Bible Study: The Gospel of John

For the first time since moving to Georgia four years ago, I have finally joined a women’s bible study at our church. I used to participate in them regularly at our church in Texas, but because I was resistant to our move and nursing a grudge against God over it, I had no interest in diving deeper into his word with other believers. I wore my resentment around me like a cloak for far too long before realizing how much I missed my sweet relationship with the Lord and how desperately I needed him.

Our study this season is on the Gospel of John. I could not have asked for a better book to reconnect with Jesus and have grown to adore the ladies in my group. I’ve always loved how women’s bible studies bring together ladies from different life stages and backgrounds around our common desire to know God more. Everyone brings different insights, experiences, and perspectives to the study, making it so much richer for each of us than studying the book alone.

This week, we are studying chapters eight and nine. There is so much goodness packed into these 99 verses. SO much. But the verse I keep returning to is John 8:32:

“and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” ~John 8:32 (ESV)

This verse is well known to me. During my university years, I passed it nearly every day, carved into the Main Building (or Tower) on the UT campus. Whenever the inscription caught my eye, I couldn’t resist pondering it. The sentiment seemed familiar to me, but placing it remained just out of my grasp. That season of my life was full of learning and exploration, a time when I was trying to figure out just who I was, what I believed, and what I wanted my life to be about. Then one day, it hit me. The inscription was a verse from the Bible.

Imagine my surprise, because in my experience, UT was a fairly liberal university. But my time spent in Austin was peppered with questions about and contemplation of God. And while I would not know an abiding relationship with Jesus for several more years, his words from the book of John on that building façade were central to my questions and called to my heart throughout my years on campus. 

Circling back to the verse, it’s actually the second part of a sentence introduced in verse 31: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,…” 

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” ~John 8:31-32 (ESV)

Through the complete sentence, Jesus is saying that if we remain in his word, feel at home in it, live with it as part of us and our lives, we are his disciples. And when we are his disciples, we will know the truth – his Truth – and in that, we will know freedom.

This verse feels like a poignant homecoming for me. During my self-imposed estrangement from God, I did not feel free. At all. I let anger and despair have their way with me, frequently asking God “why” instead of asking what he’d have me learn from the abrupt redirection of our lives. But I wasn’t even truly seeking understanding, I mostly wanted him to know how unhappy I was and how wrong I felt the move for my husband’s job was. But now, in this first study, my first step back toward abiding in God’s word, I’m reminded of the freedom-giving goodness that trusting in the Lord brings. And it feels like a full-circle moment that this verse that figured so prominently in my faith journey would jump out at me once again and draw me closer to God.

Do you enjoy participating in group bible studies? Why or why not? What has been your favorite book to study and why? What is a verse you find yourself gravitating toward again and again or what verse has become a theme of sorts for you and your life?