Freedom in Christ

I've had other things on my mind this week that have nothing at all to do with freedom in Christ, but I said in my last post that I would write of freedom in Christ so I'm just going to shift gears and do it. Those other thoughts can be blog posts for other days. I really do think this is important.

My friend Ben and I recently finished a study of the book of Galatians. I have to say, I knew very little about the book before we started reading it. The basic plot of Galatians is this: The Galatians are in danger of following after teachers who want Gentile Christians to follow Jewish laws (specifically the law of circumcision). Paul, to convince them that this is a terrible mistake, first explains how he is a true apostle and shows that the message he originally gave to the Galatians came from God. He reminds them that this message centers on faith and Christ and shows them how they are justified by faith and not by works of the law. Paul goes further, telling them that the Jewish Law actually enslaved them. Once Christ came, there was no longer a need for the Jewish law to instruct them and Christians became free. He tells the Galatians that this freedom should not be used for sinning, since sin similarly enslaved them. To go back to the law, or back to a life of sin, would be trading in their freedom for slavery. Those who were trying to make them follow Jewish laws were not trying to help them, but were trying to make themselves look good and were profaning Christ's sacrifice. (I certainly recommend reading the book. It's only 6 chapters and I'm sure my summary isn't satisfactory.)

The major take away for the Galatians was that they should not follow the Judaizing teachers.

There are many applications for us as well, but the one I want to focus on here is the true freedom we have in Christ.

Paul explains this freedom in two ways:

First, we have freedom from impossible rules and regulations. You just couldn't keep the Jewish law perfectly. It served the purpose of showing the Jewish people what sin was, but it couldn't justify them. Under the law, people knew that they were bad, but there was really no way to make themselves good. There were certainly righteous people under the Law, but their righteousness did not come from doing the works of the law, but through faith. We certainly also have things to do in Christ, but we are not justified by doing things, but by having faith in Him (Gal 2:16). Although we are still incapable of doing everything we want to do, or everything we are supposed to do for Christ, doing things is not the metric by which we are judged. This is a lenient system--a gracious system in which God has recognized our imperfection and given us a way to be counted righteous anyway, through the death of his son.

Freedom from impossible standards and regulations.


Second, we have freedom from sin. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the bad things that we want to do are good for us. God sent the Holy Spirit specifically to tell us that those things we want to do are actually not what we should do (Gal 5:17). And it's not because God is just a bad guy who doesn't want us to have fun. Really honestly think of the problems sin causes in your life or in the lives of people around you, and I think you will see the wisdom in abstaining from sin. On top of that, the scriptures tell us that sin brings forth spiritual death (James 1:15). Despite knowing this, we still sin. Why? Because Satan has tricked us into thinking that we must follow our sinful desires. And he doesn't take a passive approach; Satan seeks us out to try to make us do bad things that will lead to our eternal death (1 Peter 5:8). We are very truly enslaved to sin. Satan deceives us into choosing it, and then it kills us. There is really not a worse scenario. However, through Christ, we can give up this bondage (Rom 6:6). Christ, through his perfect example and his precepts, showed us that we don't have to sin. On top of that, he provided us with the means for repentance and a hope of salvation. This means that when we choose sin, it does not have to condemn us to death. We are able to repent, to serve Christ, and to have life.

Freedom from sin. Freedom from death.


We are not oppressed in Christ, we are oppressed outside of him.