The second day after John the Baptist identified Jesus Christ as the “Lamb of God,” Philip found Nathanael and told him that they had found the Messiah. Skeptical that anything good could come out of Christ’s hometown of Nazareth, Nathanael nonetheless agreed to come and see Jesus. The Bible says, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (John 1:47).

Christ’s instantaneous assessment of Nathanael’s character reveals why he is a type of those who experience true religious liberty. First, he was “an Israelite indeed”–that is, a genuine Israelite. The statement is clarified by the apostle Paul in Romans 9:6, “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” The self-deception of the sinful heart can easily lead us to think we have an authentic relationship with God when we do not. Bloodlines, nationality, church affiliation, education, social status, and all the other metrics we humans use to rank, grade, and categorize each other have no power to set us free from sin. The assumption that they can work this miracle is the mistake that many Israelites made in both the Old Testament and in Christ’s day. Many Christians repeat this mistake today.

When Jesus referred to Nathanael as “an Israelite indeed,” He indicated that something deeper than national identity enabled him to accept the Messiah when many around him did not. So what makes a person a “true Israelite”? The Bible says in Romans 2:29, “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” God introduced circumcision after Abraham failed to trust God and attempted to fulfill God’s promises in his own way and time. It was a painful symbolic act reminding Abraham and his descendants that they could not make themselves righteous. Circumcision also demonstrated that the very things we often use to impress others and accomplish what we want are in fact the very things that separate us from God. They must be cut away before we can experience true freedom.

Abraham eventually learned the lesson that God is looking only for our faith in Him to unlock His promises and set us free from sin. This is the defining characteristic of a “true Israelite.” As the apostle Paul explained, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:6, 7).

Second, Jesus said of Nathanael that he had “no guile.” The Greek word translated as “guile” refers to a decoy, bait, or lure—that is, anything deceitful. Nathaniel and the other disciples were known, as was Jesus, for their purity of speech. This is in part what gave away Peter as a disciple of Jesus on the night of Christ’s arrest. “Surely thou also art one of them,” someone said to Peter, “for thy speech bewrayeth thee” (Matthew 26:73). To prove that he wasn’t sympathetic to the condemned Prisoner, Peter immediately “began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man” (Matthew 26:74). 

The purity of speech that Jesus commended in Nathanael certainly included the absence of those blatant expletives that Peter resorted to. But it also includes much more. A Christian with no guile speaks and acts in harmony with their profession as a follower of Christ. How they act at home, at work, or when on vacation will be consistent with how they act when at church. The man or woman seen by others when in public will be the same person seen by the family in private. The principle applies with equal force corporately. A company, organization, or church living without guile will recoil against duplicitous private and public messaging, business practices that introduce conflicts of interest, and policies that require members, constituents, or clients to violate the dictates of their conscience.

Revelation 14:5 brings into view another group of people that, like Nathanael, have no guile. This group is the 144,000 that are translated to heaven without seeing death. The Bible says of them, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. …And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Revelation 14:1, 5). How do they gain this experience? Are they born this way? Are they among a privileged few that happen to be in the right place at the right time? Are they predestined to receive an extra amount of grace? Not at all. The Bible says of the 144,000, “These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” (Revelation 14:4). They walk with Jesus, like Nathanael did, and are changed. They go wherever the Lamb goes, but they also allow the Lamb to go anywhere in their life that He needs to to set them free from sin. 

This privileged group is composed of sinners redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. They have confessed their sins, claimed the promises of God, and surrendered themselves completely to His leading in their lives. As a result, the divine character, or name, has been written in their foreheads. They now think, speak, and act in accordance with the principles of God’s government. They are truly free citizens of an infinitely free government. 

Religious liberty is freedom from sin. It is manifested in purity of speech and in a life lived consistently with who we claim to be. Let every Christian and every Christian church be without guile and be called by God an Israelite indeed.