Every Man’s Dream

It was for freedom that Christ set us free: therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Freedom – “I have a dream,” said Martin Luther King.  When he spoke those words, he touched the heart of every man and woman who ever felt the yoke of slavery.  Of course, there are all kinds of slavery.  The truth is that everyone knows what it’s like to be a slave.  Everyone knows repression, oppression, obligation and regulation.  Everyone has that inner compulsion to throw off the shackles that hold us down and be “free.”  Martin Luther King touched a common human nerve with those words, but unless we understand the biblical concept of freedom, we will just trade one onerous form of slavery for another.

So, how should we understand this text?  First, we need a principle for interpretation.  We start with the basic premise for all biblical texts:  consistency.  The Bible does not contradict itself.  What Paul says cannot be in opposition to what Jesus says.  What Jesus says cannot contradict Isaiah or Moses.  Our job is to use all the texts to discover the reconciling meaning.  For example, that long-debated text in Corinthians about a woman’s role in church must be reconciled with all the other verses about the dignity and position of women.  Lifting one verse out of the whole never works.

So, what does it mean to say that Christ set us free?  The first thing that you might think about is freedom from the eternal consequences of sin.  Christ freed us from the wrath to come.  He died in our place, accepting the punishment we deserved.  So, that makes us free.  But free for what?  Free to do whatever we wish, to live without restraints and conditions?  Hardly!  That interpretation ignores all the biblical material about what it means to be a slave.  You see, in the Bible, being human is slavery.  Freedom from everything and everyone is a myth.  I am either a slave to God or I am a slave to myself, the world and sin.  In biblical thought, I am never released from all obligation.  When we confuse freedom from punishment with freedom from obligation, we are in real trouble.  We go off thinking that Christ died to release us from all expectations and agreements.  On the contrary, the freedom we experience in Christ is the release from a debt of capital punishment.  It is not, and never will be, release from the obligation to serve the One Who paid for us.  When I accept the payment price, I obligate myself to a new Master.  I become His slave just as truly as if He bought me (for, in fact, He did).

So, what is freedom?  It certainly is not license.  It is not individual expression of self-will.  It is not escape from obligation.  That idea of freedom is a fable, residing in the hearts of unredeemed men.  Biblical freedom is the opportunity to exercise my will with regard to God’s desire, released from the chains of guilt that kept me in bondage to myself.  Biblical freedom is the chance to do it right, to act on the basis of God’s reliable character because I no longer carry the weight of my own past failures.  Biblical freedom is blank-page accounting.  The debt is wiped away in order that today I might choose to serve Him.  It is doing good, one day at a time.  It’s what the Master desires from those He purchased.

Topical Index:  Freedom