"The Truth will set you free"

This cliché started by none other than the Lord Himself is recorded in John 8:32. This phrase is misused often to mean that telling the truth will set a person free, when that is not what Jesus meant at all. He says this in conclusion to His answer to the crowd's question, "Who are you?"

It is no far stretch to deduce that there is a relation between this revelation and His proclamation in John 14:8, "I am the way, the Truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Therefore, the "Truth" that sets one free is two-fold. First of all, the Truth is Christ Himself, as He claims it in John 8. As God incarnate, He is the personification of Truth, since it is impossible for God to lie and everything He ordains comes to pass. Therefore, according to 8:32, Christ Himself sets you free, which He fulfilled by His atoning work on the cross. The second take on the Truth that sets one free is the truth of the Gospel pertaining to Who He was and what He did. Knowing one’s need for the sacrificial work of Christ and trusting in His work alone for salvation will indeed set one free from the bondage of sin.

From now on, every time I hear or read this phrase, “The truth will set you free,” whether it is misused in a movie, speech, or book, I will – at least in my own mind – give thanks to the One Who is the Truth and has, is, and will set me free.