Freedom in Christ

Today we celebrate our nation’s freedom. In the midst of listening to patriotic music, enjoying a cookout with my family, and watching fireworks light up the night sky, I am taking a moment to reflect on the freedom that is found in Christ. I have met many sincere, godly individuals who grapple with the concept of Christian freedom. Wrestling with the rules and regulation with which they have been raised, they question what activities, actions, and behaviors are appropriate for the one who worships Jesus Christ. To more fully understand the meaning of freedom in Christ, I turn to Paul’s exhortation recorded in the sixth chapter of Romans.

Dead to Sin

In the first verse of chapter six, Paul asks the same question as many well-meaning Christians. Because we have been given the grace of God, should we exercise our Christian freedom by engaging in sinful behaviors? It is an interesting question. But Paul’s answer is an emphatic, “By no means!” He masterfully uses the imagery of slavery, explaining that the follower of Christ is no longer a slave to sin; it has been mortified in the life of the believer. As long as we have a sin nature, we will have sinful tendencies. For the believer, however, freedom in Christ is the freedom to sever all allegiances to our old nature and to pledge our allegiances to Jesus Christ. We must exercise our freedom by moving away from the downward spiral of sin that results in death and moving onto the upward trajectory towards holiness—a journey called sanctification—that results in eternal life.

Slaves to Righteousness

Paul continues with his chosen slavery motif and labels the follower of Christ as a slave to righteousness. Your freedom in Christ necessitates your slavery to righteousness. Herein lies the great paradox. Your bondage and your freedom are both forms of slavery. Let us not cling to any patronizing notion that tells us that we can obtain or achieve autonomous freedom. Both the Enemy and the Almighty require of us our lives. But the former takes our life in order to destroy it, and the latter takes our life to give us abundant life. With the former, our death is an end. With the latter, our death is a means to an end. And that end is the fullness of life in Christ! Paul summarizes it this way: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:22-23, ESV).

As you rejoice today in your political freedom, rejoice all the more in your spiritual freedom. Friends, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we have been set free from slavery to sin which results in death! Just as our political freedom required the shedding of blood, so our spiritual freedom required the shedding of Christ’s blood on our behalf. Let us take a moment today to offer up thanksgiving to God for offering to us the greatest Freedom of all time—that which transcends geographical boundaries and transforms the hearts of humankind!