Bound By Truth

Greetings, I would like to take a moment to welcome you. I am looking forward to our interactions together and I hope that you find the content on this site impactful. RC Sproul frequently used the term “In the final analysis” and it is very fitting here; in the final analysis, it is my prayer that through this ministry, God is Glorified above all.

If there is anything you read, watch, or otherwise interact with here that blesses you, Praise be to God!

For anything here that contains error, falls short or does not give Him the praise, then please, lay that I my feet.

With that introduction out of the way, let us discuss the reason we are here, TRUTH. As I was praying and brainstorming about this ministry, what it should be called and the efforts that it should undertake the words of Christ Jesus found in John 8:31-32 kept resounding in my ear. Here is what those verses say

31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples;32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” – Legacy Standard Bible

As you may notice these verses contain two instances of truth and one of a word relating to truth, truly (which means in accordance with truth). You may also notice that the statement that is contained within the verse is an if/then statement. This is important because it demonstrates for us that there is a condition that must be met in order for the results to be obtained. In the case of the words we find here the desired result is three-fold.

First, the result is an affirmation that those who believed truly were disciples of Jesus. Second we see that knowledge is gained, and not just any knowledge, but THE truth. Lastly we see that the truth gained is a freeing truth. Wonderful, right?

These results are wonderful, but too often we forget that there is that pesky little if in an if then statement. In the case of these verses the if (or the condition that must be met) is that you abide in My Word, then the aforementioned results.

The problem here becomes our understanding of exactly what Jesus is talking about and it is why this passage has typically be shortened to only include verse 32, “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, this is usually considered the most important truth we find here and the reason for that is that we get the results that we want, the freedom without the condition, but Jesus is clear, in fact crystal clear, here when He defines the condition.

Abide, that is the word that is used in the LSB translation, the KJV and HCSB use continue and the NIV translates the Greek as “hold to my teaching”. The Greek word being used here is used elsewhere in the senses of staying, waiting and enduring. This means that this is much more than a casual reading of God’s Word, it is much more than listening to a sermon or attending a Bible Study. All of these things are extremely important and serve their purposes, but what Jesus is describing here is a personal action that must be taken on the part of an individual, it conveys a deep, enduring commitment. It’s an active, ongoing relationship with the Word of Truth.

Let me pause here for a moment and reiterate that these verses, this statement of Christ Jesus is being given to a PARTICULAR GROUP of people. This is imperative to understanding this command. Although He was teaching in the temple and had been speaking to the crowds, this particular statement was narrowed in its delivery to being for those elect few who were “those Jews who had believed Him”. This means that this is a command for believers. This is a directive from Christ that we are to abide in His Word and then, as a result of that abiding, we will be proven as believers, obtain knowledge of the truth and that this truth will set us free.

This brings us to the title of this blog, Bound by Truth. After meditating on Jesus’ teaching, it became clear that ‘abiding’ in His Word is central to understanding truth. But what does it mean to be ‘bound’ to this truth? First of all, for me to truly abide in His Word, then I am in some sense “bound” to it. In fact a Hebrew form of that word is found in Ezra 10 where it is used of marriage. When I think about what Christ is teaching here and elsewhere in Sacred Scripture I can think of no better description for my relationship to God’s Word than “bound”.

If we are to truly abide in God’s Word, we must be ‘bound’ to it, as one is bound in a covenant or commitment. This binding is to the truth—the truth that Christ embodies and the truth that sets us free. In John 14:6 Jesus says of Himself that He is the truth (and the way and the life AND the only way to the Father). As we just studied above, abiding in His Word gives us knowledge of truth and if He is truth, then we must understand that His Word gives knowledge of Him, therefore I am wholeheartedly “Bound By Truth”.

Thank you for taking the time to read this introduction. I look forward to walking together in the pursuit of truth.