Limitless Word
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:32 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
  • BSB Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
  • NKJV And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
  • NASB and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
  • NLT And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Jesus promises that knowing the truth, found in him, brings real freedom. The truth liberates from the bondage of sin.

Overview

This well-known saying is rooted in discipleship: continuing in Jesus' word leads to a deepening knowledge of the truth that sets people free. The freedom in view is primarily liberation from slavery to sin, as the next verses make clear. Since Jesus himself is the truth (John 14:6), this freedom is found in union with him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 37

  • Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
  • John 8:36If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
  • John 17:17Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.
  • 1 Pet 2:16as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
  • John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
  • Rom 6:22But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
  • Rom 6:14–18For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
  • Isa 61:1The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
  • Ps 25:5Guide me in your truth, and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation, I wait for you all day long.
  • Prov 2:1–7My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;
  • Gal 5:1Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
  • Jas 1:25But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
  • 2 Cor 3:17–18Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
  • Jas 2:12So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.
  • Jer 6:16Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
  • John 16:13However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
  • Gal 5:13For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
  • John 7:17If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.
  • Hos 6:3Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
  • Isa 30:21and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.”
  • Ps 25:8–9Good and upright is Yahweh, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
  • Rom 8:15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
  • Prov 1:23Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
  • Mal 4:2But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
  • Prov 4:18But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.
  • 2 Tim 2:25–26in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,
  • 2 Tim 3:7always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
  • Isa 35:8A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
  • Prov 1:29because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
  • Isa 54:13All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children’s peace will be great.
  • Isa 2:3Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.
  • John 6:45It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me.
  • Ps 119:45I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.
  • Matt 11:29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.
  • Song 1:7–8Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?
  • Jer 31:33–34“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
  • Matt 13:11–12He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 8:32YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 8:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.