“So, if the Son sets you free from sin, 

then become a true son [of the Father, the Creator,] 

and be unquestionably free!” (John 8:36 TPT)

In our nation now, the understanding of freedom that’s out there in the culture is deceiving many. Voices that are influencing the dear hearts and minds of our fellow citizens are saying freedom is doing and having anything and everything one wants. In other words, freedom is license. The headlines and the dysfunctional relational life of the population at large attest to the destruction that results from such pursuits. 

Let’s consider another understanding of freedom and the purpose of life for which we are designed. And let’s consider that freedom is recovering that design. 

First, let’s admit that deep down inside we know there is a God, a Creator. Can we know Him and what He is like? Is there an ultimate fulfillment? The Bible has answers that we can experience in a way that we know that we know that what it declares comes from the heart and mind of God. The Bible reveals that Jesus is the Promised Messiah or the way back to Eden. When one meets this Son of God as Savior or Rescuer, one encounters the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the [Source of abundant] Life. (John 14:6; John 10:10) Another Kingdom opens. 

Jesus stated in John 14:6 that no one comes to the Father except through union with Himself. So, the Bible reveals a Father who designed us for a relationship of intimate embrace by this God who has the nature of an all-wise dad or papa. The Way that Jesus reveals is the way of forgiveness through Jesus’ atonement on the cross for our sins. Jesus’ shed blood frees us from shame and guilt and opens the way into Abba’s arms. The Savior’s death paid for what we deserve; through the cross, God fulfilled justice and released perfect love. “The payment [wages] for sin is death,” Romans 6:23 states outright. (EXB) [Abba is the ancient word that’s like daddy or papa but deeper. God invites us to call Him that.] Unconditional love and acceptance by our Maker comprise one great part of the setting free that’s ours through God’s plan to restore everything. 

And we have to see that humans are created in God’s image. In part we perceive through our consciences what our natures are supposed to be like as we discern in each other (and judge) things that are not at all right. However, because we currently fall short of the glory of God’s original blueprint for us due to the curse resulting from the transgression of Adam and Eve and the nature we inherited from Adam, our consciences are faulty—they are seered. Hence God gave us His Word to bring us back to encountering Him and knowing Him. The Bible claims to be God’s infallible Covenant Book with mankind. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, ever works to prove the truth of this Bible to the human race. Two verses are worthy of note. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares: “Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action),so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.”(AMPC) And Jesus taught, “My teaching is not My own, but His Who sent Me. If any man desires to do His will (God’s pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize and can tell for himself) whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My own accord and on My own authority.” (John 7:16-17 AMPC). Those who walk in God’s ways gain more and more of the supernatural life of God inside their bodies via their born-again spirits placed in union with Christ in the innermost part of them. (See 1 Cor. 6:17.) They experience increasingly the restoration of glory. But one must turn back to the Father through Jesus and receive the regeneration of the spirit in order to be able to obey and align with God’s blueprints or design.  The Lord stated emphatically, “Unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 AMPC)

What is Freedom in Christ?

So, with all this said, how does the Bible define freedom? What is freedom in Christ? The Covenant Book pictures the dire consequences of living in independence from God as our Source. It’s honest about human nature. We are created for a branch-Vine connection or union with the Lord with His life flowing into our lives as living water fully satisfying us. John 7:38-39 puts it this way: ^“He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, from his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water.But He [Jesus] was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive. For the [Holy] Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).” (AMPC)

 What is the nature of God like that He offers us by way of our surrendering or no longer doing our own thing and going our own way and recovering dependence on the Almighty? Galatians 5:19-23 contrasts life centered in self vs. life centered in God:  

“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” (MSG)

The fruit of the Holy Spirit given us in Christ is described in the Passion Translation this way: “Divine love in all its varied expressions. Joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit.” Galatians 5:22-23 goes on to say, “Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.” (TPT) We can have as much of this satisfying, beautiful life God gives as we hunger for and desire. 

Freedom in God is freedom from the selfish sin nature and freedom unto the outflow of the exquisite life of God. Even increasingly in the earth in the end times as in the days of the birth of the church chronicled in Acts, dramatic healings and deliverances from demonic bondage and once again, the first and second commandments experienced in the richest way will be ours as the one heart and mind realities of John 17 under Jesus’ headship of His Body, the church, happen. Jesus prayed successfully, “Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind.” (Excerpt John 17:20-23 MSG) Through Christ, we recover love as it was intended: God’s love for us in giving us His supernatural life, a right love for ourselves and a love that gratefully obeys our Maker as we experience the Father running to kiss and embrace us and make us holy like He is. (See Luke 15:11-32 TPT) We, His prodigals, can come home to Abba. And humble love for others happens out of the overflow of all this restoration. Then, we come to steward the earth by the wisdom and anointing of the Spirit of God. As mentioned, God’s heart is to take us back to Eden. He indwells us; our bodies become “the temple of the Holy Spirit” establishing the Kingdom of God within our beings as God restores our souls. (See 1 Cor. 6:19-20.) And, as we yield to and vitally depend on God, our world comes to be influenced by the power of God released from within our hearts.  “Taste and see that God is good,” the Lord invites. (Psalm 34:8 KJV) “See for yourself the way his mercies shower down on all who trust in Him.” (Psalm 34:8b TLB) [See also Bill Johnson’s book, God is Good: He’s Better than You Think.]

Finally, let’s take up the truths that are required of us in order to have all this. Jesus came to reveal the Father in how He came to do good as He lived to love and heal. “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father,” the Messiah said. (John 14:9) Then He said, “If you want to be My disciple (or be like Me), you must take up your cross daily to follow after Me.” (Luke 9:23) This means that to enter into the restoration of all things that began when Jesus broke through death on the cross we must fully surrender to the Father’s heavenly will and Jesus’ selfless life, a life yielded to the Holy Spirit’s power and purposes. From Mark 8:35, we have the bottom line from Jesus, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (TLB) [See the book by Jessie Penn Lewis, Dying to Live.]

Though Christian freedom entails a crucified life as far as our carnal, adamic natures are concerned, the key to the glorious liberty God has for us as His sons and daughters is continuing to feed on the rivers of revelation of who we are and what we are called to function in such that the deeper and deeper understandings of the Word open up. We, thus, can keep a “yes” in our hearts re: the higher and finer levels of obedience the Lord commands. We must not stall out in the face of what we give up, but go on unto receiving the fullness of Christ, the riches. It’s what we gain that we must stay our hearts on. Continuing on in Galatians 2:20 is the only way forward. This verse is a major one for freedom: “I (the Adamic nature) have been crucified with Christ: and I, myself, no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (TLB) God’s intent is to transform us from glory to glory until we are Jesus’ look-a-likes. We are destined to govern with Him.

Let’s understand that it’s a minute-by-minute dying to the flesh nature and drawing from the indwelling Christ such that we can flow freely in new creation life. Union with Jesus’ death results in union with His glorious life. We are no longer slaves to sin because of the cross and the appropriation of the power of the death we share with Christ—the co-crucifixion that brings resurrection life to us. Romans 8:2 is the promise that’s ours: “For the power of the life-giving Spirit—and this power is mine through Christ Jesus—has freed me from the vicious circle [or law] of sin and death.” (TLB) And Romans 6:6-11 expounds further: “Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer captive to sin’s demands! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.” (MSG)

It’s the reign of grace that’s available. The Passion sums up the choice before us: “Don’t you realize that grace frees you to choose your own master? But choose carefully, for you surrender yourself to become a servant (or bondslave)—bound to the one you choose to obey. If you choose to love sin, it will become your master, and it will own you and reward you with death. But if you choose to love and obey God, He will lead you into perfect righteousness.” (Romans 6:16) We are free in Christ—we don’t have to sin, though we do when we fail to abide branch to The Vine (Christ),— as without the new birth, there’s no way out from under sin. “Sin is a dethroned monarch,” the Passion heralds in Romans 6:12. However, the truth we must hold onto to consistently walk in the freedom of grace as our empowering source for behavior is that of Romans 6:22: “But now since you have been set free from sin and have become [willing] slaves to God, you have your benefit, resulting in sanctification [being made holy and set apart for God’s purpose], and the outcome [of this] is eternal life.” Let’s add the Message version for extra insight: “But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.” (Romans 6:22-23) We have received freedom from self-rule which is actually slavery to the selfish sin nature we inherited through Adam. The absolute Lordship of Jesus, “the leader and source of everything needed in the church,” is our way to freedom. (Eph. 1:22 TPT) And as God IS love, this is a love rule by a Lord who serves and ministers to us and nourishes us plus cherishes us. (See Eph. 5:29 KJV.) There is no darkness in Him, the Bible proclaims in 1 John. He is a King who gives of Himself and delivers from sin and satan. 

Finally, let’s let the Bible itself speak on freedom from The Message. 

“What is True Freedom” from Romans 6:15-21

So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

 I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

As stated, the choice is ours: the enthronement of the Lord resulting in God’s supernatural fruit or the enthronement of self with captivity. And Galatians adds words on freedom from trying by our own efforts to obey the code of the Law. It’s full freedom through full dependence on grace or the Person of Christ we’re given through salvation in Jesus Christ. And in yielding to this reign of grace, we become the new creatures who recover God’s intended design of a nature of love.

“The Life of Freedom” from Galatians 5 The Message

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. 

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Blessings in return—