“Free Indeed”
Original sermon given on Sunday, October 26, 2025 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“Free Indeed” John 8.31-36
In the name of the Living God who has set us free indeed. Amen.
At first hearing this reading sounds so very familiar to us — almost too familiar. It’s often the gospel reading for Reformation Sunday, and as such it has familiar buzz words like “truth,” “freedom,” “knowledge,” and “disciples.” We have hymns and anthems based upon it, including the “University Hymn” of Concordia Chicago. Written by our own David Rogner and based upon Concordia University’s official seal, it quotes this very passage: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” In fact, these words of John 8 are “so Lutheran” that Martin “Luder” latinized, or “graecized” his last name, based upon the word for “freedom” in this very text: eleutheros. Martin “Luder” called himself Martinus Eleutherius, because of the freedom he found in the gospel.
So, it’s a very familiar text… but not so fast. If you take a second look at John 8, you’ll quickly discover two glaringly strange things. The first is that our Lord is speaking “to the Jews who believed in him.” Of course, many Jews did believe in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah come into the world to save them and all mankind. Indeed, nearly all the first Christians were of Jewish religious and ethnic background. (If you want to see how that changed, you should join us Wednesdays at noon as we study the missionary journeys of St. Paul.)
But here, in this moment in John 8, before the crucifixion and the resurrection, before the ascension and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, these followers of Jesus don’t really know what “believing in him” means. They don’t understand true discipleship. This will become painfully obvious in the next few verses where these same “believers in Jesus” are unresponsive to Christ’s word, are called “children of the devil” and “liars”, and in fact are plotting to murder Jesus.[1] With “believers” like this, who needs unbelievers, right?
The Lord here breaks down whatever false, fleeting, or shallow “belief” they had by striking to the heart of true discipleship – what it really means to really follow him.
So that’s the first strange and glaring thing in John 8: these “believers in Jesus” aren’t really disciples. The second is their statement, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.”
Really? Never? Anyone? Even a cursory reading of history says otherwise. In fact, it’s difficult to think of an Empire in the ancient world which the Jewish people hadn’t served: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Syria, not to mention their latest and greatest overlords, the Romans.[2] How can they say, “We are children of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone”?
Clearly, they are not so ignorant of their own history nor so unaware of their present political circumstances. No, what they mean by “we have never been enslaved to anyone” concerns their own perceived “spiritual, inward freedom and privilege” as descendants of Abraham. One Rabbi claimed that, despite all their successive overlords, they remained always truly “sons of kings” — that is, being descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for them meant freedom.[3]
It is this Jesus confronts in them… and us. In John 8 he challenges us with what it means to be truly free and truly a disciple. It’s not about ethnicity. Nor heritage. Nor your genetics. Nor family of origin. Nor the things you do for God. Nor all the great changes you’re planning to make in your life. Nor keeping the right set of religious rules at the right time. None of this brings freedom, none of it is true discipleship, but rather it’s all about trusting and following Jesus, and being joined to him through faith.
Our Lord here delivers three characteristics of true disciples, regardless of their background, ethnicity, or genealogy. The first is that disciples remain in his word. The second is that disciples know the truth. And the third is that disciples are set free indeed. In John 8.31, Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
Disciples Remain / Abide in His Word
The Holy Scriptures convey to us the eternal gospel, the message of salvation. The scriptures draw us into the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, our only savior. Disciples abide or remain in his word. His word is to soak into us, cover over us, flood into every aspect of our life. It is our lifeline to the living word, Jesus.
Disciples Know the Truth
First, the truth of sin. Not bad choices, not poor judgments, not difficult social problems (although these are all true), but the spiritual truth that by nature we are all in rebellion against God, and all stand equally condemned by his righteous judgment. Sin has an elusive, irrational, enslaving, consuming power over us. We are helpless in its bonds. We cannot free ourselves by our own efforts.
But secondly, even more importantly, disciples know the truth of the Gospel. We are saved by grace through faith because of Christ. It is his declaration of our sins forgiven, the imputation of his righteousness over us which brings us into a right relationship with the righteous God. Because of Christ’s all-sufficient death on the cross and the perfect life he lived, we are given the promise of eternal life — solely because of what he has done for us.
Romans 8.23-24: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
Disciples are set free indeed
We are free from the power of sin, death, and the devil. Sin has no power to condemn us, or to separate us from God anymore. We are declared to be holy and righteous in his sight because of Jesus.
Death — though Christians still die, the “sting” of death has been removed. We know that death is but a doorway into eternal life with God, for those who believe. “Death has died” in that its power is only of illusion and deception. It has no power to separate us or our loved ones from God.
Devil — What can the devil say to you, now? Tell me? Can he accuse you anymore? Has he any power over you? Does he have any claim on you? No! You belong to Christ now. You are Christ’s possession, bought with a price, sealed in his blood, alive by his resurrection. You are set free from devil’s hold.
Free for — we are freed by the gospel now to live in love and service out of response to God.
To paraphrase Martinus Eleutherius (Martin Luther): “Now that you don’t have to do anything (for your salvation), what are you going to do?”
Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
May these three lessons be ours as his true disciples, and may we always be a church of the Reformation.
Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.
[1] D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, p. 346
[2] I owe this insight to D. A. Carson, p. 349.
[3] Ibid.