Galatians 5.13-15
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”
In Christ we are given three freedoms:
1) We are set free from the penalty of sin. This is redemption. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2)
2) We are progressively set free from the power of sin. This is the process of spiritual growth and maturity, known in theological terms as progressive sanctification. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
3) We shall be set free from the presence of sin. When Jesus returns, he will give us new bodies, we will be transformed, and we will share in his glory. This is what theologians call glorification. The apostle Paul tells us we “will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3), and that awaiting us is “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Jesus himself prays to the Father about us, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them” (John 17:22), and perhaps most incredible of all, Peter says we will “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).
What is evident in scripture is that the freedom we have in Christ is not freedom from restraint or restriction. Salvation by grace does not mean we are free to act any way we want. Indeed, faith in Jesus liberates us from the distorting influence of the Fall and restores the image of God within us. Before we trusted in Jesus we were broken and cut off from God, but through Jesus’ sacrificial death we are redeemed, reconciled to God, and made whole again. We moved from a condition of death to a condition of life.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Christian freedom, then, is liberation to live the life for which God created you. It is freedom to be the person that God designed you to be. It is freedom that returns to us the life that was lost at the Fall. It is the freedom to fulfill your God-given purpose. This is what Paul means in the famous passage in the book of Romans:
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30)
Paul specifically tells the Galatians to use their freedom to serve one another. We will address that topic next week.
