Galatians 5:1 | For Freedom

I remember asking this question throughout my early years of being a believer. Why would the Lord free me? Why save me? In all honesty, it didn't make sense to me. In a similar vein, I would question why the Lord loves me. So many of the actions and positions of the Lord baffled me. The answers to such questions were only more baffling.

Why has the Lord set us free? So that we would be free. The Lord desires our freedom. He sees the benefit of freedom for His people and made a way wherein we could experience freedom. It may not be the most flashy answer. It also may not be the most satisfying to our own human intellect. It is, however, deeply profound. God designed for His creation to exist in freedom. When sin entered the world the yoke of slavery chained creation. The cross of Christ broke those shackles for all who believe upon Him.

What then does this freedom entail? For a deeper exploration on the subject, study Romans 6-8. I will give a brief description of this section here.

Freedom from sin. The freedom we experience in Christ first sets us free from sin. We have been freed from the penalty that was due from sin. As recorded at the end of Romans 6, "For the wages of sin is death..." We were owed death for the works that we worked against God and in the flesh. There was no escaping it. We were sinners, fallen short of God's glory and bound to a devastating fate. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. So we have been set free from the penalty of sin.

The bill does not stop there. We have not just been freed from the penalty of sin. Romans 6 teaches that we are free from the dominion of sin. Sin no longer rules in the life of the believer. As we have been crucified with Christ and recognize His rule in our lives we no longer find ourselves as ruled by sin. When the old slave master of sin comes in and tries to command us around, we can disregard his orders, for we are under a new master. That master is Christ. This does not mean we no longer have an ability to sin. We most certainly do. But we are not obligated to follow the demands of a sinful nature. You can walk free of it.

Freedom from the law. Perhaps more profound to the Jewish audience, there is a freedom granted from the law. While this testifies more towards the Law of Moses, it encompasses any law by which we hold ourselves beyond the law of Christ. The purpose of the law was to identify sin. But if we are free from sin, what purpose does the law fulfill? It is no longer needed to the effect that it guides and directs our lives. The list of do's and don't's do not draw us closer to the Lord. It is ineffective for salvation and for sanctification. With us having been joined together in Christ's death, we no longer are under the law's obligation.

Freedom to walk in the Spirit. Given that we are free from the old slave master and from the tutor of the law, where does that leave the believer? We are not antinomian, meaning without law. We are under a new law, the law of the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Given that we are free from sin and from the law, we are a vessel that has been cultivated for the Spirit to indwell us. Now we have the freedom to follow His guidance and direction. This is the Spirit of truth that guides to all truth. This is the Spirit that will point us to Jesus. This is the Spirit that conforms our lives to the image of the Son. This is the Spirit that equips the believer with strengths and gifts to carry out an effectual work of the ministry of Christ Jesus. This is the Spirit of God.

The freedom that we have been set free for is not just a releasing from. We are free to participate. We are free to walk in righteousness. This means we are free to praise and rejoice. We are free to mourn. We are free to follow the Lord's direction in every avenue of our lives.

What is Christ setting you free from or to today?