If ever, then, the Son should be making you free, you will be really free
Johns Account 8: 36, Concordant New Testament Translation
I had a conversation the other day about those doubts fears which I used to carry with me for so many years. Fears of not being accepted by others. Fears of not being accepted by God. In a sense, I wasn't free at all. Sure, I knew Jesus in the sense that I had read and heard of Him, but I didn't truly know Him, and this is why I was not free. Jesus has spoken in the book of John that "If the Son should be making you free, then you shall really be free" {Johns Account 8:36}. So, you could make the case that without knowing Christ Jesus, we are not really free at all. We might think that we are, but only through knowing the truth which we have in Christ can we really be free. Those within the church will talk about being free in Jesus, but they rarely preach the truth which truly makes us free. Growing up in the Christian religion, it was my understanding that freedom in Christ meant following the rules set forth by the church. That was the depth of my understanding of Jesus. What I knew about Jesus came from what the church taught me. What the church taught me was that Jesus and I were separated. The best that I could ever hope was to "Be like" Jesus. My friends, THAT is not true freedom in Christ. What it is is submission to the narrative preached by the church for over 1500 years. The narrative that man is inherently sinful, and that is what separates him from God. The root of this lies with the Roman emperor Constantine, who in 325 AD convened the First Council of Nicaea. This gathering of bishops was convened in order to attain consensus in what the church taught. That is, to affirm the narrative which they would preach to the masses. That narrative still exists today, and it has kept many from realizing the truth we find in Christ Jesus and knowing true freedom in Him.
In order to realize the freedom which we have in Christ, one must know who we are in Him. Jesus has spoken to this truth, that we do not live our lives separated from God, but within His love {Johns Account 14:20}. When I swallowed the church kool aid, I had no idea of that freedom which I already had in Christ. The truth that I was already saved through Him, and just didn't realize it at the time. This is the predicament which too many believers find themselves in today. Free in Christ Jesus, yet unaware of who they are in Him. All they know is what the church feeds them. I've mentioned to a good friend of mine a few times the fact that the struggle we face is fighting 1500 years of church teaching. The truth found in Christ is not found in a Sunday sermon, but by the revelation of the Father. For all of the years I spent warming a pew each Sunday, I didn't realize who I was in Christ until I made the decision to leave the brick and mortar church. Once free of the false teachings and theology, I was free to discover who I was IN Christ Jesus. The words of the apostle Paul were beneficial in that Paul speaks in his evangel that "Living in me is Christ" {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}. Jesus in me? You mean, I'm not a sinner like the church told me for so many years? Again, Paul helped me to understand the truth found in Christ. That Christ Jesus died to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}. That the sacrifice of Jesus is real and final. Sin is no longer an issue for us, for through Christ we have been freed from it. Paul affirms this when he speaks that "We, who died to sin, how shall we still be living in it" {Paul to the Romans 6:2}? THIS is the truth we have in Christ Jesus. This is the freedom we have in Him.
In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you
Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament Translation
~Scott~
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