Freedom in Christ
Don't be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. — Jeremiah 1:8
Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. — 2 Corinthians 3:17
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: God has given us true spiritual freedom in Christ: by transferring us from darkness into his kingdom, he freed us from sin, death, ignorance, and the legalistic effort to please him through our religious performance. This freedom, received by faith and brought about by the Spirit, is neither a license to sin nor an excuse for self-indulgence; it enables us to reject sin, serve righteousness, and bear fruit in a new life. We must also exercise it without allowing it to become a stumbling block to the weak. We no longer live under the dominion of fear or try to appear holy, but live surrendered to the Lord and sustained by his grace, mercy, and work within us.
When the heart is full of God, we will not only find God everywhere, but also true freedom. God gave us His freedom in Christ. It is not freedom in the political sense, but in the spiritual sense. Freedom, together with righteousness, are precious gifts
that form the foundation of our Christian worldview and convictions. Christ is complete freedom because He is the Truth. To speak of true freedom presupposes that there must therefore be a freedom that is not real, that is fictitious, or simply that is founded on values that have nothing to do with ours.
By delivering us from the dominion of darkness and bringing us into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Col. 1:13), Christ rewarded us, though we did not deserve it, with incomparable freedom: He freed us from the law of sin; He freed us from the insipid and impracticable legalism of living under rules and precepts in order to please man rather than God; He freed us from eternal death through conviction of sin and repentance; and He also liberated us from the slavery that we all carry within us as a result of our ignorance. Jesus has made us free through His Spirit. This freedom is complete. Salvation is liberation, but it is never freedom to sin and do whatever we want. Salvation comes through our faith in Jesus Christ, so faith, salvation, and freedom in Christ form a powerful triangle that breaks every chain.
Sadly, there is a gospel corrupted by the world, preached in the name of Christ to fill personal coffers with riches and iniquity, which proclaims a freedom more akin to laxity and debauchery. The concept of freedom that the Bible gives us is not so that we may live disorderly lives in open opposition to the new life we experience in Christ; it is not to allow us to sin while ignoring the consequences; it is not to flagrantly transgress God’s immutable statutes. Rather, it is the freedom to avoid sin, to reject it forcefully, and to be servants of righteousness.
The heavenly Father gave us the freedom to be united with the risen Christ so that we may bear fruit worthy of His name in a new life. It is the freedom that must not become a stumbling block to the weak (1 Cor. 8:9), because when we confuse freedom in Christ with uncontrolled debauchery, we may drag along with us those brothers and sisters who are weak in the faith, who see us as mature Christians and will want to imitate us, believing that we are doing what is right when the very opposite is true. Trusting in Christ as Lord and Savior does not give us a license to sin and justify sin under a false interpretation of “free will.”
Freedom in Christ is beautiful and also—if you will pardon the repetition—liberating. It frees me from the anxious striving to please God with my abilities and my Christian performance; it imparts to me the grace that tells me at every moment that He is the One who does all the work; it reminds me that I have received the Spirit so that, in my human condition, I may daily renew my vows of unconditional surrender to my Lord from the perspective of His mercy. For a long time I lived without understanding my freedom in Christ. In fact, I believe that in some way I remained a slave to fulfilling the religious rules that we impose upon ourselves—or that others impose upon us—and that serve only to project an alleged and dubious holiness. The constant fear of displeasing God kept me from seeing the horizon until I understood the concept of freedom. The writer Ch. Trumbull once wrote that salvation is a twofold gift: freedom from the penalty of sin and freedom from the power of sin.
We are truly free with the freedom about which Paul joyfully wrote to the Philippians from prison because of the gospel. I invite you to meditate on this biblical truth: freedom in Christ casts out fear; where His Spirit is, there is freedom, and you and I are His dwelling place. There is no better reason for us to feel free. God bless you!