St. John 8:31-32
St. John was written by John, the beloved disciple, and this book shows Jesus Christ as God and as Jehovah's Messiah and Son. John is the 43rd book of the Bible with 21 chapters, 879 verses, 19,099 words, and 167 questions.
The purpose is to convince the Unbelievers to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. It was also written to strengthen the foundation of faith so that believers might go on believing in spite of false teachings and so enter fully into fellowship with the Father and Son.
Here in verses 31 & 32, Jesus is talking to newly converted Jews:
V 31: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
V 32: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
We know that Jesus, who is truth, was always finding resistance from the Jews. They were opposed to all that Jesus stood for because they went strictly by the law and were set. And I do mean “set” in their religion! They followed the letter of the law instead of the Law Giver.
How many have heard the saying that the Jews are “God's Chosen People”? If they are “God's Chosen People”, then what does that make us? ORPHANS! How many of you know that they have to come the same way we do, and that's through and by Jesus the Christ.
So here were those Jews who heard the words of Jesus and believed and were converted. He's saying that for them to believe on Jesus, they have to continue in Him - to grow, to be strong, to come to maturity. They'll have to continue in HIS WORD!
How will we continue to grow and mature? By his Word! Verse 32 says “he shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. What is truth?
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, truth is conformity to fact or actuality; a statement proven to be accepted as true; sincerity; integrity. According to the Word of God, truth is primarily God's revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. St. John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Truth separates the wicked from the righteous. Truth makes us free. The lie brings us into the slavery of deception. The Truth is redemptive; the lie is destructive. The truth is that we are called to love Jesus and his word and thereby know the truth and truth shall make us free.
Jesus specifically told those new converts to continue in His Word. As we continue in His Word, the truth will unveil or expose the tactics, the plans and the workings of the devil.
An essential part of Jesus's ministry was to testify to the truth and point people to it. Should not that be our mission to testify to the truth and point people to it? Why not? 1 John 4:17 states “as he is, so are we in this world”. Jesus said in St. John 18:37: “Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
- Evangelist Mary Perry
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