Jesus tells the ones following Him that if He sets them free, then they are no longer slaves to sin, but they are free. They push back, saying that they are the children of Abraham and have never been slaves (ironically missing part of Jewish history). Jesus tells us that we will all be slaves to something, to sin or to righteousness. When He has set us free, we give over our control, and in that giving away of control, we are truly set free! If the Son has set us free, we are free indeed!

Shameless plug, here’s a link to Method(ist) to the Madness, our new, hopefully entertaining podcast about church history.

Join us for our daily reflections with Andy. In 10 short minutes, he’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help you better understand God’s Word.

If you’d like to receive this daily reflection on your phone, text @39110 to 81010 to sign up.

Click on the image above or this link to watch today’s video.

You can read today’s passage here.

You can podcast this reflection here. You can subscribe through Spotify or Apple Podcasts as well.

Or, if you’d like to read the transcript of the video, keep reading!

Good morning! It’s wonderful to be with you on this beautiful Wednesday as we continue our study of the Gospel of John. Today, we’re diving into John 8:31-38.

I love that verse: If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. It reminds me of an old song by Stephen Curtis Chapman that I always cherished. The phrase “free indeed” sparks a profound question—what does it truly mean to be free?

Throughout John’s Gospel, we see people misunderstanding Jesus because they interpret His words literally when He speaks with a deeper spiritual meaning. For instance, in John 3, when Jesus tells Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” Nicodemus is confused and asks, “How can I re-enter my mother’s womb?” Here in chapter 8, the Jews similarly respond by saying, “We are descendants of Abraham; we’ve never been slaves to anyone.” But if we take a look at history, the Jewish people have indeed been slaves—most notably in Egypt during the Exodus. Even later, they were exiled to Babylon and oppressed by many other nations.

Their response shows a sort of “Dunning-Kruger effect”—the phenomenon where those who know less about something often think they know more than they do. In this case, the religious leaders aren’t even fully aware of their own history, much less the deeper meaning of Jesus’ message. The Lord repeatedly reminded the Israelites throughout scripture to remember their slavery and God’s deliverance. Yet here, they’ve forgotten their roots, their need for freedom, and what God has already done for them.

Jesus speaks to this forgotten truth when He says, “Anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” This is a spiritual bondage. Paul echoes this idea in Romans, explaining that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness. The key question is: what controls us? Are we driven by sin—our desires, anger, pride, lust—or by the grace and freedom given by Christ?

When Jesus says, If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed, He’s telling us that true freedom comes from Him. Without Jesus, we are slaves to sin, controlled by our sinful nature. Think about it: how often have we said things like, “I lost control” when we were angry or gave in to temptation? That’s the essence of being a slave to sin—we lose control over ourselves. But one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, and Jesus provides that freedom from the chains of sin.

I have an old chair in my office—a worn, creaky chair that belonged to my grandmother. It’s not pretty, but it’s my favorite because it reminds me of her. There’s a longhorn embossed on the leather of the chair, with a ring in its nose. That ring is used to lead the bull wherever its handler wants it to go, and that’s exactly what sin does to us. Sin is the ring in our nose, leading us around wherever it wants. When we’re under its control, we lose our freedom.

But Jesus offers us something different—freedom from sin. When we give Him control, He frees us. It’s one of the paradoxes of faith: true freedom comes from surrendering control to Jesus. When we think we’re in control, we’re often still slaves to our sinful desires. But when we surrender to Christ, we experience real freedom—freedom from sin, from guilt, from the weight that sin brings into our lives.

So today, if you’re struggling with sin—whether it’s anger, pride, lust, or something else—know that Jesus offers you freedom. You don’t have to be controlled by those things anymore. When the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. The path to freedom is through surrender, through giving control to Christ. And when we do that, He does amazing things in our lives.

Thank you for joining me today. Tomorrow, we’ll continue with the rest of John 8 and dive into the conversation Jesus has about Abraham. I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember, in Christ, we find true freedom. See you tomorrow!