They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:33-36

Throughout the Book of John we get these mini-salvation sermons. This is one such message. There’s quite a bit of doctrine and truth within these verses. The apostle Paul wrote many chapters of the Book of Romans dealing precisely with these verses. Freedom and slavery and sin and sonship.

The leaders are still not quite grasping what he’s saying. If they did, they would have surely threatened to kill him again, something Jesus mentions in the next verse. We have the context of the entire New Testament to assist us.

But the truth of verse 36 resonates with each of us because we know what it means in our relationship to the Son and the Father. We know what this freedom is and we know who has set us free.

In the fullest sense of Dr. Martin Luther King’s words: Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty I’m free at last.