Pardon the Expression
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36 NASB
Makes you free – Are you free? The answer depends entirely on your worldview. The meaning of the term “free” is a function of the culture you belong to. And the difference between the Greek/Western view of freedom and the Hebrew/Semitic view of freedom couldn’t be more divergent.
In the Greek world, freedom means independence from others. Freedom is contrasted with slavery, a state of being where I am owned and under the control of another. In the Greek world, slavery was an abomination; something that totally deprived one of being human. In Greek thought, freedom and its guarantee is a fundamental requirement of the state. Freedom is political in essence since it deals with the efforts of the body politic to insure freedom within the laws governing civil behavior. This is why democracy, the rule of the people by the people, is so important. It reduces the possibility of tyranny, the control of others by the few. By the time of the Stoics, the idea of freedom is extended to mean life only under the inviolable laws of nature. Any other attempt to restrict individual choice is considered slavery. What matters most is individual self-determination. Transferred to the religious realm, this means that even if we cannot control the body, the family or the state, we can control our “soul,” that is, our individual, personal relationship with God. The fruit of self-determination of the soul is the guarantee of eternal bliss in heaven.
Nothing could be further from the Hebraic idea of freedom. The Hebrew world is pragmatic, practical and centered in daily life. What matters most to those treading the pathways of the earth is direction and instruction. A man without a code of conduct is subject to the whims of all kinds of forces including his own passions. Such a man is a slave in every sense of the term even if he is king in the land. Therefore, freedom is not the ability to chose as I wish but rather the knowledge that what I am doing is in concert with the design of the universe and the will of God. The key to true freedom is law for it is instruction according to God’s desires that releases me from the anxiety of not knowing what is right and what is wrong. A man without torah is a slave. A man with torah is free. In the New Testament, this Hebraic concept is captured in the idea that Christ lives in us, we are under His control and the control of the Spirit and our lives are given over to His lordship. The guarantee of this reality of liberation from the angst of unrighteousness is the defeat of death and the promise of life everlasting.
When Yeshua proclaims that the Son makes us free, the last thing He has in mind is independent self-determining liberty! He speaks in Hebrew categories. To be free is to be controlled by God’s revelation of the way of living. It is to be free of anxiety, of confusion and finally, of death itself. “You cannot serve two masters” never meant that you had the option not to serve any master. Freedom means voluntary obligation to the will of God. Nothing more. Nothing less.
“Unfree men are horrified by the suggestion of accepting a daily discipline. Confusing inner control with external tyranny, they prefer caprice to self-restraint. They would rather have ideals than norms, hopes than directions, faith than forms. But the goal and the way cannot long endure in separation. The day of the week, the food we eat, the holidays of the year, the deeds that we do – these are the frontiers of faith. Unless the outer life expresses the inner world, piety stagnates and intention decays.”[1]
Topical Index: freedom, makes you free, John 8:36
So which do we focus on, the torah or the spirit of Christ in us. It sounds like you’re trying to have it both ways, or equating the two. God’s eternal essence is love. Love is all there was and all that shall remain. Love is the perfection we are being brought to. Love doesn’t just fulfill the law, it exceeds it. Love is a more excellent way. It is inherently just. It does justice and gives mercy. It’s the difference between the prodigal and the older son. The older son did every task the father gave him. The younger sought to serve from a glad heart. A glad heart does not require a list of chores, it anticipates the needs of others. And work from a glad heart is not work. That is why we say “Do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” One son knew he didn’t deserve to be in the house and rejoiced to be there. The other son felt he deserved to be there, but wouldn’t come in. Aliyah is defined as coming up. It is also defined as an upper room. When a jew reads that the new covenant was instituted in the upper room he hears “come up”. Servants live downstairs, but family lives upstairs. For Moses was a faithful servant in all his household. It is interesting that beneath the upper room is king David’s tomb. The earthly king is dead, but the heavenly king is alive upstairs. Make aliyah. Come on up. Be born above. I don’t deserve it boy am I glad i’m there.
Oh dear brother. Torah is the ultimate detailed instruction for loving from a pure heart. When yeshua returns we will all live according to the instructions in the Torah and the result will be the every tear will be wiped away and true Godly justice for all will prevail. NOBODY BUT NOBODY will ever be treated unjustly again. Every man woman and child will be free from the tyrany of another persons definition (which will always benefit that particular person more than anyone else) of justice. That will be paradise.
The Spirit bares witness to and warms our hearts toward God’s Torah. Read Ps 119 If the Torh is done away with then we need to srick it from the cannon first and then remove anything connected to it. All that would be left for us is Joh 11:35 “Jesus wept”
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Sorry for all the typos. You get the jist i hope.
So much to comment on here. It will take some time to dissect.
“So which do we focus on, the Torah or the spirit of Christ within us?”
Dear Brett, we cannot have one without the other. Yeshua never separated Himself from Torah — He epitomized Torah. He is the living example to us of what it means to live by Torah. There is no “both ways” here — there is only one way through Yeshua. To reject Torah is to reject Him as well.
Torah does not redeem us but it does give us instruction about the character of YHVH and how He expects us to live. Yes, God is love but He is also justice, mercy, provision, protection AND retribution. These “traits” are not His whole description – read through His names for a better picture of what has been revealed SO FAR.
What does love look like? What does justice look like? How do we define the behaviors without some sort of standard? Torah provides for us a measuring tool of behavior. It puts feet under a concept. Yeshua, Shaul, James, Peter all expected that their audiences understood that. How does one become a doer of the Word unless the “doing” has been described somewhere? Love as a concept can be defined according to each man’s own idea but love as defined in Torah is quite specific.
Amen!
So which do we focus on, the torah or the spirit of Christ in us.
Christ (ancient Greek: Χριστός, Christós, meaning ‘anointed’) is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Māšîaḥ), the Messiah, and is used as a title for Jesus
Hi Brett,
I tend to think that we need to focus on the Torah in order to understand what we read in it
And then try to behave accordingly
I tend to think we need to focus on the behavior/words of Jesus Christ, whose spirit can inspire us
Because Jesus behaves in a Godly manner in accordance with the Torah
And so we have all through the book of Judges; “they did what was right in their own eyes.”
We see a great picture of where this leads.
This is a very thought provoking lesson today. One I have been thinking about a lot lately and getting challenged on in the political realm. All this talk of liberty and freedom as an American. I am beginning to understand that I am first a follower of the Way who happened to be born an American (no small blessing either).
OT also tells us that there is a time for everything under the sun. If we have Y-H’s Kingdom in our hearts and influencing our choices, than these times mentioned in Eccelesiastes are not an issue as we follow our master and His ways.
Yes, yes, one must be born again and isn’t it interesting that one is born into slavery of the King! (from “freedom” of the world)
I hadn’t thought of the ‘definition of freedom’, found in Joshua. Great connection. I guess it isn’t as simple as “Christ died to set us free”, since that can mean just about anything to anyone.
We are free to live a devine life!
Which is HIS devine life. Which becomes “new” to us.
Extraordinarily new.
He lived this devine life here on earth, as no one else could.
And He gifts it to us so we can “be partakers of the devine nature.” 2 Pet 1:4
He paid the penalty for our sins and overcame the deadly consequence of same,
so we could live freely in the awareness of His Kingdom actualized within us,
within our extraordinarily new hearts where His “living waters” flow freely
through us to a dry and thirsty world.
All of this is HIS doing. His gift of love to us.
And our response? Simply to receive. And believe.
And, oh yes, obey. (There is no other way.)
His Spirit becomes our ever-present “newness.”
The old is gone. Crucified with Christ. Finished.
Done with. Over. Defeated.
New mercies are ours every morning.
New thoughts. His.
New ways. His.
And this world? He’s blown past it.
And, by faith, so can we!
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask
what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Jn 15:7
It’s His Kingdom. It’s His eternal life.
And He’s freely given both to each of us.
Extraordinary?
How about “miraculous”!
Thank you Skip this so beautifully highlights who is really the ‘slave’ and who is really ‘free’. What great ammunition for anyone who may accuse us of being ‘tied to tyrannical rules’. There is a whole sermon here !
John 8:36 So if the Son makes you free
John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil…”
Hmmm
For me, to understand freedom requires an abstraction to different “levels of meaning”
The most immediate form of freedom is at the “level” of experience (my being in the world)
I am “free” to choose or I am not responsible for my actions
For example, if I’m insane
Maybe mistakenly, I tend to think of this level as ontological
However at the theological level, God has prohibited certain behaviors
So I am not “free” to do whatever I want to do
In John I think Jesus means to free us from sinful behavior
But in John, Jesus confuses me
John’s view of the devil seems to be different that the view we find in Job
Where Ha Satan works for Yahweh, like the other Sons of God in that book
Maybe by the “devil” Jesus is referring to the “evil impulse”
Aka the Yetzer Hara
His-story
You gotta serve somebody!! We “exchange” one master for Another! We who are His, are under new “ownership,” we (now) serve a new Master, the LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ. No longer slaves to sin and to the ‘yetser hara’, but a slave to Christ (The Messiah) Himself. We, the sons and daughters of the King (and joint-heirs!) now may say and pray, along with our elder Brother,- “I (too, Abba) delight to do Your will”- to know and to do what pleases You.
The will of God (our Father) is fully revealed in the Torah. The Torah, (the Law of the LORD, the instructions of our Creator) has been “expanded” (through the years) from one “word” (don’t eat the fruit!) to ten (written in stone- and by the finger of God!) to “every word of God is pure”- which now includes “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God! (whew!). Are these words, (the words of our LORD) “only” contained within the ten words (Torah) given unto Moses? Ten certainly is “plenty enough” to convict and convince us (all) of sin and to lead us to Christ! (~Rejoice in the LORD- always?~)
Are there any among us “carbon units” who are alive and kickin’ today who may say (with all honesty and integrity)- “I have never sinned or transgressed the Torah of YHWH?” Are any (Jew or Gentile) among us “without sin?” May we give a “quick review” of our “known” history? Adam? Eve? (booted out of Paradise)- Why? Because of sin. Moses? (great leader and intercessor that he was) but… also a sinner- and because of his failure to obey the “word of the LORD” (he was to speak to the rock but instead struck the rock!) was not able (given permission) to cross over into Canaan with the people, but remained on this side of the Jordan. Sin, (all sin and our sin) carries with it serious consequences! Noah? sinner. David? sinner- but.. “a man after God’s own heart!”
These are the Old Covenant “saints” but what about the ones who were born A.D. or even saw and heard the Messiah Himself? Were these “sinners” also? Peter? Paul? Mary? – all of the above!
Houston, we all (do) have a problem. We (as in all men everywhere) are in need of a Savior. One who is able to forgive us our debts, and the payment due for what we have done (or failed to do!) For sin is not only doing the “wrong” thing, but it is also not doing the “right” thing! (yes,- “oy!”)
Would you (sir or m’am) then agree (with the scriptures)- “For” ALL have sinned..? (We are beginning at the beginning!) Establishing the facts.. (just the facts m’am”)- “all have sinned..” (including Torah obedient Jews?- and also “couldn’t care less, or ignorant as the day is long”- Gentiles? Yes. “ALL.”
We (who are breathing creatures) have sinned. But this is not “fact #1!) No, not at all..
Fact #1 (and the supreme fact) is this: God is Holy! We (as in none of us) have no idea-clue or concept as to “how” holy! May we say “very?” Way beyond our comprehension or understanding- very.
Two facts. God is holy and we (all) are sinners. Agreed? Then let us “go on- together..”
We (the humans) need an Arbitrater- a “go-between” – a Mediator.. Someone to stand between a sinner (sinners are us!) and our God who is absolutely holy. We have a need and God knows this! God may know this, but has He provided this “Man to stand in the gap?” Is there a “happy answer” to this question?
Abraham answered it for us! “My son, God will provide (for us) Himself the Lamb” – and did He? What is “the rest of the story?”- Right on time (and in the fulness of time)- a Lamb, an innocent Lamb provided by God, was born into this world. A baby was born in Bethlehem.
We are stunned, shocked and amazed and left to ask the same question (centuries later) that both Nicodemus and Mary asked: “how can these things be?” A miraculous birth! God humbled Himself and became a man! The Creator becomes the creature! – and is now living “among us” as a man!
~Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him ~
The rest is “His-story”
~ And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation ~ (Revelation 5.9)