John 8:12

John 8:12–38

5/30/2012

Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.

Freedom
Verses 31-38 are very important. I would summarize the application of them this way:

You can be free and still be a slave.
You can be a slave and still be free.

We tend to define "freedom" as having the ability to do whatever we want. In the US, we have a pretty large amount of freedom according to that definition. Others do not. What Jesus wants us to understand is that how we usually define freedom is not true freedom. True freedom is the ability to be who we were created to be and to bring glory to God through knowing Him and worshiping Him. Jesus offers that. Even though you might be in slavery physically, you can know what true freedom is. The opposite is true: there are millions of "free" people in this world that are trapped by sin and death. Will we offer them freedom?

Andrei

5/30/2012 07:13:36 pm

Couldn't help but to notice the continual emphasis that Jesus puts on His authority coming from the Father. I couldn't find the blog where Greg talked about that, (was it a few days ago? or weeks ago? lolerskates) but it didn't seem like it was emphasized as much in the other Gospels? Is this just another aspect that makes John different, or is it just done differently in the other Gospels?

Greg

5/31/2012 05:52:16 am

Good eye, Andrei. John has what is called in Biblical Studies a "high Christology", meaning that it's more developed than the other Gospels. This has to do with:

1. Different writer: John is a different person and therefore obviously thinks this is more important to his intended audience than the other writers did.

2. Different purpose: John actually puts his purpose at the end of the book, but I would say that whereas the other Gospels are almost exclusively evangelistic (even as they address different themes throughout), John is also evangelistic, but is much more didactic (teaching-oriented) than the other books. His thoughts are more philosophical, as is evidenced by the beginning of John.

I hadn't mentioned this particularly in anything, but you're totally right! John definitely does spend more time on things like this than the other Gospels.

Comments are closed.

John 8:12–38

Archives