You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.
Summary: Paul uses a word that is often misunderstood. To be “free” in Christ is not the same thing as being free from sin.
What does Paul mean by “called to be free?”
I love the story in John’s Gospel where Jesus, teaching on the same topic says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
With great indignation, the people listening retort, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (John 8:33)
Their response is conflicted on several levels. Abraham’s descendants were slaves in Egypt for over one hundred years. During the seventy years of exile, they weren’t exactly a “free” people. Even as they speak to Jesus, they are a nation under Roman rule. Again, not exactly “free.”
Of course, Jesus and Paul are thinking about a different kind of slavery. Jesus spells it out when he says, “… everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).
What does Jesus mean?
Simply put, anyone can say they don’t sin, but to stop sinning is to meet God’s standard for perfection. Being without sin is loving God and loving others with every thought and every breath. When Paul says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), he is absolutely accurate. All (except Jesus) have sinned and do sin.
As we discussed earlier,* we are called to be free of sin by becoming children of God. When we are children of the King the law no longer has authority over us.
“How do I get to be a child of the King?” you ask. The answer is simple. In fact, Paul has already told us in his letter to the Galatians. He writes, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith …” (Galatians 3:26).
This truth is why faith in Jesus is so important. Our need to have faith in him is also why Paul is so concerned about distractions like circumcision. We cannot afford to turn our eyes away from Jesus.
When Paul says that we are “called to be free,” he is saying we are called to be children of God.
Application: Ponder what it means to be a child of God.
Food for Thought: How does being freed from the authority of the law change our thinking?
* Galatians 5:1a – “Children of the King”
We begin to obey the Lord’s Will out of love instead of a sense of condemnation. When we feel the Lord’s presence in our hearts, it is a peaceful, confident, sustaining love. Willful disobedience separates us from His Spirit. We feel His absence. His absence isn’t Him withdrawing Himself from us, it is that we have allowed our own desire to become greater in our hearts than Him. Under God’s grace, our obedience is so we can grow closer to Him. We are freed from condemnation, free to grow in His grace and knowledge.
When I think of “changes of thinking” I like 2 Peter 3:14-18
2 Peter 3:14-18 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
“to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” This is unachievable under the law. Through the race of God, and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is given to us if we accept it.
“which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.”
This, to me, encapsulates one of the dangers of relying on the law for justification. There is always doubt about “enough” and in that doubt people twist it, and bend it, and treat it as a checklist, and it grows and grows until the law becomes lawless. Living in the freedom of Christ, we are justified by Him, He is our “enough.” He gives us stability, and we are free to love God, and others as ourselves.
Chris,
Very well said! I love your encapsulation “a peaceful, confident, sustaining love.” That is exactly what the presence of the Holy Spirit feels like!
Thank you!
I no longer try to be good enough to be right with God. Instead, I trust in His work rather than my own. Now I can serve and relate to the Lord out of love and gratitude as opposed to guilt and shame.
Amen, brother!
Your life is a testimony to that truth! Thank you!
Great responses CH and R!
Amen! 🙂