'the TRUTH sholF make you FREE
by C. T . Reid
H ow familiar is the quotation, “ The truth shall make you free!” Often we see it engraven in stone above the portals of our great halls of learning. Where does it originate? Is it valid? What does it mean? Almost anyone will answer, “Why, I always thought it was in the Bible. Isn’t it?” Yes! It surely is. We will turn to God’s Holy Word and read it for ourselves, but hold — wait a minute. Do we want merely to find the words “The truth shall make you free?” Before we look un this nassasre in Scrip ture, let’s ask ourselves what we expect of it. Are we try ing to lay a foundation or build a philosophy on that simple phrase? Are we searching for a panacea for the world’s ills — or the nation’s or the individual’s? Simply because the Bible says, “The truth shall make you free,” shall we close the book quickly and rush to improve our education, as a means of acquiring the truth? By “ truth” do we mean “ facts?” Do we mean knowledge or that which is accurate, proven, correct information? Or do we mean what is “ right?” Shall we advance our own education, our nation’s or the whole world’s, so that men, then knowing the “ truth,” will unanimously outlaw slavery, oppression and war? Many people seem to expect this. It would appear to be the basis of the great world educational movements. Doubtless it is the motivation behind UNESCO. It likely sparks the altruism of the great educational philanthropic foundations. But alas! the Bible doesn’t teach this. Let us now open our Bibles. Turn to the Gospel of John, eighth chapter, verse thirty-two. There it is, in the last half of the verse. It is not a separate expression. We have been taking it out of context. It declares “ And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Well, so what? W ith the context of the full verse, we have only added the further promise, “ ye shall know the truth.” Why all the commotion? This doesn’t change the meaning very much. Ah, but see what precedes! We still do not have the whole sentence. We still haven’t quoted the statement honestly. We still are out of context. And, being out of context, we miss the true meaning. (It has sometimes been said “You can prove anything by the Bible.” Those who attempt to do that usually pick a few words out of context.) We must find the beginning of the sentence and start our reading there. We must take note of who is speaking and to whom his remarks are addressed. We must observe the circumstances. We must note carefully any limiting conditions. If we stop short of this “ we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” So now we start reading at the thirty-first verse. “ Then said Jesus” — Oh, how wonderful! These then are the words of the Master Himself, the Son of God: “ to those Jews which believed on him.” He addressed be lievers. So this pronouncement is not for everybody! It is for those who believed in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, trusting Him as their Lord and Master. “ If ye continue in my word.” Well now we have a further limitation. We
have a condition. We see an “ if,” a big “ if.” “ If ye con tinue in my word.” Suppose a believer 'does not continue in God’s Word. Suppose the believer turns aside from his first love in Christ and indulges in worldliness. Then the rest does not apply to him. It cannot apply until he asks the Lord’s forgiveness and comes back into the fold. Continuing, we read, “ then are ye my disciples in deed.” This doubly reinforces the address label on the promises which we first found in the thirty-second verse. Now these promises follow. Now we can read them in context. Now we can see to whom and under what special conditions alone they apply. “ Then are ye my disciples indeed; “ And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” So the truth will make free only those who believe on Jesus and show their loyal discipleship by continuing in His Word. This is a promise to individuals. It is an individual personal matter between a man and God. We should like to understand it better. We aj*e helped in our understanding when we prayerfully meditate upon more of Christ’s teachings as found in this very same book of John. We learn from John 14:6, that Jesus himself is the truth, “ I am the way, the truth and the life,” He tells us. So knowing the truth is knowing Christ himself. He refers to Himself in John 8:36 as the Son, and says, “ If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” He is the truth that makes us free. But here also is an “ if.” “ If therefore the Son shall make you free — .” But in John 6:37 He has already stated, “ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” So we ourselves hold all the options on the “ if.” He is ready and willing. He declares, “ Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him” (Rev. 3:20). In the fourteenth chapter of John, the Lord Jesus ex plains how it is that His disciples will find Him mani fested to them when the rest of the people of the world do not. It turns out simply that we love Him and prove it by keeping His commandments and this creates the climate within ourselves which makes it possible for the Holy Spirit to indwell us. This beautiful teaching occupies the ten verses of John 14:16-26, the climax of which is this: The Holy Spirit will teach us all things. So this is how we shall learn the truth and the truth shall make us free. Do we really want to be free? All our science and philosophy cannot bring us this kind of liberty. Our eco nomic systems, our political institutions, our ideologies cannot accomplish it. But if the Son makes us free we shall be free indeed. No college architectural design can rightly incorporate the abbreviated motto, “ The Truth Shall Make You Free,” unless, inside these ivy-covered walls God’s Holy Word is expounded in faith and trust, and with the love that is known only to the born-again children of God. M r. C . T . Reid is Director of Relations with Industry at Northrop Institute of Technology, Ingleiwood, California.
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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