What Does Freedom Mean?
For some reason, I never fully got Scriptures like Galatians 5:13 that say things like, "You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature." Scriptures where we're not to use our freedom to live just as we like but to live for God. I can't say I ever really thought much about them, except to agree that, yes, we as Christians are free, and yes, we must not do evil. The connection between being free and not doing evil never quite manifested itself to me--they seemed two quite separate things (though both under the heading of "Life in Christ" or some such thing). I think maybe my American worldview got in the way, because there's always been this sense that freedom means a wide-open horizon without restrictions. At least that's how I'd describe others describing it.
Then recently it suddenly made itself quite clear to me, in chapel or class or church, and it seems very absurd that I never really got it before. This American worldview has quite the wrong idea of what freedom really is. Well, maybe it's largely right in the sheerly earthly sense, but not in its most ultimate sense, and there it gets in the way.
To bring it down to the very basics, the human condition is slavery. When humans were created, they were in glorious freedom, being who they were meant to be, in perfect relationship with God. When they sinned, they chose to step out of freedom into slavery to be something they weren't created for. Now the world shows the effects of that, people running around trying to find their freedom, doing what seems right to them and finding it still enslaves them in pain, fear, anger, loneliness, emptiness.
And when we come to Christ, we return to what we were meant for. We are freed from what has enslaved humanity since the beginning. So the statement that we can't use our freedom as an excuse to sin is countering the view that says freedom is doing whatever we want. Freedom is much more--it's being released from a condition that destroys us and returned to the relationship we were created for. Before, we couldn't help sinning--we were slaves. Now we are free not to sin. Free not to destroy ourselves. Which means we are free to so much more--free to love and joy and hope and relationship--all the things people search for and are held back from. Now we are free to be who God created us to be.
Then recently it suddenly made itself quite clear to me, in chapel or class or church, and it seems very absurd that I never really got it before. This American worldview has quite the wrong idea of what freedom really is. Well, maybe it's largely right in the sheerly earthly sense, but not in its most ultimate sense, and there it gets in the way.
To bring it down to the very basics, the human condition is slavery. When humans were created, they were in glorious freedom, being who they were meant to be, in perfect relationship with God. When they sinned, they chose to step out of freedom into slavery to be something they weren't created for. Now the world shows the effects of that, people running around trying to find their freedom, doing what seems right to them and finding it still enslaves them in pain, fear, anger, loneliness, emptiness.
And when we come to Christ, we return to what we were meant for. We are freed from what has enslaved humanity since the beginning. So the statement that we can't use our freedom as an excuse to sin is countering the view that says freedom is doing whatever we want. Freedom is much more--it's being released from a condition that destroys us and returned to the relationship we were created for. Before, we couldn't help sinning--we were slaves. Now we are free not to sin. Free not to destroy ourselves. Which means we are free to so much more--free to love and joy and hope and relationship--all the things people search for and are held back from. Now we are free to be who God created us to be.
posted by Emmet of Arolis | 11:29 AM
1 Comments:
We're not bound to sin, in the sense, "That boy's bound to get in trouble." It's a Southern saying, equivalent to, "There's no doubt. . ."
But is we're slaves to sin, we are bound (tied)to sin, and we're bound (defintely gonna)to sin.
What freedom!
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