When I was a kid, I could hardly wait for the day when I would be old enough to be free of my parents & their rules. I used to dream of the day when, “I could do whatever I wanted to do”. No one to tell me what to do! The problem was that once I was old enough, it wasn't just my parent's rules that I needed to listen to, there was also rules of the road, rules at the place of my employment, rules in relationships etc. And here I thought that I could be free of all these rules. Sigh. Is this what being an adult really is all about?
But I discovered that life is not necessarily about the rules. They certainly can 'hem you in’ & restrict you heavily if you let them. But I realized quickly that you could still live in a place of freedom within the boundaries of the rules (no matter who’s they were). Jesus died for me & has set me free. That's it. That's all that matters. My freedom is not in the rules … it's in the cross of Christ.
As you examine your life, could you describe your Christian journey as walking in freedom? Or do you feel oppressed by a list of restrictions/laws? Have you allowed Satan to 'hem you in’ with another gospel - one made up of rules?
Paul cautions us to beware of false teachers who peddle a false gospel that traps, not releases (Galatians
1:6-9). Living out the implications of the message that Jesus died and rose again to rescue sinners from this evil age means that those very people who have been rescued are no longer enslaved by the powers of this age. For Gentiles to turn to the Law, as if that added something to their salvation, was to deny that they really had been rescued and set free by Jesus’ death and resurrection. In fact, Paul goes so far as to say quite
explicitly what he only hinted at earlier (cf. 4:17–18) - submitting oneself to the Law alienates one from Christ.
Christian freedom doesn’t simply mean that one is permitted to do everything he/she chooses when he/she chooses to do it. Just because we are free in Christ and under no obligation to the law doesn’t give us a moral carte blanche. Remember what Paul said about the law? It doesn’t save us, but it can teach us moral guidelines and principles.
Freedom (so I have learned) doesn’t mean the absence of authority. We are still responsible for our choices and accountable to God for those choices. God has a definite will for us. He has plans to shape us into the very kind of people He intended for us to be. For the Old Testament Israelites, the Mosaic Covenant fell short of empowering the people to live into God’s standards. It imprisoned them in their helpless state. But now that Christ has come and His followers have received His Spirit, there is a new empowerment to obey the law. Obeying the law doesn’t mean we earn our salvation; rather, it testifies to our new identity in Christ.
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” - Romans 6:14