NOTES for Joh 8:31-42

Christ knows human souls very well. He—the God who created each of these souls—sees the full picture of what is within us with perfect clarity. A far fuller picture than the one we see ourselves. Most often, we tend to go to extremes: either we complacently consider ourselves ‘good’ and do nothing, or we just as passively consider ourselves ‘bad’ and accept that state of affairs. Which, in essence, is practically the same thing. Christ, however, sees us at once with all our ‘nastiness’ and all our ‘positive potential’. He knows that, by definition, His word finds no room in us (see John 8:37), yet despite this He calls us to become His disciples. He believes in us far more than we do ourselves. Because He alone knows what we are truly capable of, what we can be in His Kingdom. And only with Him do we truly become free (see John 8:32)—from our own sin. It is He who leads us ‘out of ourselves’, beyond the bounds of our own rigid ideas about ourselves. Then we no longer try to force the uncontainable Word of God, His will, into those bounds. On the contrary, once we have stepped beyond them, we discover that we can abide in His Word (see John 8:31).