The Servant Abideth Not In the House For Ever: But the Son Abidet

[tulsa 2011]

The Servant Abideth Not In the House For Ever: But the Son Abideth Ever

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
34. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
37. I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you." John 8: 32-37

This is an account of part of a dialogue between Jesus Christ and some of the Pharisees who were hanging around him. Christ states as truth that if a person knows the truth, the truth, which is Christ (John 14: 6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life") himself as well as the true Gospel of Christ, will make him free. Christ is talking about being spiritually free. The Pharisees, having a literal "hermeneutic" answered as though Christ was talking about political freedom. They said, "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?"

But Old Covenant Israel was put in bondage by God to other nations, especially by Egypt, and were later in captivity for seventy years to Babylon, and last they were ruled by the Romans, even as the Pharisees spoke.

Jesus states as truth in John 8: 34 that "whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin." A person who is in the spiritual condition of being in continual sin is in bondage to sin. Not having the grace of God in them, they do not repent and rise up out of sin. And the Pharisees were the false prophets of this time, who themselves were deceived, just as they deceived others into accepting their false doctrines.

In verse 35 Christ says "And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever."

He is, in part, referring back to his statement in verse 34 that whoever continually sins is in bondage to sin, and as a result he does not have eternal life in the house of God. Yet he does not say the servant of sin does not live in the house forever, but that the servant does not live there forever.

Christ answers the question of what is meant by the "servant" in John 8: 36, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." Those not in the Son are the servants, and being in the Son makes them free, and being free they live forever in the house with the Son and Father.

But the Pharisees could not hear this truth and could not give up the argument, so they answered the truth standing before them by saying in John 8: 39, "Abraham is our father." And "Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham."

Is this not a verbatim record of a dialectical argument - a quarrel - by the Pharisees against the absolute truth? Having the dialectical mind - from Revelation 13: 11, speaking like a dragon - the Pharisees cannot accept absolute truth. They kept claiming they had status because they were the physical seed or children of Abraham. But Christ in John 8: 39 says if they were the children of Abraham, meaning the spiritual children of Abraham, they would do the works of Abraham.

Through Paul's statements in Galatians 3: 26-29 Christ did away with the physical bloodline from Abraham and fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies (II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 29: 16 and Jeremiah 18: 1-6) saying that God was to change Old Covenant Israel. And Hosea 2: 23 says that those who were not God's people will become his people - and join to Israel reborn in Christ.

John 8: 32-37 in saying "the servant lives not in the house forever" has a more profound meaning above just saying that the servant of sin in false doctrines does not have eternal life. In several places in Isaiah Old Covenant Israel is said to be the servant of God (Isaiah 41:8-9,Isaiah 42: 19, Isaiah 43: 10, Isaiah 44: 1,2, 21 and Isaiah 45: 4). "But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend." Isaiah 41: 8

Christ is telling the Pharisees, in effect, that there was a change in the qualifications a person must have to be allowed into the kingdom of God. This is what is meant by the parable of the wedding garment in Matthew 22: 8-14, where a man tried to crash the wedding of the Lamb without having on a proper wedding garment. The wedding garment is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1: 27)

The Pharisees, as leaders of physical Israel were claiming to have the qualification necessary under the old way, which was literal, physical descent from Abraham.

Christ is talking about those who are sons of God living in the house forever, but servants who are not born again in Christ do not live forever in the spiritual house which is the kingdom of God. He is telling the Pharisees that there has been a change from the Old Covenant to the New. Physical Israel has been the servant of God in bringing forth the word of God and Christ the Messiah came from them. But those in physical Israel must be changed into being the spiritual sons of God in order to live in God's spiritual house forever.

A number of New Testament scriptures say that the elect of God, or Christians, are the sons of God.

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" John 1: 12

"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." Romans 8: 19

Galatians 4: 6-7 states a vital part of the transition from physical Israel to Israel reborn in Jesus, and by the Spirit. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." There it is, this is what Christ was telling the Pharisees when he said "And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever."




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[pekoe]

Hi tulsa 2011.
Do you think it's possible for someone who never even heard of Jesus to abide in the house forever?

 

[tulsa 2011]

Yet Hebrews 9: 15 says "And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

Christ's death on the Cross was the means by which those in Old Covenant Israel who God called to salvation were saved.

Then see Romans 4: 3, 9-19: "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness......Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision."

Abraham believed God and his faith in what God said was counted to him as righteousness, and this was before he was circumcised, meaning that the physical act of circumcision was not the means of his being counted as righteous before God. The implication is that Abraham was saved by believing God.

Hebrews 11 lists a number of people of the Old Covenant who had faith, that is, they believed what God said. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Again, in Hebrews 11 the implication is that some people of the Old Covenant were saved by their faith.

"But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15: 24

At the time Christ appeared on earth in the form of man's flesh, Old Covenant Israel was lost. Only a small remnant had faith and the multitude were following the leaven of the Pharisees.

 

[pekoe]

HI TULSA.
The reason I ask is that I'm really wondering what makes someone part of the family of God? It seems as though it is faith alone in God, and if that is true, it really doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a gentile. It would seem God decided to make those who believe His children, regardless of ethnicity. While it is true that God chose to reveal Himself first to the Jewish people, the "chosen ones" have always been believers.

 

[tulsa 2011]

Jesus Christ was fully revealed when he appeared in man's flesh, and as Hebrews 10: 9 says " He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second." Anyone now, regardless of his race, must be born again in Christ to become a member of the elect.