‘Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34 ESV)

This was Christ’s response to the Jewish leaders who claimed to have no need of being “set free.” He told them that they were “slaves to sin.” In other words, sin owned them. Even if they wanted to stop sinning, they couldn’t. Sin was their master. And the fact that they were blind to this slavery, made its grip upon them all the more powerful. Denying their sinfulness, they remained enslaved. Yet, if only they had confessed. If only they had admitted their sin and powerlessness to stop, then Christ would have broken their bonds and set them free.