When Jesus said that knowing the truth would set you free, he was talking specifically about being set free from sin, the very thing that is at the heart of everything that you can’t stand about yourself and results in extremely distressing emotions and behaviors. (For the context, see John 8:23-24.)

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 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 8:32-36, NIV)

If you have freedom from sin, you’ll be free from the overeating, flares of rage and cursing, wanting to slap your child silly, hating your mother-in-law, stealing just those tiny little trinkets you sneak into your purse, or cruising the sexually explicit websites where you know you have no business going. But HOW?! How do we find freedom from sin?!

In John 8, Jesus told us not only what we need freedom from – sin – but also how to obtain that freedom – by knowing the truth. It is apparent that his apostles “got” this when they wrote their epistles. They told the truth to the people to whom they wrote. They started with the truth and then expected those who heard or read their letters to respond to the truth by walking in freedom from sinful behavior. Here’s a really plain example from one of Paul’s letters to the Corinthians:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV)

The context here is a discussion of sexual immorality in the lives of believers. Paul tells the Corinthians a few very important facts about them: that they are each a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, that they have received the Spirit from God, that they belong to God, and that he paid a (very high) price to purchase them. Only after Paul tells them these truths, which he apparently doubted had really sunk in yet (“Do you not know…”), does he then conclude that they would quite naturally respond to such amazing truth by honoring God with their bodies by not engaging in sexual immorality. Duh!

Let’s face it, not all the things we believe, much of which we’ve so taken for granted that we’ve never even questioned it, are actually based on the truth from God; i.e., the truth found in God’s Word, the Bible. Even if you came to know Christ at a very early age, not everything you believed to be true after that was actually true according to Scripture. Here’s an example: How many times did you hear godly older Christians say, “I’m just a dirty, rotten sinner saved by grace”? But that wasn’t really a true statement. If you’re saved by grace, you’re a new creation in Christ with a new heart. Yes, you’re saved by grace, but you’re no longer dirty and rotten! If you truly believe you’re still a dirty, rotten sinner, guess what? You’ll find yourself acting like one. If, instead, you believe you’re no longer dirty or rotten or even primarily a sinner, you are much more likely to behave in accordance with who you really are, which is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24, NIV).

If believing the truth is what sets us free, yet we also believe in a whole lot of things that are not based on the truth, such as what our peers, culture, parents, schools, and even some churches have told us, then we’re sunk! No truth, no freedom!

Oh, but there’s hope. God has provided a means for us to replace all the erroneous beliefs we have that are motivating our painful emotions and ungodly behavior. Look at Romans 12:2 (NIV).

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What is “the world”? It is the culture, institutions, media, and all people under the influence of sin and Satan – and it wants us to conform to its way of thinking. When we no longer let the world and its so-called “truths” press us into its mold, but instead change our thinking to align with the truth from God’s Word, then we are able to discern God’s will, which is pleasing and perfect…and frees us to be our true selves in Christ.

When we see and are convinced of reality as God sees it – when we believe in what is actually true – we are freed from the erroneous beliefs that are keeping us in bondage to painful emotions and the sinful behaviors we use to cope with our painful emotions. By renewing our minds, we reverse the process that led to slavery to sin as spelled out in Romans 1 – people exchanged the truth about God for a lie. We can now exchange the incorrect information we believe for the truth about and from God. And then we are set free.