the Son of God had. Theophylact and Euthymius take the same view.
Maldonatus calls attention to the expression in Hebrews, where Moses and Christ are put in contrast, and each in con- nection with the word " house," Moses as a servant, Christ as a Son. St. Paul certainly seems there to refer to this pas- sage. (Heb. iii. 2, 5, 6.)
36. — [If the Son shall make you free, etc.~\ In this verse our Lord explains what He had meant by freedom. It was a freedom from sin, its guilt, and power, and consequences, which believ- ers in Him were to receive. " If I, the Son of man, make you free, in the sense of delivering you from the burden of sin, then you will be free indeed ! " This was the freedom that He wished them to obtain. Here, as elsewhere, our Lord carefully avoids sayiug anything to bring on Himself the charge of rebelling against constituted authorities, and of heading a popular rise for liberty.
The word rendered " indeed " here is not the word so ren- dered at the 31st verse. Here it means " really, in reality," from the participle of the verb "to be." There it means " truly."
Let us not forget in these days that the only liberty which is truly valuable in God's sight is that which Christ gives. All political liberty, however useful for many purposes, is worth- less, unless we are children of God, and heirs of the kingdom, by faith in Jesus. He only is perfectly free who is free from sin. All beside are slaves. He that would be free in this fash- ion has only to apply to Christ for freedom. It is the peculiar office and privilege of the Lord Jesus, to enfranchise forever all who come to Him.
Augustine carries the freedom here promised far into the future. He remarks, " When shall there be full and perfect liberty? When there shall be no enemies, when the last ene- my shall be destroyed, even death."