How do you tell if something is true and good?
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
–Jesus in John 8:32
I was always taught that this verse meant that if I just believed the right things, I would find freedom. So, in search for freedom, I learned certain things...
I learned the right prayers to pray.
I learned the right things to say.
I learned what was acceptable behavior and what wasn’t.
I learned what was sinful and what wasn’t.
Sadly, the more I believed the right things and did the right things the less free I felt. Instead of liberty, I felt constraint. Instead of openness, I felt shame.
But then I started to put this verse under the microscope. I discovered that I always read this verse as an if/then. “If you believe this set of facts, freedom will happen to you.” But what if it’s not an if/then but is the criterion for how to tell if something is true?
In other words, it’s just as likely that we can use this verse to say: “If it doesn’t set you free, it isn’t the truth.” Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (ESV) that we must:
“test everything; hold fast what is good.”
What’s the test to tell us if something is true and good? Well, according to Jesus in John 8:32, the test is this: Does it set you free? If not, it is not true.
What might it look like to privilege lived freedom over learned doctrine?
What might it look like to use truth to free ourselves and others from the chains of guilt, shame, self-hatred, and injustice; instead of using truth to trap ourselves and others with guilt, shame, self-hatred and injustice?
In other words, what if Jesus was more interested in getting us to enact freedom and less interested in getting us to believe the right things?
In Luke 4:16-21 (NIV) tells us this story:
“[Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them,
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Written by: Jared Byas
Instagram: @jaredbyas
Twitter: @jbyas
From this week’s guest series "Saved by Love" by Jared Byas, this week, with a subscription, in the App.
