Liberty

Author : Keith Sharp

Americans have been blessed by the blood of our forefathers with the freedom for which countless millions of people around the globe yearn. The boldly defiant words of Revolutionary firebrand Patrick Henry captures the American spirit: “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death” (speech at the Second Virginia Convention, March 23, 1775). “Liberty!” is the cry of the day in religion as well. The late W. Carl Ketcherside wrote:

Now I am freed from the law. I am dead to that which once held me fast in its talons. I am free to serve God in a new way, not under a new law, but in a new way! … He has set no bounds except those of love for Him in his infinite mercy, and for my fellow men in their infinite need (Mission Messenger).

What does the New Testament teach about liberty?

The biblical term “liberty” is a synonym of freedom ( Vine. 2:131). The Lord Jesus came to give mankind liberty (Luke 4:18), and true freedom is in Him. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 18:36). This real liberty is based on the truth of the Word of Christ. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

But freedom, both in the civil and in the spiritual realm, is also based on law. American freedom depends on responsible observance of just law. We have a Constitution and laws that not even our national leaders are above, as the resignation of President Nixon and the impeachment of President Clinton demonstrate. We have liberty under law. Even so, the apostle Paul wrote, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). “The law of sin and death” is the rule of sin in the life of the sinner which results in spiritual death (cf. Romans 7:23-25). “The law of the Spirit” is the Gospel by which we are saved (Romans 1:16-17), the “new covenant”revealed by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). By it we have liberty from the tyranny of sin (Romans 8:2; 2 Corinthians 3:17).

Civil freedom is possible only where the people of the nation voluntarily submit to the rule of law. A society of unrestrained criminality results in tyranny. Correspondingly, “The fear of God is the basis of moral self-government, and self-government is the basis of true freedom” (Schaff. 8:265). “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). Freedom from sin is possible only by obedience to the Lord.

There is liberty (freedom of action) within divine law. Within the restraints of civil law, free people choose their own occupations, homes, and associates. The Lord allows us freedom of choice within divine law. For example, we have the freedom to eat what foods we desire, and those who would restrain this liberty usurp the authority that alone belongs to the Lord as law giver (1 Timothy 4:1-5; 1 Corinthians 8:8-9).

From What Do We Have Liberty?In Christ we have freedom from three specific areas of bondage. In the Lord the shackles of sin are broken, and we are freed from its power and guilt (Romans 6:18). We are emancipated from the demands of the law of Moses (Galatians 5:1-4), which could not free those under it from bondage to sin (Romans 8:2-4). And we are set at liberty from the chains of the “commandments and doctrines of men,” “self-imposed religion” with its “regulations” based upon “an appearance of wisdom” (Colossians 2:20-23). As Paul, we must “not yield submission even for an hour” to regulations men would impose that the Lord has not, “that the truth of the gospel might continue with” us (Galatians 2:3-5). When men attempt to impose their man made rules for clothing, food, and daily conduct, we must demand our freedom, that the Gospel might not be shackled with human dogma.

How Is Our Liberty Limited?Many fail to make the essential distinction between liberty and license. “License” is “freedom that allows or is used with irresponsibility … licentiousness” (Webster. 487). “Licentiousness” is conduct “lacking legal or moral restraints” (Ibid). A nation that so conducts itself is in a state of anarchy. This leads to the tyranny of the strong. Witness the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia that led to Stalin. Those, such as Carl Ketcherside, who plead for liberty without divine law, are in reality advocating licentiousness. “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).

Such spiritual licentiousness results in slavery to sin (Romans 6:16; 2 Peter 2:18-19) and the tyranny of the strong (3 John verses 9-10). The free spirit who demands his liberty to do drugs becomes the slave of his addiction, and lawless tyrants who lead brethren in unauthor-ized paths cast those who challenge their unscriptural conduct out of the fellowship they control.

We are under divine law, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2), the law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21), “the perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25), and we shall be judged by it (James 2:12).

Within this law are liberties, nonessentials, things allowed but not required, such as eating various kinds of food (1 Corinthians 10:27-33). There are seven divine principles that determine if it is right to exercise a liberty. We must not lead someone to violate his conscience (Romans 14:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:9-13; 10:25-33), we should do things that lead to peace and edification (Romans 14:19), we must not violate our own consciences (Romans 14:23), we must seek to please others (Romans 15:1-3), we must not be enslaved to a nonessential practice (1 Corinthians 6:12), we must do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and we must seek the salvation of others (1 Corinthians 10:33). But no one has the right to bind his conscience on others over these matters of opinion (Romans 14:3).

ConclusionDear Christian, you are free in Christ. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free…” (Galatians 5:1). But do not confuse liberty with license (1 Peter 2:16) and do not abuse your liberties so as to cause others to stumble (1 Corinthians 8:9). Dear sinner, come to Christ, that you might be free. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

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Works Cited

Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church.
Vine, W.E., An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary.