To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)
One of the most quoted, affirmed and loved verses in Scripture is John 8:32; 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' Reading the context of the verse, that which precedes and follows it, clearly demonstrates the inherent danger of lifting a verse out of the ground in which it is planted. On its own, Jesus' promise that we will know the truth sounds like a wonderful unconditional promise. But it is anything but that - it is a conditional, 'if...then' promise.
Jesus says that if we hold to his teaching - that is we, believe who he says he is (e.g. 'the light of the world') and we obey his commands - this then will lead us into knowing and experiencing the truth that will set us free. Orthodoxy (right thinking) and orthopraxis (right behaviour) in discovering the liberating truth of the gospel. We cannot ignore Jesus' commands to love neighbor and say that we have the truth in us. We cannot dismiss claims of Jesus' divinity and still call ourselves 'Christian'.
Between the 'if' and the 'then' is the path of discipleship. If we hold to Jesus teaching, we are his disciples - his followers, and then as his disciples we will plunge further and further into Truth that sets us free. Discipleship is a journey of fits and starts, of false turns and slow lanes, of blinding revelations and fumbling around in the dark. But Jesus leads us, and he leads us somewhere good - eventually to that place where all the scales will fall from our eyes and we will know all things. What a destination we can look forward to. What an adventure the journey towards oir destination is!
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