Christian Liberty

Read Galatians 5:1 and 2 Corinthians 3:17

• How do you decide on issues that the Bible doesn’t specifically address, like who to marry, vacations, purchases, or recreation, just to name a few?
  

• How do you make decisions on matters that the Bible is neither for nor against?
  

• First, what is Christian liberty?
  
• Second, what are the means of liberty?
  
• Third, how do we attain liberty?
  
• Fourth, what is the cause of bondage or lack of Christian liberty?
  

What is Christian liberty?
First and foremost, we must always understand Christian liberty as that which Christ has purchased and obtained through His death and resurrection for those who believe (Eph.1:3). This immediately tells us that whatever it is, it cannot be earned, bargained for, or purchased by us.

The second thing that we need to understand about Christian liberty is that it is a gift of Christ that Satan envies and about which he desires to deceive the people of God (Gal.2:4, 5:7).

Finally, an essential element in Christian liberty is revealing what is essential in true religion, namely, a new creation (Gal.6:15), faith working through love (5:6), and obedience to the Word (5:7).

Liberty is “the fullest opportunity for man to be and do the very best that is possible for him.”¹ Christian liberty simply speaks of those things that the Christian is free from and free for. In other words, Christian liberty is freedom from those things which threaten or enslave, and freedom for or to those things which God desires and commands. The opposite of liberty is bondage, and the only bondage that the Christian is called to be enslaved to is the yoke of Christ (Matt.11:28-30). Therefore, anything that does not “yoke” us to Christ in His present and effectual grace is not liberty.

There are only two kingdoms that the Bible speaks of: the kingdom of Satan and darkness and the kingdom of Christ and light (Col.1:13); therefore, every person is a slave of either Satan or Christ. From birth, every child of Adam is born a slave to sin and Satan (Rom.5:10ff). However, through the new birth, we are made slaves of righteousness and Christ. With this general definition in mind, we immediately discover that the unbeliever cannot enjoy this freedom or liberty for he is a slave to sin and Satan (John 8:34; Rom.6:16-22; 2 Tim.2:26).

1. The wrath of God (Rom.5:9, 8:1; John 3:36; Eph.2:3)
   
2. The curse of the law (Gal.3:10, 13; Rom.6:14)
   
3. The bondage of sin (Rom.3:9, 6:6, 11, 18, 22)
   
4. The terror of death (Rom.5:14ff; 1 Cor.15:55-57; Heb.2:15)
   
5. The captivity of Satan (2 Tim.2:26; 1 John 5:19)
   

1. To enjoy the liberty of sonship (Gal.4:1-7)
   
2. To experience the liberty of Truth (John 8:32)
   
3. To enter the liberty of approaching God (Heb.10:19-22, 4:16)
   
4. To express the liberty of service to others (Gal.5:13)
   
5. To experience growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Pet.3:18)
   

Dr. Norman B. Harrison has said, “Christian liberty is a life so lived that these provisions of grace continue to operate.”² What this tells us is that Christian liberty is something that can be true positionally, yet missed practically. Paul says there is a grace in which the child of God stands (Rom.5:2): this is positional. But in Galatians 5:1, he speaks of a grace in which we are to “keep standing”; in other words, there is a grace that we are to continue to live by practically, if we do not subject ourselves to a “yoke of slavery.” 

Let me remind you of what a yoke is. A yoke is something that is placed upon you by a master so that you work diligently. Paul warns us in Galatians 5:1 that we, as Christians, can subject ourselves to a yoke (an instrument of bondage) that doesn’t bless us but burdens us, namely, the law.

To the lost man, the law is an instrument of bondage because it commands him to abstain from things which he is naturally inclined to do and to do things for which he has no desire. The Christian, though, has the desire to obey God. However, if he seeks to please God by depending on the law, rather than on the indwelling Spirit of God, he cuts himself off from, or deprives himself of, the effects or grace of the risen Christ (Gal.5:2). In this case, the Christian’s standing would not be affected, but his state or practice would.

Applied in the church:
There are many believers today who are unaffected in a daily sense by the Person and work of Christ. They believe that He is the one and only Savior and that the only way to be saved is by grace through faith in Him, but they seek to work for grace, and in doing so, legalism has put them in a position where they are unable to derive any spiritual benefit from the risen Lord. Their daily walk is disassociated from Him. He has no effect upon them whatsoever. His cross, His present ministry of intercession, and His promises make no difference to them -- they are all meaningless as far as practice is concerned. What has happened? Paul says, they “have fallen from grace” (Gal.5:4).

Practically applied:
Remember, God doesn’t strike deals with us. God is not a businessman! If we are going to receive anything from God, it will be on the basis of grace through faith (Gal.5:5; Rom.4:4-5, 16). Also, remember that faith itself is not a work, but a gift (Eph.2:8-9). Faith itself is not our righteousness; it unites us to Christ so that God’s righteousness in Christ is reckoned to us (2 Cor.5:21). Whenever you add works to faith in Christ in order to please Christ, it makes grace inoperative because grace is only received, never obtained. The result is arrested development: self-deprivation from the daily grace that is needed for growth in the knowledge of Christ. In essence, when a man says, “the way to honor God is by working,” he is saying, “God, I prefer to depend on what I can do for myself instead of what Christ has done for me.” In doing so, he lives in the energy of the flesh and cuts the supply line of God’s grace.
What is the cause of bondage or lack of Christian liberty?

Galatians 5:7-8 -- “You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.”

The reason for the bondage is disobedience -- disobedience to God’s truth always results in a loss of joy and peace. The Galatians were hindered from obeying the truth by Satan through false teachers (Judaizers). Their spiritual lives were being hindered because they had reverted back to a “do religion” verses a “be religion.” Law says, I work. Grace says, God works. Religion says that you must do this in order to be a child of God. Christianity says because you are a child of God, this is what you do. There is a world of difference between those two things. How do you operate today? Do your actions come out of who you are and who you belong to, or do you do what you do so that you can become something?
Those who fall into bondage work in the strength of their flesh. Those who enjoy the benefits of daily grace depend on the power of the indwelling Spirit. The Holy Spirit did not lead the Galatians into legalism -- “This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.” They had begun to listen to another voice, but not the voice of Christ through the Spirit. A little false teaching endangered the whole of their lives and the church (5:9). But there is hope -- true believers will listen to the voice of Christ, and false teachers will be judged (5:10) for hindering God’s people.

What is the means of liberty?
The means of this liberty is the liberating Spirit given in response to justifying faith.

Galatians 5:5 -- “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.”

2 Corinthians 3:17 -- “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

How can we attain this liberty?
Galatians 5:13 -- “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

• First, we must understand that Christian liberty does not mean we are free from temptation.
  

• Second, we must know that our liberty in Christ is freedom to do right, not freedom to do what our old nature desires and dictates.
  

• Third, we must be convinced that liberty in the Lord is not a license to sin.
  

• Fourth, whenever Christian liberty is used to serve self and not the highest need and the greatest good of others (love), we are abusing our privileges.
  

• Fifth, living in liberty does not mean renouncing our rights, but being willing to forego the use of them for the sake of others.
  

• Sixth, the constraining principle and power in the Christian’s life is love (2 Cor.5:14), and love will make us less self-centered and more considerate of others.
  

• Seventh, the remedy from self-centeredness or desiring to please our flesh is to walk in the Spirit (Gal.5:16). The greatest motivation for holiness is the regenerating work of the Spirit when He writes on our heart the law of God (puts His life as a rule of life in us which awakens and determines desire). The strength for expressing this holiness is never produced by our own strength -- it is only produced by the Spirit of God as we abide in Christ’s Word (choose to believe His Word).
  

• Do you impose man-made or personal preferences (things that Scripture neither commands nor forbids) upon yourself and others?
  

• Do you take great pride in things that you deny yourself? Are you enslaved to things which God permits?
  

• If so, the fruit of the Spirit (growth) will be hindered in your life and in the lives of others. Apply the remedy! Walk in the Spirit! Conduct your life in line with the Spirit’s Word. You will find Him turning you from looking within to looking without and from being concerned about your own failures to being concerned with people’s needs!
  

The design of the metaphor is simple and obvious. A door is a medium of passage, and Jesus stands between God and us. God comes to us through Him and we approach God through Him. With regard to our souls, we come to God by Christ. With regard to our acts of service, they are only accepted by God through Him (1 Pet.2:5).

What are the advantages to the one who enters by Him? First, there is safety -- “he will be saved.” Second, there is liberty—“he…will go in and out.” The person who enters through Christ is free…he can go in and out at his pleasure. When he goes out, he is not shut out like a stranger; and when he comes in, he is not shut in like a criminal or prisoner. This is an expression of freedom, and what it is intended to teach us is that what is done for the Christian’s safety does not compromise his liberty. He knows the truth, and the truth makes him free to enjoy all the pleasures and treasures in Immanuel’s land -- as believers we are free to partake of all the pleasures of the sons of God. Finally, there is plenty -- “and find pasture.” ³ Abundant, free, more than we can ever hope to consume! Bless God, dear saint, for the grace of freedom in Christ!