Introduction
I’ve already offered a commentary on this week’s reading from Matthew, but many congregations will hear John 8:31–36 as they observe Reformation Sunday. I wanted to offer a commentary on this passage too.
Reformation Sunday presents us with an interesting problem. We celebrate a tradition that insists our standing before God depends entirely on God’s grace. Yet we can turn our understanding of that grace into confidence in ourselves. “We understand the gospel. We know that salvation is a gift. We’re the heirs of the Reformation.” Even our confession that we have nothing to boast about becomes something we boast about.
Then Paul asks, “What becomes of boasting? It is excluded” (Romans 3:27).
That confidence can also keep us from taking sin seriously. If we already belong to God, and our salvation is God’s gift, what is there to be concerned about?
Jesus’ answer presses us to consider what sin does to the relationship God has given us. Being chosen doesn’t make sin harmless. We can belong to God and still resist the God to whom we belong.
Narrative Context
Jesus is teaching in the temple in Jerusalem, but we’re at a different point in the story from the Matthew readings we’ve been following. Those conversations take place during the final week before his crucifixion. Here, Jesus has come to Jerusalem for the Festival of Booths, months before his final Passover. John’s Gospel follows Jesus through repeated visits to Jerusalem, with growing controversy over his identity and authority. Throughout chapters 7 and 8, people debate where he comes from, who sent him, and whether he is the Messiah. Some believe in him. Others seek his arrest. John reminds us that his hour has not yet come.
Immediately before our reading, John tells us that many believed in Jesus as he spoke. Jesus then addresses those believers: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.”
These are people who have already responded to him. Yet when he promises that the truth will make them free, they object.
“We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
Their response shifts the conversation from what Jesus promises to who they already feel they are. They belong to Abraham’s family. Why would Jesus speak as though they needed liberation?
It’s tempting to answer by listing Egypt, Babylon, and Rome. But that can keep us from hearing the deeper disagreement. Jesus offers something they don’t believe they need.
He answers by naming the bondage he means: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”
The word “everyone” is important, especially so that we don’t turn this passage toward antisemitic theology. Jesus is Jewish and is speaking with other Jews. Christians shouldn’t make this a contrast between Jewish bondage and Christian freedom. His declaration gives Christians no exemption.
Their response suggests that being Abraham’s descendants has already settled the question of their freedom. Jesus insists that their identity as God’s people doesn’t make sin’s power or its consequences disappear.
One way to understand sin in John’s Gospel is as estrangement or distance from God. John describes people turning away from the light because they don’t want their deeds exposed (3:19–20). Sin draws people away from the God who gives them life, and it can make them resist the very light that would reveal what has happened.
That’s why relationship with Jesus matters so deeply. In Jesus, God has come near in the flesh. He is the light that exposes the sin drawing us away from God, including the sin we’ve excused or failed to recognize. Continuing in his word means allowing that light to reveal where we fall short and trusting him to free us from what holds us captive. He addresses people who have already believed in him because they still need that light.
Jesus then introduces the household image. An enslaved person has no permanent place there; the son remains forever. Jesus’ enduring relationship with the Father is the basis of the freedom he offers.
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Jesus offers release from the sin that holds people at a distance from God. The Son brings them into the relationship with the Father that he himself shares. Their appeal to Abraham cannot make that bondage inconsequential. The God to whom they belong has come near in the flesh, calling them to continue in his word.
We are Lutheran and have never been enslaved to Works Righteousness
This gives us a connection to Reformation Sunday.
We confess that we’re justified by grace through faith. We cannot earn God’s love or establish our righteousness through our achievements. And yet we can draw a troubling conclusion from that confession: if our works don’t earn salvation, perhaps what we do doesn’t matter very much.
We may never say it quite that plainly. It can sound more benign.
God knows I’m not perfect. Everyone sins. I’m forgiven.
Each statement can express something true. Yet each can also become a way to avoid examining what we’re doing and what it does to our relationship with God and our neighbors.
Forgiveness doesn’t make cruelty harmless. Being loved by God doesn’t mean resentment cannot consume us. Belonging to a congregation doesn’t mean we’re listening when God’s word challenges us.
Sin has consequences within the life God has given us.
Consider what happens when we’ve harmed someone. We may know that we should apologize, but admitting the harm threatens our understanding of ourselves. So we explain our intentions, question the other person’s response, or find someone whose behavior seems worse. We become practiced at avoiding the truth.
That same resistance shapes our relationship with God. We want assurance of God’s love while keeping certain parts of our lives beyond the reach of God’s word. We become selective about what we’re willing to hear.
This is where self-confidence becomes part of our bondage. We’re so certain of who we are with grace that we resist the light exposing what we’re doing.
Paul gives us no grounds for claiming that this is someone else’s problem. Romans places the whole world under judgment and announces justification through God’s grace in Christ. Knowing that teaching doesn’t place us beyond the judgment it describes. We remain among the people who need the gift.
The church can proclaim grace faithfully and still need to hear how its own life contradicts that proclamation. Reformation Sunday gives us an occasion to let the word we treasure examine us again.
The Freedom Christ Gives
Luther’s The Freedom of a Christian helps us hold together the gift of freedom and the life that follows. He locates our justification in Christ and his word, and he describes a freedom that opens into willing service of our neighbors. Our works no longer have to establish our standing before God. They can serve the people who need our love.
That gives us a way to take sin seriously without making repentance another effort to earn God’s favor. Because God has drawn near, we can begin to face what draws us away. Because Christ speaks forgiveness, we can tell the truth about what needs forgiving.
Jesus’ opening invitation holds this together: “If you continue in my word.”
He calls us to remain in relationship with him. His word continues to expose what holds us captive and to give the freedom we cannot produce for ourselves. We keep needing both.
Jeremiah offers a promise that deepens this movement. God names a covenant the people have broken and promises renewed relationship with Israel and Judah. God will write the law within them and forgive their sin. God’s faithfulness reaches into the very relationship the people have damaged.
The promise takes their sin seriously. God intends to restore what sin has ruptured.
We can hear that alongside John’s promise of freedom. In Jesus, God comes near to people held captive by what distances them from God. The light reveals that distance, and the Son pushes closer to us and acts to overcome it.
Preaching Possibility
The Truth will set you free
We’re loved. We’re forgiven. We belong to God. What happens when those promises become our reasons for dismissing the harm we do or refusing the truth we need to hear?
We will need to remain within that question. We can all use the language of grace to protect something we don’t want to surrender.
Then let Jesus’ promise address that captivity.
The light exposing our sin is the light of the God who has come near to save us. We don’t have to hide what Christ already sees. We can confess, listen, seek forgiveness, and begin the work of repair. Those things matter because our relationship with God and our lives with our neighbors matter.
Reformation Sunday calls the church to continue in the word that gives it life. We still need that word to reveal what draws us away from God. We still need the Son to make us free.
And the Son is still speaking his promise to people who need it:
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
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