So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.
Parallel translations
- WEB If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
- KJV If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
- BSB So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
- NKJV Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
- NLT So if the Son sets you free, you are truly 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
Only the Son can grant true and lasting freedom from sin. Liberation comes through Christ alone.
Overview
Building on the slave-son contrast, Jesus claims the unique authority of the Son to set people free. This freedom is decisive and real, not partial or temporary. It points directly to the gospel: through Christ's redeeming work, sinners are released from bondage and given the secure status of God's children.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 2 Cor 3:17Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
- 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.
- 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 8:31–32Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.
- Luke 4:18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed,
- Zech 9:11–12As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.
- 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;
- Isa 49:24–25Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered?
- Ps 119:133Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.
- Ps 119:32I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free. HEY
- Ps 19:13Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I will be upright. I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:36 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.