Christian liberty - what does the Bible say?

Christianity requires that we should speak and act, as those who have been set free from the power of sin, to do the will of God in all things, His will being ours. He has delivered us from bondage; we are truly free to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Precious and holy liberty! It is the liberty of a nature that finds its pleasure and joy in the will of God and in obedience. Now the Christian is always free to do the will of God; he may, indeed, get away from God, and through carelessness and unfaithfulness, lose strength and zeal; but still, all he says and does will be judged according to this law of liberty. Important truth! He grows in the knowledge of the will of God, and he is free under grace to practise what he knows. The needed strength is found in Christ.

Christ has set us free in freedom Galatians 5: 1. This is real liberty. Of course the Christian will shortly enjoy the liberty of the glory Romans 8: 21, but it is our privilege to know liberty now. The TRUTH sets us free, John 8: 32, and if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed John 8: 36. We read also that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty 2 Corinthians 3: 17.

'But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak' (1 Cor. 8:9).

'Liberty' is a wonderful subject of Scripture, describing the position a Christian has been brought into. 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage' (Gal. 5:1). But even the Galatians whose main problem was to put themselves once again under a yoke of bondage were warned of another danger: 'For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another' (Gal. 5:13).

The summary statement in verse 1 is “Christ has set us free in freedom.”This is the Christian liberty that Paul maintains in this epistle and for which he was ready to pay a high price. He defended his liberty at all cost. The Lord Jesus said in John 8, “When the Son has set you free, you shall be free indeed.”This is the kind of liberty that the Lord wants His people to enjoy. In Romans 8, for example, we find details about this Christian liberty but here the emphasis is a little bit different.

I connect this with what Paul says in verse 1, “Stand fast,”or, “Stand firm.”This liberty is something to enjoy in the Christian experience, but it is also something that is hard to understand. Christian liberty is not legalism. This is the way that the enemy wants people to go; legalism is the opposite of Christian liberty. Further, Christian liberty does not mean license, we will see in chapter 6 that we are under the law of Christ. This is a new law, a new order of things, the law of Christ relates to the new nature. God does not force us to obey His commands; rather, he has given us a nature that desires to do exactly what He wants us to do. James speaks about the royal law (Jas.2:8) and the law of liberty (Jas.2:12) so there is obligation but not in the sense of a bondage. In one sense we are bondmen of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is not in the sense of bondage that we have seen in connection with Hagar at the end of chapter 4, a system that is in bondage with her children (v.25) which is characteristic of Judaism, and which Paul calls “a yoke of bondage”(5:2). No, that is something that is entirely different from God’s thoughts. If we are under such bondage, we will not be able to serve God effectively, nor will we be able to worship Him well. A yoke of bondage will stop the believer from going on. There will be all kinds of hindrances and that is what Paul wants to prevent. We are set free from such bondage, we are set free from paganism, set free from this religious side of bondage and set at liberty. This liberty is a precious thing, and it is constantly under attack. Many are the forces seeking to move away the saints either towards legalism or towards license. Therefore, we have to have our focus right in connection with this liberty and that is why he says, “Stand firm.”When it comes to the enjoyment of these precious Christian truths there is always this challenge to stand firm, so we will not lose them, but that we will enjoy this position of liberty in true fellowship with God. In every epistle Paul gives encouragement in this sense, to hold fast.

We are under grace, not law; but what a profound error that we as Christians are left to our own will or wisdom! We are bought with an infinite price, and are in no wise our own. Undoubtedly all things are ours, life or death, things present or things to come. But we are Christ's by the same title which makes all to be ours; so that the bondman if called in the Lord is His freedman; and the free man if called is Christ's bondman. Such is Christian liberty. Humbled at our sins, we rejoice in His grace which has set us free to be all the more His servants, as He was the lowliest of all and the only efficacious One in love without measure to God's glory.

But, besides salvation, there is another rich blessing — "he shall go in and out." The truth makes free, the Son makes free. It is the essence of Christianity — liberty to do as God likes. It supposes responsibility to Christ. I am Christ's bondsman, but free to serve Him. You who look to Jesus, are not you at liberty also? Do you say that you are still tied and bound with the chain of your sins? Such is not the christian state but rather a denial of it. "He shall go in and out." This is the liberty in which we ought to stand fast: so says the apostle to the Galatians who had let it slip. Anything short of it is not Christianity, though it may be the state of souls born of God. It is not merely your gain or loss that is in question, but the Lord's glory. For God has Christ before Him, and He blesses you by leading you to think of Christ as He does. Nor can you duly serve as Christ's bondsman unless you know what it is to be His freedman. It is liberty to please the Lord, no longer like the Israelite under law, still less bound to the world or its conventionalities, its hopes or its fears, its pursuits or its pleasures. We are free to serve Christ, delighting in Him now. Having heard His voice, we shall serve Him in a changed body on high, as well as here in these bodies made the temple of God by the Spirit dwelling in them.

The liberty into which we are brought, then, is the complete emancipation which has reached us as being made the sons of God. It is the freedom of which the Lord Jesus spoke when He said, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). We are no longer like servants of the household, who rightly have their conduct regulated by the rules suitable to the servants' hall; and to put ourselves in our thoughts and behaviour back into that position is to sadly entangle ourselves. It is indeed to fall from grace, as verse 4 has it.

Let us now look into the nature of the liberty the apostle here refers to, when he exhorts the Galatian saints to "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." And I think we shall find that Christ has procured liberty from the slavery of Satan, from the guilt and dominion of sin, from the bondage and curse of the law, from the fear of death, and given us liberty in God's presence, the liberty of sonship, and liberty to serve.

Romans 7 tells us of one who is what many are today — full of himself. He speaks of himself forty times, and at length he says, "O wretched man that I am." He could not be anything else, because he is full of himself. How did he get liberty? "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (ver. 25). "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus: for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1-2). There is our new place before God in Christ. Who is that true of? Every one who through faith in Christ and the Spirit's power can enter into it. There is no use pretending to be free if you are not. But thank God, it is the portion of the feeblest believer. I have had the happy and exhilarating sense of what it is to be connected with Christ, the other side of death, for four and forty years. He is my life, and in Him I have sweetest liberty.

Now go to Galatians, and see how this truth is presented there. I find the apostle saying, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1). What is that? Getting under law. Nine-tenths of God's people today are under law as to their standing before God, and in their soul's relation to Him, hence they are in bondage. Paul urges us not to be entrapped by the yoke of bondage, because law occupies me with myself, and a man that is occupied with himself is bound to be wretched, because there is nothing in him that can answer to God's claims. You must learn that you are "dead to law by the body of Christ" (Rom. 7:4), and alive to God, before you can get liberty. A Christian is entitled to know this, hence the apostle says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1). Liberty — freedom, is what belongs to a Christian; not liberty for the flesh, but emancipation from it, and from all that which kept the soul in bondage, darkness, and distance, so that we might be in the enjoyment of God, even as Christ is.

What a trumpet note of the Spirit to our souls we next hear: "For, brethren, ye have been called to liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13). The apostle is so angry with the legalist teachers — the men that put the Christian under law, and consequently into bondage — that he adds, "I would they were even cut off which trouble you" (ver. 12). Paul knew that love effects what law fails to produce, just as the gospel takes you much further than the law. The law says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" The gospel teaches us to "lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16). For this the believer in Christ has power, by the Holy Ghost; for the gospel gives you life, power, and an object, life in Christ, power by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and then Christ personally as the object for the heart. The law did not give you any of these; the gospel gives you them all. Well may Paul say, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free" - i.e., hold firmly the very elements of the Christian calling — and then adds" only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13).

So what is Christian liberty? It is fourfold. The first thing I want to show you is in 2 Corinthians 3:17: 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' We will behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. This is the first aspect of Christian liberty; to find our joy in the Lord Jesus. Sometimes I am surprised by what unbelievers are able to do. There are some very friendly people, some very helpful people, and some very patient people, and sometimes we are impressed by this, but there is something they are all unable to do: they cannot find their joy in the Lord Jesus. This is Christian liberty.

Secondly Romans 6 speaks of sin dwelling in us, and says, 'ye were bondmen of sin.' Yes, we had to sin before our conversion, but Christian liberty means that we no longer have to sin now. The same chapter states, 'Now, having got your freedom from sin ...' (Rom. 6:17-18). We know from God's word and bitter experience that as believers we are still able to sin, but Christian liberty means we no longer have to sin. This is a great liberty.