To set free
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Eleutheroo means to set free, liberate, or release from bondage. In John 8, Jesus places the word inside discipleship, truth, sin, and sonship: the truth will set His abiding disciples free, and the Son gives freedom indeed.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἐλευθερόω (G1659) · Open the biblical lexicon
Eleutheroo means to set free, liberate, or release from bondage. In John 8, Jesus places the word inside discipleship, truth, sin, and sonship: the truth will set His abiding disciples free, and the Son gives freedom indeed.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include You have been set free (2), free (1), has set us free (1), sets you free (1), will be set free (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 8:32. Its strongest book concentrations include Romans (4), John (2), Galatians (1).
Eleutheroo means to set free, liberate, or release from bondage. In John 8, Jesus places the word inside discipleship, truth, sin, and sonship: the truth will set His abiding disciples free, and the Son gives freedom indeed. Paul then uses the word for freedom from sin, freedom from the law of sin and death, and freedom that must not be traded for slavery again.
The word is therefore not a slogan for self-rule. It names liberation that Christ gives by truth, righteousness, the Spirit, and future glory. Readers should hear both the exposure of bondage and the promise of a freedom only the Son can secure.
Eleutheroo appears in John 8 and in Paul's letters as liberation from slavery that human confidence cannot solve. John emphasizes truth, discipleship, and the Son's authority. Romans emphasizes release from sin and death through Christ. Galatians calls believers to stand firm in freedom. Romans 8 widens the horizon to creation's future liberation.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus says the truth will set His disciples free after calling them to remain in His word. Freedom is tied to discipleship and revelation, not bare self-definition.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
The Son gives decisive freedom. The word's strongest Johannine force rests in His authority, not in the hearers' ancestry or self-confidence.
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Paul says believers have been set free from sin and made slaves to righteousness. Liberation changes masters rather than leaving people morally unattached.
For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
The law of the Spirit of life sets believers free from the law of sin and death. Freedom is grounded in Christ Jesus and the Spirit's life-giving work.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
Paul commands believers to stand firm in the freedom Christ has given and not return to slavery. Freedom must be guarded by faithfulness to the gospel.
That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Creation itself will be set free from bondage to decay. The word's horizon stretches from personal liberation to the final renewal of creation.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Liberation from sin's power through Christ, not merely external release but spiritual transformation and new freedom
Liberation from sin's power through Christ, not merely external release but spiritual transformation and new freedom
to make free from sin, Jhn.8:32, 36; before ἀπό, Rom.6:18, 22 8:2, 21; τ. ἐλευθερία (dative commodi), Gal.5:1 (on the "punctiliar" force of this verb, see M, Pr. 149; cf. also Cremer, 251).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I free, set free, liberate
Read verseI free, set free, liberate
Read verseI free, set free, liberate
Read verseI free, set free, liberate
Read verseI free, set free, liberate
Read verseI free, set free, liberate
Read verseI free, set free, liberate
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
How this verb appears across 7 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
ἐλευθερόω is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Eleutheroo helps the church speak about freedom with sharper biblical edges. Jesus does not treat people as free because they feel independent or because they possess a religious heritage. He names slavery to sin and announces freedom through truth and the Son. Paul follows the same line by saying that believers are freed from sin in order to belong to righteousness, freed from sin and death through the Spirit, and called to stand firm in Christ's freedom.
The word therefore turns freedom away from self-sovereignty and toward deliverance, allegiance, holiness, and hope. Its final horizon even includes creation released from decay.
John.8.36
Eleutheroo is a verb of release or liberation. Context supplies the bondage in view: sin in John 8 and Romans 6, sin and death in Romans 8, a yoke of slavery in Galatians 5, and decay in Romans 8:21.
The Old Testament story of exodus and release gives the Bible a deep pattern of liberation under God's redeeming hand. The New Testament uses eleutheroo to show that the greater bondage is sin and death, and that the liberator is the Son who gives truth, righteousness, Spirit-life, and final renewal.