They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:33–36 (RSV)
The human capacity for self-deception is impressive. The Jews arguing with Jesus make the remarkable statement that they have never been in bondage to anyone. It is true if you overlook that four hundred years as slaves in Egypt, the time the of the Babylonian conquest of Israel, followed by the Assyrians overrunning the land, and finally that small matter of Roman soldiers everywhere.
Jesus began to teach the Jews the reality of their circumstances. Not only were they physically subject to the Romans, but they were also in a much more severe bondage, a very deadly bondage. Sin is a fearful bondage. Sin always leads to death. There is no escaping it. If we remain enslaved to sin, we will not continue in the Father's House.
Yes, we Lutherans talk about sin often. Some might think we should let go of all this 'sin' talk and concentrate on something more upbeat. Of course, we do talk about the blessings showered on us and the blessings to come in the Kingdom. However, we are honest about sin. We don't minimize the danger of sin. We are truthful about sin in our lives and what it does to us.
The plain truth about sin is that no one is free from it. No one can atone for a single sin on their own. Sin, left to fester in our souls, will lead us down into destruction. Luther talks about having our theology be a theology of the cross. We speak the truth of what the thing is, regardless of what others think.
As we say time and again, the first step in our salvation in Christ is our confession that we are 'in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.' We confess this truth so that we might learn to turn from our sin to find our Lord ready to grant forgiveness.
Jesus has promised that the Son will set us free from our bondage to sin. If Jesus sets us free, we are indeed free for all time.