“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’” (John 8:31-32 ESV).
There is a whole lot of doctrine packed into this single statement from Jesus; however, what you believe will determine whether this is just another verse or a foundational basis for your life.
Let’s look at the four phrases that comprise His statement:
- If you abide in my word
- You are truly my disciples
- And you will know the truth
- And the truth will set you free
If you look at part 1 and part 3, Jesus is stating that His word is truth. This is a fundamental, foundational element of believing and following Jesus. In His High Priestly prayer, Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17). John started off his gospel “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John is eloquently saying that God has always been, and that He is synonymous with His Word. God’s word is truth. Thus, everything relayed from God to man is truth. Humans captured His Word in the book we call the Bible. Paul stated in II Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Peter affirms this in I Peter 1:21, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
God, through the Holy Spirit, provided the words that were to be written down in manuscripts to be the vehicle bringing forth faith and salvation. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The Bible, the inerrant, inspired, infallible collection of God’s truth, is how we know who God is, what He said, what He wants, what He commands, what He has done, and who we are to Him.
Some will argue that only the original manuscripts were inerrant, inspired, or infallible; that the collection of scriptures we have today are not the entirety of everything; or that the Words of God that were uttered from His mouth were inerrant and infallible, but it became errant and fallible when men put pen to paper, or scrolls technically. Others argue that a particular “modern” translation is the only version that is inerrant, inspired, or infallible, such as the King James Version (KJV) only group.
In John 14:26, Jesus was explaining to the disciples how His words were going to be recorded; “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The Spirit supernaturally brought the memories of what Jesus had said to the disciples to record, so that His words would be available for generations of humans.
Translations are necessary to allow all people to read the Word so that they can find faith. If no one can read the Word, to speak the Word, then none will find faith. Throughout history, men, such as Martin Luther and William Tyndale, worked tirelessly to allow the Word to live in the common vernacular.
The KJV was first printed in 1611 and has been “the” translation for centuries; however, its old English language can be difficult to understand. Modern translations have been developed to again produce the Word into common vernacular. Some use a word-for-word approach, such as the English Standard Version and New American Standard Bible, and others attempt to convey the meaning in a thought-for-thought philosophy, such as the New International Version and the New Living Translation.
So, what is the best version? I’m not a scholar, and I don’t have a degree in theology or linguistics. I’ve never had an angel or God manifest in visible form telling me that a particular translation is the exact word that was spoken to mankind. But I’ll tell you what I believe is true. I believe that the words of God that I have heard from the Bible are real. I have faith from hearing Scripture, exactly as Paul said.
I believe that God always was, always is, and always has been. I believe that His word is absolute truth; not a His truth versus your truth versus my truth deal, but He and His words are absolutely true. How do I arrive at that conclusion? I have faith.
I understand that faith does not equate logic, but it is the bridge from the end of logic to the other side. Logic tells me that there is someone much bigger than I that created everything. Logic tells me that it takes more faith to believe that living things evolved into what it all is today or that everything came into existence from a massive explosion from nothing, than to simply believe that something bigger than humans created everything from nothing.
Cave drawings, archeological finds, and critical elements of religions across the globe all point to the Bible being real. The gulf of human behavior between the sweetest old lady you ever met and the most depraved, murdering rapist can be explained by the Bible; yet all the “brilliant” minds have never had a solid answer.
I can go on and on, but ultimately, belief that God is real and that Scripture is His word comes down to consciously believing that they are truth. If you accept that truth, then you can be set free, just like Jesus said. If you cannot accept the truth that God and every part of His word is real, then I pray that the Holy Spirit starts speaking to you and removing the scales from your eyes before it’s too late.
On the other side of the coin, if you do believe God is truth, but do not believe that everything in His word is truth, you are making a fool of yourself. Firstly, you are saying that God is truth while simultaneously calling Him a liar, as John said “the Word was God” (John 1:1). God cannot be the truth and not truth at the same time. Secondly, you would be staking your eternal destiny on a book that you believe is only partially true and a God that apparently is not always truthful, which ultimately means that if one part is not true, any or all of it could be untrue. How would you pick and choose what is true and what isn’t? Are you really going to take that gamble?
I pray you don’t because that deck is stacked against you. The Devil is sly and knows if he can get in the smallest bit of doubt, he will eventually get you completely off the path. It is like shooting an azimuth in land navigation. If you are off your mark by the slightest degree, even though it may seem like zero error at the beginning, eventually that deviation is going to move you father and father off the right path. So that once you’ve travelled the distance you were supposed to travel, you are nowhere near where you were supposed to be.
In the same conversation about the truth setting His followers free, Jesus told His critics, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The Devil is the father of lies, the originator of lies.
The Devil knows that what Jesus stated is true, “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). He is afraid of you becoming a true disciple and being set free. He wants you trapped and bound up in his lies, under his control. He wants to you to always yield in moments of temptation. He wants you to be a slave to sin. “The thief come only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
But Jesus wants to set you free, and He provided the map to find freedom. “Abide in my word” is the first leg of the map. Abiding is staying continuously, remaining, dwelling, taking up permanent residence. One way of completing this part is to meditate on Scripture, day and night, as God told Joshua to do. What better way to learn about the truth then studying the written record that you can access at any time?
You cannot only learn from reading the Word, but you can experience it. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrew 4:12). His word is alive, and the Spirit can penetrate your deepest parts to produce change and application. It is not only a historical record, but it is His words actively speaking to you.
You can read the same passage multiple times throughout your life and discern a different application each time because of your life’s circumstances and situations at the time. The Spirit uses the written word to speak directly to you, and I can personally testify to this. I cannot count the number of times I have read the exact same verses and come away with a different understanding and application for what I was experiencing in my life at that particular time.
Out the outset of His ministry, Jesus told His twelve chosen men to follow Him, to become disciples by living and learning from Him. We do not have Jesus in human form to follow around and learn from, but we have His living word, through which we can truly become disciples. A disciple by definition refers to one who is learning and being trained, and the word is closely related to discipline. Becoming a disciple requires discipline, and in the way Jesus meant it, it is a disciplined life of learning and application.
It is the pursuit of holiness out of love for Jesus. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). Doing good things, being nice to people, following all the commandments in the Bible does not make you a good person, but loving Jesus will cause you to follow His commandments. You do not clean up your life and live holy by doing all the right things to be worthy of the love of Jesus. Jesus gives His love and cleans up our lives so that we can be in a relationship with Him, to be His follower, imitating Him.
The life of following Him is where freedom is found. The Devil and his followers will try to convince you that there is no freedom. There are all these rules you have to follow. There is this long list of things you are not allowed to do. You can’t sleep with whoever you want to. You can’t drink and smoke whatever you want to. You can’t go out and party every weekend. You can’t have fun. It’s boring. The Devil says that doing all those things is real freedom, but it’s a lie. All those things are the real bondage, because they are all a feeble, failing attempts to create happiness without Jesus.
“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” (John 8:34-36). What is the freedom Jesus is talking about? It is a freedom that comes from the confidence in knowing that you will have eternal life with Jesus. It is freedom that comes from not stressing about things outside of your control, because Jesus has control of all of it and is going to look out for you. It is freedom in not having shame and guilt, because Jesus took on all the shame and condemnation for you when He sacrificed Himself on the cross.
If you do not know that if you died right this minute that you will be spending eternity with Jesus, do not wait another second. Acknowledge that you are a condemned sinner deserving eternal punishment, repent of your sin, and believe on Him, accepting His FREE gift of salvation. Do it right now and He will pardon all of it.
If you have been saved, but have not yet experienced the freedom that Jesus promised, dig into His word. Diligently, intentionally, and purposely read it, asking the Spirit to reveal His truth to you, and He will do it. You will experience His word become alive and begin speaking to you, as though it was written just for you – because it was, in the same way that He died just for you.
“Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).
Rooster's Crow 
Leave a comment