Verse Reference for "If the Son Has Set You Free" Statement
The statement "if the Son has set you free" is a reference to John 8:36, which states, "So if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free" [1]. This verse is part of a larger discourse in John 8 where Jesus is discussing the nature of freedom and slavery.
In this context, Jesus is contrasting spiritual freedom with physical or literal freedom. According to John Gill, the phrase "if the Son therefore shall make you free" alludes to the custom of adoption by sons or brethren in a family, or to a Roman custom where a son could free slaves after his father's death [2]. This suggests that Jesus is speaking of a liberation that comes through his role as the Son of God.
The concept of freedom in John 8:36 is closely tied to the idea of sonship. In Galatians, Paul writes that believers are "sons" of God through faith in Christ, and as such, they are no longer under the tutelage of the law [4, 5]. This freedom is not just a release from external constraints but a deep-seated liberation from the power of sin.
The Tyndale House commentary on Ephesians 1:7 notes that believers are free from God's judgment and from bondage to sin because of Christ's sacrificial death. This freedom is a key aspect of the Christian gospel, and it is rooted in the work of Christ as the Son of God [3].
The idea of sonship and freedom is also linked to the concept of adoption. In ancient cultures, adoption involved the granting of rights and privileges to the adopted child. Similarly, when Jesus sets people free, he is adopting them into a new family, with all the rights and privileges that come with being children of God.
The biblical concept of freedom is not just a negative liberty from something (e.g., sin or slavery) but a positive freedom to live as children of God. As Jamieson, Fausset & Brown note on Galatians 4:6, the gift of the Spirit of prayer is a consequence of adoption, enabling believers to live out their new status as sons of God [4].
The connection between Christ's liberation and the believer's status as sons or children of God underscores the significance of John 8:36.
Sources
- John “John 8:36 (LEB) — So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free.”
- John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on John 8:33: If the Son therefore shall make you free,.... Alluding to the custom of adoption by the sons or brethren in the family, which obtained in Greece, called "the adoption of brethren", as Grotius, and others have observed; or rather to a custom among the Romans, of a son's making free after his Father's death, such as were born slaves in his house. Such a case as this is supposed (h); "a man having a son or a daughter by his maidservant, that which is born of her, since of a servant, is without doubt a servant: wherefore if he (the son) should say, this is my natural brot”
- Ephesians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Ephesians 1:7: 1:7 he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son: Believers, who were once prisoners of sin, are free from God’s judgment and from bondage to sin because of Christ’s sacrificial death (see 1:14; 4:30; Rom 3:24; 1 Cor 6:20; Col 1:14; cp. Matt 26:28; Mark 10:45; Heb 9:11-12, 26; 1 Pet 1:18-19).”
- Galatians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Galatians 4:6: because ye are sons--The gift of the Spirit of prayer is the consequence of our adoption. The Gentile Galatians might think, as the Jews were under the law before their adoption, that so they, too, must first be under the law. Paul, by anticipation, meets this objection by saying, YE ARE sons, therefore ye need not be as children (Gal 4:1) under the tutorship of the law, as being already in the free state of "sons" of God by faith in Christ (Gal 3:26), no longer in your nonage (as "children," Gal 4:1). The Spirit of God's only Begotten Son in your he”
- Galatians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Galatians 3:26: children--Greek, "sons." by--Greek, "through faith." "Ye all" (Jews and Gentiles alike) are no longer "children" requiring a tutor, but SONS emancipated and walking at liberty.”