And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Continuing in Christ's word as His true disciples leads to knowing the truth and being set free by it. The truth that frees is Christ Himself and the Word of God in Scripture, pure from human traditions, opinions and error. That freedom is release from slavery to sin and error and from Satan's control, not release from human bondage nor permission to sin. It comes only as the truth is received into the heart and practiced in obedient daily life, which purifies the soul and restores God's image. Those who are thus made free live as witnesses who share the light with others so they too may be freed.
Setting and Condition for Freedom
Jesus spoke these words to Jews who had believed on Him, in the same address in which He declared Himself the light of the world and promised that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Discipleship requires continuing in His word, and those who remain in it, hold fast to it, and stay closely bound to Him are truly His disciples. It is those who so continue who come to know the truth and are set free by it.
Continuing in His word means holding fast to it by putting His will into practice and doing what He teaches. Obedience decides fitness for discipleship, and discipleship is shown by obedient lives, not merely by profession. His teaching gives practical knowledge of God's character and relation to humanity, countering false principles, and continuing in God's Word leads people to know the truth and the way they should go. God promises to guide those who yield themselves to Him and seek His wisdom, so they can know whether each step is right.
The knowing follows the lifting up of the Son of man and belief on Him, and the promise is spoken to believers in contrast with the Pharisees who reject Him and remain in their sins. The freedom promised is having the light of life by following Christ instead of walking in darkness. Followers of Christ will meet what He met, when His speech is not understood because His word cannot be heard. Darkness comes not from God, who is light, but from an intruding object between the soul and God that causes shadow.
Identity of the Truth
The truth that sets free is Christ Himself, the truth as it is in Jesus. That freeing truth is found in the fullness and saving provision of Jesus, and receiving that provision revives and nourishes the soul. It is found in Jesus Christ, who came in humble human form and stood beside humanity so that people could learn from His life how to overcome temptation and live prepared for eternal life. That truth frees by separating a person from sins and from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, breaking the shackles of sin-slavery through becoming one with Him.
The truth that frees is the Word of God in the Bible, which is the foundation of faith rather than human sayings or authority. Truth from Scripture enlightens, sanctifies, refines, ennobles, elevates, and purifies the mind and character, while error cannot do this but brings darkness and peril. Giving the Bible to the people in their own language, in the first English translation, broke the fetters of ignorance and vice and liberated and elevated the country more than battlefield victories, placing in their hands a light that would never be extinguished.
The truth is of God and its principles are from above, and its eternal Author is God rather than the human agents who proclaim it, so those freed by truth are to honor God rather than the human instruments. When its principles are brought into daily life it makes the character Christlike, bringing freedom from the corruption in the world through lust and making people partakers of the divine nature. The truth is inseparable from God's written Word: the Holy Spirit leads people to that Word and tests spiritual claims and ideas, so any claim to the Spirit that turns people away from Scripture or claims the Spirit while neglecting Scripture contradicts it and does not bring freedom.
The pure truth must be known separated from speculative opinions, human theories, human requirements, traditions, and doctrines of men that cover the ground, hide sacred truth, and make truth hard to distinguish from error. Serving God in truth brings freedom of spirit, with peace, rest, and satisfaction, which empty ceremonies, superstitious rites, a mere round of ceremony, and human traditions cannot give. Obedience to the commandments of God does not bring the soul into bondage, for Christ's sayings have value above silver or gold, yet the seed of truth must be received pure, since if grafted onto the wild olive tree it can bear only wild olives. The truth revealed in Christ counters Satan's false principles by giving practical knowledge of God's character and relation to humanity, and the Spirit of truth gives no comfort through falsehood or error, but true comfort and satisfaction come through truth. This truth includes the righteousness of Christ by faith, which believers are to receive and share with others rather than remain indefinitely learning without coming to a knowledge of the truth.
Freedom from Sin and Error
Knowing the truth brings freedom from sin-slavery, the worst kind of bondage, for whoever commits sin is sin's servant, while the servant does not abide in the house forever but the Son abides ever, and only those the Son makes free are free indeed. The soul that refuses God is not its own but under the control of another power, in abject slavery under Satan as the most cruel tyrant, unable to see the beauty of truth and obeying the prince of darkness while flattering itself that it follows its own judgment. Those who boast they were never in bondage while committing sin are bound to Satan, placed under his training and led to treat God's people as he directs, and hearing the word of truth yet hating the message and the messenger because truth disturbs deceptive practices proves this bondage.
The claim to freedom because of descent from Abraham was false, for unbelief and malice had made its makers slaves of evil, and the desire to kill the one speaking God's truth showed they were not living as Abraham did. Rejecting Christ leaves people enslaved by unbelief and evil, while true children of Abraham obey God and do not oppose His truth. This freedom is release from the law of sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, so that in Christ there is no condemnation for those who walk according to the Spirit and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them.
Freedom is possible only on condition of becoming one with Him, for in redemption there is no compulsion and no external force, man is left free to choose whom he will serve, and the expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. Although there is no power to free self from Satan's control, when there is desire to be set free and a cry for power from above, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit to do God's will, which is the highest sense of freedom. Sin triumphs only by enfeebling the mind and destroying liberty of soul, while subjection to God is restoration to self and to true glory and dignity, and the divine law obeyed is the law of liberty. The freedom promised is freedom from committing sin, not freedom from human bondage, and liberty is not permission to sin, because sin is bondage, while Christ restores people to God's image and gives peace and rest.
The truth of the Word of God is not a fetter that binds the soul but the power that makes men free by separating them from sins and from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. The truth is not a yoke of bondage or a prison of doubts and fears but a consolation and glad news that brings joy, hope, and liberty as God's children, giving freedom, light, and joy, not a yoke. The freedom of truth brings sunshine through sins forgiven, true nobility through restoration of the moral image of God in man, peace from the Prince of peace, and help and light in darkness through the Comforter establishing the kingdom of God in the soul. The soul that cherishes the love of Christ is full of freedom, light, and joy, with no divided thoughts, yearning after God, going to Jesus rather than to men to know duty, searching the Word to find the standard, and living under the guidance of the Holy One in thought, word, and deed in the narrow divine path opened for the ransomed.
Knowing the truth makes people free from error and the control of sin, freeing the mind from error when every tie binding it to the enemy's falsehood is cut, giving discernment of the errors and false theories Satan presents, and purifying the soul away from error and unbelief, which bewilder the mind and can entangle a person in a snare difficult to escape. As people studied Scripture they recognized truths long obscured and were freed from the chains of error and superstition, and searching the Scriptures and receiving their light lets people recognize truth and share it. Giving the Bible in people's own languages helps them gain that freedom, and the first English translation broke the fetters of ignorance and vice and liberated and elevated the country more than battlefield victories by placing in their hands a light that would never be extinguished. Access to the Bible enlightens people, helps them recognize their leaders' sins, and frees them from accepting human authority in place of God's.
The truth sets people free from the slavery of sin and the bondage of worldly principles as they behold Christ's character and understand His love, grace, truth, and saving work for them, so their need is met and devotion to worldly treasures ends. This freedom is complete in Christ, who saves fully and to the uttermost all who come to Him so they are complete in Him, and those freed by the Son are free indeed unto salvation. This freedom is rescue from Satan's control and from the slavery of sin by Jesus, who both created human beings and gave His life to redeem them, so that the powers He redeemed are not wasted but accepted, appreciated, trained, and used to help save others. Obedience to God's Word and resistance to Satan's sophistries bring freedom, happiness, and saving grace.
Living and Sharing the Freedom
Freedom comes from practicing the truth in word and deed in daily life, not from keeping truth in the outer court with only superficial consent. Those who know the truth must be converted, surrendered, and dependent on God, honoring the God of truth by obedience as living witnesses and channels of light, and then they are made free. This freedom is lived by accepting and obeying God's word, including the light given for one's own day, for believing a lie, rejecting a clear command, or relying on inherited practice does not make anyone free, and people are judged according to the light they have received.
Truth must possess and abide in the soul as a living, working power, making a place for itself when it enters life and character, with self giving way so truth can work within. Truth brought into the inner sanctuary of the soul and into the heart changes the life and makes Christ's servant free with a noble joy. It expels love of self, self-indulgence, hastiness and petulance of temper, impatience, sensitiveness, touchiness, and pride, which drive Christ from the heart.
He who professes to love the truth yet does not bring it into practical life is not made free but bears a heavy yoke. He admits right principles without doing them, cuts off his influence, remains subject to the caprices of his own natural character, and robs God of the service purchased by Christ's blood. Believing and obeying the truth purifies the soul and leads away from error and unbelief, which bewilder the mind and can entangle a person in a snare difficult to escape.
Truth sanctifies the soul and leads believers to press together. Precious truth in all its loveliness brings liberty and gladness. When its principles are brought into daily life it makes the character Christlike, bringing freedom from the corruption in the world through lust and making people partakers of the divine nature.
Freedom comes through being yoked with Christ, for those who accept His yoke are free from human restraints that bind or hamper their service, and the truth makes its impress on their character. Working in harmony with the principles of truth makes people free indeed. This freedom is seen when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, producing praise and thanksgiving instead of doleful words about trials, honest business dealings with no dishonest or shameful act, a heart kept full of His praise, and a cheerful countenance that lets others see the freedom, kept by constantly looking to Jesus and weaving His grace and love into words and actions.
Those who desire to know and do God's will may claim this promise through faith, and every person can be delivered from sin's snares. Knowing and believing the truth brings freedom, and this freedom is salvation accomplished by inspiring faith in hearts and belief in the truth, with those freed by the Son free indeed. This calls for talking faith and not doubt, being hopeful and cheerful in the Lord, looking up in belief in the One God gave to save from sins, and honoring God with constantly increasing confidence that He will accept every soul who serves Him in sincerity.
The truth offered freedom, peace, strength, courage, and joy, but hardened hearts received no blessing because they would not accept the light. Those soundly converted to the truth strive earnestly to advance it in its purity in all associations and institutions and to make it what it should be to every household. It must not be weakened by imperfect lives but shine forth more brightly to overcome the world.
Knowing the truth moves disciples to live it and share it with others, to care for others and communicate the truth while its principles purify and ennoble society. It purifies those who receive it and leads them to live Christ's words and share what they know with others. People should want the truth and every person should have it in order to be made free and in order to practice it, and having it sends believers out as Christ went to reach those who do not know the precious promises, to open the Scriptures, to dispense heaven's light, and to gather in outsiders and perishing souls. Their work is to communicate the light they have received in the righteousness of Christ by faith, not to remain indefinitely learning without coming to a knowledge of the truth.
At Nora, those who humbled themselves, confessed wrongs, and received the pointed truths of God's word could return home free from the darkness and unbelief that had bound them. When the first message of Christ's coming was received and lived, it brought spiritual power, praise, and thanksgiving, and losing that experience meant losing the first love that needed to be revived. The verse is fulfilled in the church when she repents and is converted, refuses the evil and chooses the good, seeks God with all humility of mind and reaches her high calling in Christ, standing on the platform of eternal truth and by faith laying hold upon the attainments prepared for her. Then she is healed and appears in her God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, with her members as God's chosen, His pleasant portion, His representatives, precious in His sight, while without repentance she eats the fruit of her own doings until she abhors herself.
Continuing in Christ's word as His true disciples leads to knowing the truth and being set free by it. The truth that frees is Christ Himself and the Word of God in Scripture, pure from human traditions, opinions and error. That freedom is release from slavery to sin and error and from Satan's control, not release from human bondage nor permission to sin. It comes only as the truth is received into the heart and practiced in obedient daily life, which purifies the soul and restores God's image. Those who are thus made free live as witnesses who share the light with others so they too may be freed.
Setting and Condition for Freedom
Jesus spoke these words to Jews who had believed on Him, in the same address in which He declared Himself the light of the world and promised that whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Discipleship requires continuing in His word, and those who remain in it, hold fast to it, and stay closely bound to Him are truly His disciples. It is those who so continue who come to know the truth and are set free by it.
Continuing in His word means holding fast to it by putting His will into practice and doing what He teaches. Obedience decides fitness for discipleship, and discipleship is shown by obedient lives, not merely by profession. His teaching gives practical knowledge of God's character and relation to humanity, countering false principles, and continuing in God's Word leads people to know the truth and the way they should go. God promises to guide those who yield themselves to Him and seek His wisdom, so they can know whether each step is right.
The knowing follows the lifting up of the Son of man and belief on Him, and the promise is spoken to believers in contrast with the Pharisees who reject Him and remain in their sins. The freedom promised is having the light of life by following Christ instead of walking in darkness. Followers of Christ will meet what He met, when His speech is not understood because His word cannot be heard. Darkness comes not from God, who is light, but from an intruding object between the soul and God that causes shadow.
Identity of the Truth
The truth that sets free is Christ Himself, the truth as it is in Jesus. That freeing truth is found in the fullness and saving provision of Jesus, and receiving that provision revives and nourishes the soul. It is found in Jesus Christ, who came in humble human form and stood beside humanity so that people could learn from His life how to overcome temptation and live prepared for eternal life. That truth frees by separating a person from sins and from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, breaking the shackles of sin-slavery through becoming one with Him.
The truth that frees is the Word of God in the Bible, which is the foundation of faith rather than human sayings or authority. Truth from Scripture enlightens, sanctifies, refines, ennobles, elevates, and purifies the mind and character, while error cannot do this but brings darkness and peril. Giving the Bible to the people in their own language, in the first English translation, broke the fetters of ignorance and vice and liberated and elevated the country more than battlefield victories, placing in their hands a light that would never be extinguished.
The truth is of God and its principles are from above, and its eternal Author is God rather than the human agents who proclaim it, so those freed by truth are to honor God rather than the human instruments. When its principles are brought into daily life it makes the character Christlike, bringing freedom from the corruption in the world through lust and making people partakers of the divine nature. The truth is inseparable from God's written Word: the Holy Spirit leads people to that Word and tests spiritual claims and ideas, so any claim to the Spirit that turns people away from Scripture or claims the Spirit while neglecting Scripture contradicts it and does not bring freedom.
The pure truth must be known separated from speculative opinions, human theories, human requirements, traditions, and doctrines of men that cover the ground, hide sacred truth, and make truth hard to distinguish from error. Serving God in truth brings freedom of spirit, with peace, rest, and satisfaction, which empty ceremonies, superstitious rites, a mere round of ceremony, and human traditions cannot give. Obedience to the commandments of God does not bring the soul into bondage, for Christ's sayings have value above silver or gold, yet the seed of truth must be received pure, since if grafted onto the wild olive tree it can bear only wild olives. The truth revealed in Christ counters Satan's false principles by giving practical knowledge of God's character and relation to humanity, and the Spirit of truth gives no comfort through falsehood or error, but true comfort and satisfaction come through truth. This truth includes the righteousness of Christ by faith, which believers are to receive and share with others rather than remain indefinitely learning without coming to a knowledge of the truth.
Freedom from Sin and Error
Knowing the truth brings freedom from sin-slavery, the worst kind of bondage, for whoever commits sin is sin's servant, while the servant does not abide in the house forever but the Son abides ever, and only those the Son makes free are free indeed. The soul that refuses God is not its own but under the control of another power, in abject slavery under Satan as the most cruel tyrant, unable to see the beauty of truth and obeying the prince of darkness while flattering itself that it follows its own judgment. Those who boast they were never in bondage while committing sin are bound to Satan, placed under his training and led to treat God's people as he directs, and hearing the word of truth yet hating the message and the messenger because truth disturbs deceptive practices proves this bondage.
The claim to freedom because of descent from Abraham was false, for unbelief and malice had made its makers slaves of evil, and the desire to kill the one speaking God's truth showed they were not living as Abraham did. Rejecting Christ leaves people enslaved by unbelief and evil, while true children of Abraham obey God and do not oppose His truth. This freedom is release from the law of sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, so that in Christ there is no condemnation for those who walk according to the Spirit and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in them.
Freedom is possible only on condition of becoming one with Him, for in redemption there is no compulsion and no external force, man is left free to choose whom he will serve, and the expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. Although there is no power to free self from Satan's control, when there is desire to be set free and a cry for power from above, the powers of the soul are imbued with the divine energy of the Holy Spirit to do God's will, which is the highest sense of freedom. Sin triumphs only by enfeebling the mind and destroying liberty of soul, while subjection to God is restoration to self and to true glory and dignity, and the divine law obeyed is the law of liberty. The freedom promised is freedom from committing sin, not freedom from human bondage, and liberty is not permission to sin, because sin is bondage, while Christ restores people to God's image and gives peace and rest.
The truth of the Word of God is not a fetter that binds the soul but the power that makes men free by separating them from sins and from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. The truth is not a yoke of bondage or a prison of doubts and fears but a consolation and glad news that brings joy, hope, and liberty as God's children, giving freedom, light, and joy, not a yoke. The freedom of truth brings sunshine through sins forgiven, true nobility through restoration of the moral image of God in man, peace from the Prince of peace, and help and light in darkness through the Comforter establishing the kingdom of God in the soul. The soul that cherishes the love of Christ is full of freedom, light, and joy, with no divided thoughts, yearning after God, going to Jesus rather than to men to know duty, searching the Word to find the standard, and living under the guidance of the Holy One in thought, word, and deed in the narrow divine path opened for the ransomed.
Knowing the truth makes people free from error and the control of sin, freeing the mind from error when every tie binding it to the enemy's falsehood is cut, giving discernment of the errors and false theories Satan presents, and purifying the soul away from error and unbelief, which bewilder the mind and can entangle a person in a snare difficult to escape. As people studied Scripture they recognized truths long obscured and were freed from the chains of error and superstition, and searching the Scriptures and receiving their light lets people recognize truth and share it. Giving the Bible in people's own languages helps them gain that freedom, and the first English translation broke the fetters of ignorance and vice and liberated and elevated the country more than battlefield victories by placing in their hands a light that would never be extinguished. Access to the Bible enlightens people, helps them recognize their leaders' sins, and frees them from accepting human authority in place of God's.
The truth sets people free from the slavery of sin and the bondage of worldly principles as they behold Christ's character and understand His love, grace, truth, and saving work for them, so their need is met and devotion to worldly treasures ends. This freedom is complete in Christ, who saves fully and to the uttermost all who come to Him so they are complete in Him, and those freed by the Son are free indeed unto salvation. This freedom is rescue from Satan's control and from the slavery of sin by Jesus, who both created human beings and gave His life to redeem them, so that the powers He redeemed are not wasted but accepted, appreciated, trained, and used to help save others. Obedience to God's Word and resistance to Satan's sophistries bring freedom, happiness, and saving grace.
Living and Sharing the Freedom
Freedom comes from practicing the truth in word and deed in daily life, not from keeping truth in the outer court with only superficial consent. Those who know the truth must be converted, surrendered, and dependent on God, honoring the God of truth by obedience as living witnesses and channels of light, and then they are made free. This freedom is lived by accepting and obeying God's word, including the light given for one's own day, for believing a lie, rejecting a clear command, or relying on inherited practice does not make anyone free, and people are judged according to the light they have received.
Truth must possess and abide in the soul as a living, working power, making a place for itself when it enters life and character, with self giving way so truth can work within. Truth brought into the inner sanctuary of the soul and into the heart changes the life and makes Christ's servant free with a noble joy. It expels love of self, self-indulgence, hastiness and petulance of temper, impatience, sensitiveness, touchiness, and pride, which drive Christ from the heart.
He who professes to love the truth yet does not bring it into practical life is not made free but bears a heavy yoke. He admits right principles without doing them, cuts off his influence, remains subject to the caprices of his own natural character, and robs God of the service purchased by Christ's blood. Believing and obeying the truth purifies the soul and leads away from error and unbelief, which bewilder the mind and can entangle a person in a snare difficult to escape.
Truth sanctifies the soul and leads believers to press together. Precious truth in all its loveliness brings liberty and gladness. When its principles are brought into daily life it makes the character Christlike, bringing freedom from the corruption in the world through lust and making people partakers of the divine nature.
Freedom comes through being yoked with Christ, for those who accept His yoke are free from human restraints that bind or hamper their service, and the truth makes its impress on their character. Working in harmony with the principles of truth makes people free indeed. This freedom is seen when Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, producing praise and thanksgiving instead of doleful words about trials, honest business dealings with no dishonest or shameful act, a heart kept full of His praise, and a cheerful countenance that lets others see the freedom, kept by constantly looking to Jesus and weaving His grace and love into words and actions.
Those who desire to know and do God's will may claim this promise through faith, and every person can be delivered from sin's snares. Knowing and believing the truth brings freedom, and this freedom is salvation accomplished by inspiring faith in hearts and belief in the truth, with those freed by the Son free indeed. This calls for talking faith and not doubt, being hopeful and cheerful in the Lord, looking up in belief in the One God gave to save from sins, and honoring God with constantly increasing confidence that He will accept every soul who serves Him in sincerity.
The truth offered freedom, peace, strength, courage, and joy, but hardened hearts received no blessing because they would not accept the light. Those soundly converted to the truth strive earnestly to advance it in its purity in all associations and institutions and to make it what it should be to every household. It must not be weakened by imperfect lives but shine forth more brightly to overcome the world.
Knowing the truth moves disciples to live it and share it with others, to care for others and communicate the truth while its principles purify and ennoble society. It purifies those who receive it and leads them to live Christ's words and share what they know with others. People should want the truth and every person should have it in order to be made free and in order to practice it, and having it sends believers out as Christ went to reach those who do not know the precious promises, to open the Scriptures, to dispense heaven's light, and to gather in outsiders and perishing souls. Their work is to communicate the light they have received in the righteousness of Christ by faith, not to remain indefinitely learning without coming to a knowledge of the truth.
At Nora, those who humbled themselves, confessed wrongs, and received the pointed truths of God's word could return home free from the darkness and unbelief that had bound them. When the first message of Christ's coming was received and lived, it brought spiritual power, praise, and thanksgiving, and losing that experience meant losing the first love that needed to be revived. The verse is fulfilled in the church when she repents and is converted, refuses the evil and chooses the good, seeks God with all humility of mind and reaches her high calling in Christ, standing on the platform of eternal truth and by faith laying hold upon the attainments prepared for her. Then she is healed and appears in her God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, with her members as God's chosen, His pleasant portion, His representatives, precious in His sight, while without repentance she eats the fruit of her own doings until she abhors herself.