The Truth Will Set You Free
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
John Gill
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him—For he knew instantly who they were, and when they believed on him; and therefore he immediately turned himself to them, and thus addressed them;
If you abide in my word—Meaning the gospel, called his, because he was both the author, and preacher, and sum, and substance of it: and to continue in it, is having cordially received it, to abide by it, and hold it fast, and not to be moved from it, by the temptations of Satan; the cunning of those that lie in wait to deceive; nor by the revilings and persecutions, the frowns and flatteries of men: and when men continue thus steadfast in it, and faithful to it, it is an evidence that it has come with power, and has a place in their hearts, and that they are the true followers of Christ:
You are truly my disciples—There are two sorts of disciples of Christ; some are only nominal, and merely in profession such; and these sometimes draw back from him, discontinue in his word, and go out from among his people; which shows that they never were of them, nor are the true disciples of Jesus; for the genuine disciples of Christ continue in his gospel, hold fast to him, the head, and remain with his people; which to do to the end, is an evidence, of their being disciples indeed.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
John Gill
Lead me in your truth and teach me—Meaning the word of God, the Scriptures of truth; and the gospel, which is the word of truth, and truth itself (Joh 17:17); and the sense is, either that God would lead him by his Spirit more and more into all truth, as contained in his word; or that he would lead him by it and according to it, that he might form his principles and his conduct more agreeably to it, which is the standard and rule of faith and practice: which leading is by teaching; and reasons urged for granting all the above petitions follow,
For you are the God of my salvation—Who, in infinite wisdom, contrived scheme and method of it in his Son, and by him effected it, and by his Spirit had made application of it to him: and since the Lord had done such great things for him, he hoped the requests he had made would be granted: he adds,
For you I wait all the day long—Or continually, in public and in private, attending to all the duties of religion, yet not trusting in them, but in the Lord; and therefore he entreated he might not be ashamed of his hope and expectation for deliverance and salvation.
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
John Gill
Good and upright is the Lord—He is essentially, originally, and independently good of himself in his own nature, and he is providentially good to all his creatures; and he is in a way of special grace and mercy good to his own people: and he is “upright,” just in himself, righteous in all his ways and works, and faithful in all his promises; and the consideration of these excellent perfections of his encouraged the psalmist to entertain a holy confidence, that his petitions, respecting instruction and guidance in the ways of the Lord (Psa 25:4-5); would be heard and answered, notwithstanding his sins and transgressions;
Therefore he instructs sinners in the way—Such who are in sinful ways, he will teach them by his word and Spirit the evil of their ways, and bring them out of them, and to repentance for them; and he will teach them his own ways, both the ways and methods of his grace, in saving sinners by Christ, and the paths of faith and duty in which he would have them walk; see Psa 51:13.
9 He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way. PSA 25:5, 8-9
33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
John Gill
They answered him—Not the believing Jews, whom he peculiarly addressed, but the unbelieving Jews, who were present, and heard these things:
We are offspring of Abraham—This the Jews always valued themselves upon, and reckoned themselves, on this account, upon a level with the nobles and the princes of the earth.
“Says R. Akiba, even the poor of Israel are to be considered as if they were ‘noblemen,’ that are fallen from their substance, because they are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;”
And have never been enslaved to anyone—Which is a very great falsehood, for it was declared to Abraham himself, that his seed should serve in a land not theirs, and be afflicted four hundred years, as they were; and as the preface to the law which the Jews gloried in shows, which says, that the Lord their God brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; and they were frequently overcome by their neighbours, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines, and reduced to servitude under them, until delivered by one judge, or another: and not to take notice of their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon, they were at this very time under the Roman yoke, and paid tribute to Caesar; and yet such was the pride of their hearts, they would not be thought to be enslaved; and therefore, with an haughty air, add,
How is it that you say, “You will become free”?—When they thought themselves, and would fain have been thought by others, to have been free already, and so to stand in no need of being free.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
John Gill
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you”—Taking no notice of their civil liberty, to which he could easily have replied to their confusion and silence, he observes to them their moral servitude and bondage, and in the strongest manner affirms, that
Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin—Which must be understood, not of one that commits a single act of sin, though ever so gross, as did Noah, Lot, David, Peter, and others, who yet were not the servants of sin; or of such who sin through ignorance, weakness of the flesh, and the power of Satan’s temptations, and especially who commit sin with reluctance, the spirit lusting against it; nor indeed of any regenerate persons, though they are not without sin; nor do they live without the commission of it, in thought, word, or deed; and though they fall into it, they do not continue and live in it, but rise up out of it, through the grace of God, and by true repentance; and so are not to be reckoned the servants of sin, or to be of the devil. But this is to be understood of such whose bias and bent of their minds are to sin; who give up themselves unto it, and sell themselves to work wickedness; who make sin their trade, business, and employment, and are properly workers of it, and take delight and pleasure in it: these, whatever liberty, they promise themselves, are the servants of corruption; they are under the government of sin, that has dominion over them; and they obey it in the lusts thereof, and are drudges and slaves unto it, and will have no other wages at last but death, even eternal death, if grace prevent not; see Rom 6:16; 2Pe 2:19.
35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.
38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
John Gill
I speak of what I have seen with my Father—This is an aggravation of the sin of the Jews, in seeking to kill Christ, on account of his doctrine, since it was not his own, but his Father’s; was not merely human, but divine; was what he the only begotten Son, that lay in the bosom of his Father, had seen in his heart, in his purposes, and decrees, in his council, and covenant, and so was clear, complete, certain, and to be depended on:
And you do what you have heard from your father—Meaning the devil, whom, though they had not scan with their eyes, nor any of his personal actions; yet acted so much under his influence, and according to his will, as if they had close and intimate consultation with him, and took their plan of operation from him, and had him continually before them, as their example and pattern, to copy after.
You Are of Your Father the Devil
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did,
40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
John Gill
You are doing the works your father did—Not Abraham, but the devil.
They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality”—Meaning either literally, that they were not a brood of bastards, children of whoredom, illegitimately begotten in unlawful copulation, or wedlock; or figuratively, that they were not the children of idolaters, idolatry being called sexual immorality in Scripture; word, and the true worship of God, though in all this they might have been contradicted and refuted; to which they add,
We have one Father—even God—Israel being called by God his son, and firstborn to them belonged the adoption, in a national sense, and of this they boasted; though few of them were the children of God by special adoption, or God their Father by regenerating grace.
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.”
John Gill
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father”—By adoption; and this was discovered by the grace of regeneration; or in other words, if they had been born of God,
You would love me—For in regeneration love to Christ is always implanted: it is a fruit of the Spirit, which always comes along with the superabounding grace of God in conversion; whoever are begotten again, according to abundant mercy, love an unseen Jesus; and where there is no love to Christ, there can be no regeneration: such persons are not born again; nor is God their Father, at least manifestatively:
For I came from God and I am here—The former of these phrases is observed by many learned men to be used by the Septuagint, of a proper natural birth, as in Gen 15:4; 35:11; and here designs the eternal generation of Christ, as the Son of God, being the only begotten of the Father, and the Son of the Father in truth and love; and the other is to be understood of his mission from him, as mediator:
I came not of my own accord—Or did not take the office to himself, without being called unto it, and invested with it, by his Father:
But he sent me—Not by force, or against the will of Christ, or by change of place, but by assumption of nature; he sent him at the time agreed upon, in human nature, to obtain eternal redemption for his people: and upon both these accounts Christ is to be loved by all regenerate persons, or who have God for their Father; both on account of his being the Son of God, of the same nature and essence with him, see 1Jn 5:1; and on account of his mission into this world, as mediator, since he was sent, and came to be the Saviour of lost sinners.