 |
| East Maple Ridge |
John 8:31-36
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
I recently listened to short July 4 sermon from the United States of America, where Pastor Jon Courson, that is a fine exegete, implies (paraphrased) that the concept of 'free' in John 8 means that America has liberty and political freedom because it is significantly Christian.
Let us briefly exegete John 8 in regard to being 'free':
From Strong...
1658 ἐλεύθερος 1659 ἐλευθερόω
Please see iPhone images:
8: 32 which is 1659: To liberate, deliver, make free. (34). So, knowing the truth will liberate someone giving them freedom.
8: 33 which is from 1658: Strong defines 1658 as unrestrained (as a citizen, as an example), not a slave, free within liberty. (34)
8: 36: Knowing the Son of God, Jesus Christ, will make you truly free (1659), and this person shall be free (1658) indeed. The person has liberty and freedom within the truth, and is unrestrained and not a slave.
Bauer documents that ἐλεύθερος is in regard to '1. of political and social freedom' (250), and references John 8: 33 noting that this will be the opposite of slavery with this section (1). This definition is in agreement with Strong.
In regards to ἐλευθερόω: Bauer documents that 8: 32 is in regard to moral matters. (251). Again a consistency with the work of Strong.
Courson in his commentary, explains that (paraphrased) the Pharisees were blind as they could not admit that they lacked political freedom under the occupation of the Roman Empire in 8: 33. (509).
But the core problem was still Pharisees rejection of Jesus Christ (the gospel message, his deity and work, my add). (509). Ellis takes the view that the Jews were not denying historical facts, but were stating that in each historical situation they had aspects of freedom. (1247). Importantly, it was the Pharisees that brought the concept of political freedom into the discussion with Jesus Christ.
Jesus does acknowledge, seemingly this political freedom, although secondarily in importance in verse 36.
---
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
The primary context is spiritual in John 8. We can reason this as sin is primary thing documented against freedom (34-36), and in the gospel context the atoning and resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ in conjunction with the Trinity is the remedy to sin.
Pastor Courson is correct, I would reason as secondary context that this includes political freedom and liberty. Again, supported by Greek scholars Strong and Bauer.
Theologically, although I agree with the Lord Jesus Christ that spiritual freedom should lead to political freedom, clearly it is not the case with every 'free' in Christ, Christian believer. For example, there are Christians in orthodox and radical Islamic countries that have state and society limited freedoms. However, in the culminated Kingdom of God, spiritual freedom will lead to political freedom as the government and its citizens under God the Son and the Triune God, will live this out.
Pastor Courson made the classic claim (paraphrased) on his July 4, 2018 sermon that the United States of America is the freest nation on earth because it is Christian. Acknowledging his correctness from John 8 in a secondary context, there would still be a very significant intellectual, philosophical and political debate on which Western nation actually is the most free! There is no obvious answer in my view.
The massive size of the United States government, civilian and military and its power to oversee all citizens is at least one philosophical premise that can provide substantial doubt on Pastor Courson's claim, at least in some contexts.
A premise is support of his view is the large size of the Christian Church and Christian publishing, in the United States of America.
 |
| page 498 |
 |
| page 34 |
 |
| page 42 |
BAUER, WALTER. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
COURSON, JON (2005) Application Commentary, Thomas Nelson, Nashville.
ELLIS, DAVID J. (1986) 'John' in F.F. Bruce (gen.ed.), The International Bible Commentary, Grand Rapids, Marshall Pickering/ Zondervan.
STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.
