Freedom in Christ Isn’t What Many Believe it to be

Many think that freedom in Christ is freedom from obligation to do what God’s law requires. Yet nothing could be a greater deception.

Psalm 119:43-45: “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments. So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.”

Psalm 119:142: “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”

Beware of those who preach any form of “liberty” or “freedom” in Jesus besides liberty and freedom to walk in the truth of God’s law. The Bible has some awful things to say about people like that (see especially 2 Peter 2:9-22 and the Book of Jude).

God’s law makes it evident that fallen mankind needs a remedy for sin. Yet the law itself cannot provide that. Jesus Christ’s atonement on the cross provides the remedy for sin which each person desperately needs. Those who obey His Gospel are cleansed by His blood and given His Holy Spirit to empower them to walk righteously and acceptable before God, overcoming the workings of sin in their flesh and the power of the darkness of the world. This walk conforms to the demands of God’s law.

Romans 8:1-4: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus (many stop there, keep reading), who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (the Spirit of God- which inspired the written Word of God which is the Bible). For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (the Spirit of God).”

Our salvation indeed depends on whether we truly attain, and continue in, this genuine freedom in Christ.

Matthew 13:36-43 (Jesus explains here the parable of the wheat and the tares which He had told earlier in this chapter): “Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity (anomia- lawlessness); And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Along with that, consider John 8:31-36: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man (my note- this claim is false): how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

In relation to these things, we can’t have a saving interest and true freedom in Christ when we withhold from Him what rightfully belongs to Him.

In 1 Corinthians 7:23 we are told: “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”

There is a sense in which the Bible teaches that you should please people in terms of not defrauding them and being faithful in your duties so that no one can righteously have anything against you. Yet the Bible also commands us not to make any decision that is not pleasing in God’s eyes in order to please other people (whoever they are- and whether that is many people or a particular individual). Many never walk in true freedom in Christ, or they forsake doing so, because they bind themselves to the opinions of other people and/or to the unrighteous demands of other people.

Some are part of a church that they know (or ought to know) is not leading people into, and faithfully along, the narrow way to life in Christ. They know that falsehood and other forms of darkness are prevailing in their church. Yet one is associated with, and therefore bound by, a church’s evil doctrine and/or evil deeds as long as they are in it.

Some are in a marriage which is evidently only being held together through compromise of doing what is right in God’s eyes. The Apostolic counsel which is given in 1 Corinthians 7 for those married to unbelievers to continue in the marriage is given in the context that the unbelieving spouse is not corrupting the other and not a stumbling block to the other being faithful to Christ. Otherwise, this is a case where divorce is a righteous necessity and staying with the opposing spouse is to continue in an unrighteous yoke which opposes real freedom in Christ.

Many are hindered since they are subservient to money. No man can serve two masters; we cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

All idols must be cast away, all sins forsaken, and we must surrender in abandonment to Jesus Christ’s authority before we can be true partakers of His grace and walk in His freedom. There is no freedom in Him for those who will not have Him to reign over them. His freedom is offered to enable us to live by His Word unchained by sin’s dominion. But what if there is attachment to sin which one will not cast away? Is there another freedom in Christ for them? There is surely not.