slaves to the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans. In fact, during the very time of their conversation, Rome had fully occupied Judea, imposing such an oppressive tax that the people considered it slavery.
While Jesus acknowledges the people are “Abraham’s seed” according to the flesh, they are not “Abraham’s children” because they do not “do the deeds of Abraham.” And what are the deeds of Abraham? They are two, but also one: “Then he [Abraham] believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) In believing in God and His promises, God considered that faith to be righteousness. But He also granted righteousness to Abraham in deed by means of his faith. James clearly lays this out when he argues, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. And the Scripture was fulfilled,” after which he quotes the same verse from Genesis (James 2:21-23).
In believing God and His promises, Abraham was given a good and right desire to do that which is pleasing to God rather than sin. In obeying God completely and fully, Abraham’s faith was vindicated and proven to be genuine. This is what Jesus means when He tells His listeners that, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceed forth and have come from God.” To have a heart like Abraham’s is to have a desire for the ways of God.
That would compel a person to love Jesus as the One sent forth from the Father to rescue His children. This requires a renewed heart that has been taught by the Father (John 6:45) to love what He loves. All those without a renewed heart cannot even hear the message, because their unbelief blinds them. That is why Jesus tells them that they cannot hear His word. That is why He tells them that their desire is for the ways of the devil, because their allegiance is to sin. This is also why baptism in many early traditions involved a denunciation of the devil and his ways. When one has been renewed and his desires are for God, his allegiance has shifted. Defectors from the devil’s army, we are now made able to stand in the light, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Because of Him, we can reject our formal sinful patterns, though we may continue to war with them. Praise the Lord that we are given this chance to endure as He endured and slay the sin that once enslaved us.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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