Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 8:31-38

"Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, [then] are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered unto him, We are Abraham`s seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham`s seed: yet ye seek to kill me, because my word hath not free course in you. I speak the things which I have seen with [my] Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from [your] father." — John 8:31-38 (ASV)

1. After showing the remedy for escaping from the darkness, Christ now demonstrates its effectiveness. He first explains the remedy's power and then addresses the people's need for it, beginning with their response: they answered him, we are the seed of Abraham.

   Regarding the remedy's effectiveness, He does two things. First, He shows what is required of those who receive this remedy, which relates to merit. Second, He shows what is given in return, which relates to their reward, as seen in the words, you will truly be my disciples.

2. First, it was said that many believed in Him. To these believers, He explained what they must do: remain in His word. He says, if you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples. In effect, He is saying that you will not be His disciples if you only believe superficially, but only if you remain in my word.

   With respect to the word of God, we need three things. First, a concern to hear it: let every man be quick to hear (James 1:19). Second, we need faith to believe it: faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). Third, we need perseverance to continue in it: how exceedingly bitter is wisdom to the unlearned. The foolish will not continue with her . Therefore, He says, if you remain—that is, by a firm faith, through continual meditation (he will meditate on his law day and night, Psalms 1:2), and by your ardent love (his will is the law of the Lord, Psalms 1:2). As Augustine says, those who remain in the Lord's word are those who do not give in to temptations.

3. He mentions what will be given to those who remain when He says, you will truly be my disciples. This reward has three characteristics: first, they will have the excellence of being Christ's disciples; second, they will have a knowledge of the truth; and third, they will be free.

4. Indeed, it is a great privilege to be a disciple of Christ: children of Zion, rejoice and delight in the Lord your God, because he has given you a teacher of justice (Joel 2:23). Concerning this, He says, you will truly be my disciples. The greater the master, the more honorable it is to be his disciple. Since Christ is the greatest and most excellent of teachers, His disciples will be of the highest dignity.

   Three things are required to be a disciple. The first is understanding, to grasp the teacher's words: are you also still without understanding? (Matthew 15:16). But it is Christ alone who can open the ears of the understanding: then he opened their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45); the Lord opened my ears (Isaiah 50:5). Second, a disciple needs to assent, so as to believe his teacher's doctrine, for the disciple is not above his teacher (Luke 6:40), and thus should not contradict him: do not speak against the truth in any way . As Isaiah continues in the same verse, I do not resist. Third, a disciple needs to be stable in order to persevere. As we read earlier: after this many of his disciples departed and did not walk anymore with him (John 6:67); and Isaiah adds, I did not turn back (Isaiah 50:5).

5. But it is a greater thing to know the truth, since this is the goal of a disciple. Our Lord also gives this to those who believe; thus He says, and you will know the truth. This is the truth of the doctrine I am teaching: for this I was born, and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth (John 18:37). They will know the truth of the grace that I produce: grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17)—in contrast to the figures of the old law. And they will know the truth of the eternity in which I remain: O Lord, your word remains forever, your truth endures from generation to generation (Psalms 119:89–90).

6. Yet the greatest thing is the acquisition of freedom, which the knowledge of the truth produces in those who believe. Thus He says, and the truth will set you free.

   In this context, to be set free does not mean a release from confinement, as the Latin language might suggest, but rather to be made free. This freedom is from three things. The truth of this doctrine will free us from the error of falsehood: my mouth will speak the truth; my lips will hate wickedness (Proverbs 8:7). The truth of grace will free us from slavery to sin: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and of death (Romans 8:2). And the truth of eternity, in Christ Jesus, will free us from corruption: the creature will be freed from its slavery to corruption (Romans 8:21).

7. Next, with the words they answered him: we are the seed of Abraham, He shows that the Jews need this remedy. First, He elaborates on their presumption in denying their need for any such remedy. Second, He shows in what respect they need this remedy, beginning with, Jesus answered them: amen, amen I say to you.

8. The presumption of the Jews is shown in their disdainful question: they answered him: we are the seed of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to anyone: how can you say, you will be free? In this response, they first affirm one thing, then deny another, and finally, pose their question.

   They assert their descent from Abraham: we are of the seed of Abraham. This reveals their vanity, as they glory only in their physical lineage: do not think of saying: we have Abraham as our Father (Matthew 3:9). Those who seek praise for their noble birth act in the same way: their glory is from their birth, from the womb and from their conception (Hosea 9:11).

   Next, they deny their slavery: and we have never been slaves to anyone. This reveals them to be both spiritually dull and liars. They are dull because while our Lord is speaking of spiritual freedom, they are thinking of physical freedom: the sensual person does not perceive what pertains to the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). They are liars because if their statement, we have never been the slaves of anyone, refers to physical slavery, it is false whether they speak of the Jewish people generally or of themselves in particular.

   If they are speaking generally, they are obviously lying, for Joseph was sold into slavery and their ancestors were slaves in Egypt (Genesis 40; Exodus 3). As Augustine says, "Ungrateful! Why does the Lord so often remind you that He freed you from the house of bondage, if you have never been slaves to anyone?" For we read: I have called you out of Egypt, from the house of your slavery (Deuteronomy 13:10). But even if they are speaking only of themselves, they are still guilty of lying, because they were at that time paying taxes to the Romans. Thus they asked, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? (Matthew 22:17).

   Finally, they question the kind of freedom He is discussing: how can you say, you will be free? Our Lord had promised them two things: freedom and knowledge of the truth. The Jews interpreted this to mean that He regarded them as ignorant slaves. Although it is more harmful to lack knowledge than freedom, because they were worldly they passed over the part about truth and asked about freedom: they have set their eyes, lowering themselves to the earth (Psalms 17:11).

9. Our Lord ignores their presumption and shows them that they do need the remedy He mentioned. First, He addresses their slavery; second, He treats their freedom, beginning with now the servant does not abide in the house forever; and third, He discusses their origin, starting with I know that you are the sons of Abraham.

10. He shows that they are slaves, not in the physical sense they imagined, but spiritually—that is, slaves of sin. To make this clear, He begins with two things. The first is a solemn, repeated affirmation: amen, amen, I say to you. Amen is a Hebrew word meaning "truly" or "may it be so." According to Augustine, neither the Greeks nor the Latins translated it, so that it might be honored and veiled as something sacred. This was not done to hide it, but to prevent it from becoming commonplace if its meaning were stated. It was done especially out of reverence for our Lord, who frequently used it. Here, our Lord uses it as a kind of oath, repeating it to reinforce His statement: he interposed an oath, so that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have the strongest comfort (Hebrews 6:17–18).

    Second, He makes a general statement when He says, whoever—whether Jew or Greek, rich or poor, emperor or beggar: there is no difference between Jews and Greeks: all have sinned (Romans 3:22–23). He then defines this slavery when He says, whoever commits sin is the slave of sin.

11. One might argue against this in the following way: a slave does not act by his own judgment but by his master’s. However, one who sins acts by his own judgment; therefore, he is not a slave.

    I answer that when a thing acts according to its own nature, it acts of itself. But when it is moved by something external, it does not act of itself but by the influence of that other, and this is a kind of slavery. According to his nature, man is rational. Therefore, when he acts according to reason, he acts by his own proper motion and of himself; this is a characteristic of freedom. But when he sins, he acts outside of reason. He is then moved by another, held back by the limitations that other imposes. Therefore, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, for whatever overcomes a person, is that to which he is a slave (2 Peter 2:19).

    To the extent that someone is moved by something external, he is brought into slavery. The more one is overcome by sin, the less he acts by his own proper motion—that is, by reason—and the more he is made a slave. Thus, as Gregory says, the more freely one does the perverse things he wills, and the less difficulty he has in doing them, the more he is subjected to the slavery of sin. This kind of slavery is the worst because it cannot be escaped. Wherever a person goes, he carries his sin with him, even though the act and its pleasure may pass: God will give you rest from your harsh slavery (that is, to sin) to which you were subjected before (Isaiah 14:3).

    Physical slavery, on the other hand, can be escaped, at least by running away. As Augustine says: "What a wretched slavery! A slave of a man, when worn out by the harsh commands of his master, can find relief in flight. But a slave of sin drags his sin with him wherever he flees, for the sin he committed is within him. The pleasure passes, the act of sin passes; what gave pleasure is gone, but the wounds have remained."

12. Then, with the words now the servant does not abide in the house forever, He considers their liberation from slavery. Since all have sinned, all were slaves to sin. The hope of liberation is held out by the one who is free of sin, and this is the Son.

    In this regard, He does three things. First, He describes the status of a slave as distinct from one who is free. Second, He shows that the Son's status is different from that of a slave. Third, He concludes that the Son has the power to set us free.

13. The status of a slave is transient and unstable, so He says, the servant does not abide in the house forever. This house is the Church: so you may know how to act in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God (1 Timothy 3:15). In this house, some who are spiritually slaves remain only for a time, just as in a household those who are physically slaves remain only for a while. But the former will not remain forever. Although the evil are not now separated from the faithful into a different group, but only by merit, in the future they will be separated in both ways: cast out the slave and her son: for the son of the slave woman will not inherit with the son of the free woman (Galatians 4:30).

14. On the other hand, the status of the Son is everlasting and stable, so He says, but the Son, that is, Christ, abides forever, namely, in the Church, as in His own house. Christ is described as a son in His own house (Hebrews 3:6). Indeed, Christ remains in His house forever of His own accord, because He is immune from sin. As for us, just as we are freed from sin through Him, so it is through Him that we remain in His house.

15. The Son has the power to free us, so He adds, if therefore the Son makes you free, you will truly be free. As the Apostle says, we are not the children of the slave woman, but of the free, by whose freedom Christ has freed us (Galatians 4:31). He paid a price not in silver, but with His own blood, for He came in the likeness of sinful flesh although He had no sin. And so He became a true sacrifice for sin. Thus, through Him, we are freed not from barbarians, but from the devil.

16. Note that there are several kinds of freedom. There is a corrupt freedom, when one abuses his freedom in order to sin; this is a freedom from justice that no one is compelled to keep: be free, and do not make your freedom a cloak for evil (1 Peter 2:16). Then there is a vain freedom, which is temporal or bodily: a slave, free from his master (Job 3:19). Then we have true and spiritual freedom, which is the freedom of grace, consisting in the absence of sin. This freedom is imperfect because the flesh lusts against the spirit, and we do what we do not want to do (Galatians 5:17). Finally, there is the freedom of glory. This is a perfect and full freedom, which we will have in our heavenly home: the creature will be delivered from its slavery (Romans 8:21). This will be so because there will be nothing there to incline us to evil and nothing to oppress us, for then there will be freedom from both sin and punishment.

17. Chrysostom explains this in another way. Since Christ had said, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin, the Jews might have anticipated Him and said that even though they were slaves to sin, they could be freed by the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law. Our Lord shows that they cannot be freed by these things, but only by the Son. Hence He says, a slave—that is, Moses and the priests of the Old Testament—does not remain in the household forever. For Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant (Hebrews 3:5). Furthermore, the ceremonies are not eternal; therefore, they cannot confer a freedom that will continue forever.

18. Then He considers their origin, at I know that you are the sons of Abraham. First, He acknowledges their origin according to the flesh; second, He inquires into their origin according to the spirit, beginning with but you seek to kill me.

19. He traces their origin in the flesh to Abraham: I know that you are sons of Abraham, but by carnal origin only, and not by resembling him in faith: look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you (Isaiah 51:2).

20. He inquires into their spiritual origin when He says, but you seek to kill me. First, He shows that they have an evil spiritual origin. Second, He rejects what they presume to be their origin, at they answered him and said to him: Abraham is our father (John 8:39). Third, He reveals their true origin, at you are of your father the devil (John 8:44).

    In showing their evil spiritual origin, He first points out their guilt and then infers its source, saying, and you do the things that you have seen with your father. In pointing out their guilt, He first charges them with murder, second with the sin of unbelief, and third, He anticipates a potential excuse.

21. Our Lord shows that their spiritual origins come from an evil root. He expressly accuses them of sin, and passing over all the other crimes in which the Jews were implicated, He mentions only the one they continued to nurture in their minds: the sin of murder. This is why He says, you seek to kill me, which is against their law: you shall not kill (Exodus 20:13). For from that day forward they devised to put him to death (John 11:53).

22. Because they might say that killing someone for a crime is not a sin, our Lord clarifies that the cause of this murderous intent is not any crime committed by Christ or any righteousness on their part, but rather their unbelief. It is as if to say: you seek to kill me not because of your own righteousness but because of your unbelief, because my word has no place in you. For not all men can receive this message, but only those to whom it is given (Matthew 19:11).

    Our Lord uses this way of speaking, first of all, to show the excellence of His message. It is as if to say: My message transcends your ability, for it is concerned with spiritual things, whereas you have a worldly understanding; that is why you do not grasp it: the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). He also speaks this way to draw a certain similarity. As Augustine says, the Lord’s message to unbelievers is what a hook is to a fish: it does not grasp unless it is grasped. And so He says my word has no place in you because His message does not take hold of their hearts, because it is not grasped by them as Peter grasped it: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John 6:68). Yet it does not harm those who are grasped, for they are grasped for salvation and left uninjured. We read that a prophet who speaks things from himself, not from the mouth of the Lord, should be killed (Deuteronomy 18:20).

23. So, lest the Jews say that He should be killed for speaking from Himself and not from the mouth of the Lord, He adds, I speak that which I have seen with my Father. It is as if to say: I cannot be accused of speaking things that I have not heard, for I speak not only what I have heard but, what is more, I speak of what I have seen. Other prophets spoke the things they heard, whereas I speak the things I have seen: no man has ever seen God: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known (John 1:18); that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you (1 John 1:3).

    This must be understood as a vision that gives the most certain knowledge, because the Son knows the Father as He knows Himself: no one knows the Father except the Son (Matthew 11:27).

24. He then infers their spiritual origin when He says, and you do the things that you have seen with your father. It is as if to say: I speak things that are in accord with My origin, but you do the things that are done by your father—namely, the devil. According to Augustine, they were the devil's children not insofar as they were men, but insofar as they were evil. You do those things, I say, which you see at the devil’s suggestion: through the devil’s envy death entered the world .

    Chrysostom uses another text: do what you have seen with your father. As if to say: Just as I reveal My Father in truth by My words, so you should reveal the father of your origin, namely, Abraham, by your deeds. Thus He says: Do what you see your father doing, you who are taught by the law and the prophets.