Things That Only Jesus Can Give YouSýnishorn

Only Jesus can set you free from sin

“And you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free.”

Over the massive front doors of the University of Texas Tower are engraved the words of Jesus in John 8:32 (King James Version): “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

I am thrilled that there is something pointing to Jesus Christ and his teachings at such a prominent place on a large university campus. However, I do wish people understood the verse in its context.

The suggestion of the verse standing alone in an academic environment is this: In the acquisition of knowledge and truth, there is freedom, freedom of all kinds. In learning information, you gain freedom. Unfortunately, that was simply not the point Jesus was making. 

First of all, he was talking about spiritual freedom, not political or physical freedom. Jesus was talking about freedom from sin. Freedom from the power of sin, freedom to live the life that, deep down, we long to live. And there is a condition to experiencing this freedom. The condition comes in the previous verse, John 8:31: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” The condition is abiding in the words of Jesus, obeying his commands, and following his teachings. If we obey Jesus, then we are his disciples. We will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. The Bible teaches us that we can live a life of freedom from the tyranny of sin. We will never be free from all sin in this life, but we can be free from slavery to sin.

In a paradox, this freedom, true freedom, only comes with slavery--slavery to Jesus Christ. If we surrender our will to Jesus Christ and do what he wants us to do, rather than what we want to do, we will know the joy and peace of true freedom. In slavery to Jesus, we find true freedom.