Why Only Christians are Free
Slaves do not have the knowledge of what their master is doing (Jn 15:15), and of course that means a slave is not greater than his master (Jn 13:16; 15:20). In addition, a slave only has a temporary stay in the house and employ of the master (Jn 8:35). Now imagine, if you will, a group of slaves who were unaware they were actually slaves. The largest group of slaves, ignorant of their enslavement is called, “the sons of Adam” or in a more familiar term “humanity.”
Jesus identified this very large group of slaves in John 8:34, “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.’” The Bible teaches us that all people were conceived in sin (Ps 51:5) with a sin nature (Eph 2:3) and insatiable penchant to sin (Gen 6:5; Rom 3:23; 5:12). This penchant is galvanized in diverse ways by the draconian devil whom Jesus referred to as, “the ruler of this world” (Jn 12:30; 14:31; 16:11). In dissent, Adam and Eve made their prerogative to be like gods (Gen 3:5).
In their quest for autonomy, under the Serpent’s deception, the vanguards of the human race were deluded into opprobrious rebellion against God their Creator. Instead of giving the clever ones a jubilant reception, replete with engarland crowns, God cursed the patronymic “Adam” for sin — sinsyne to be inherited by the first man’s entire posterity, “In Adam, all die…” (1 Cor 15:22a). Adam is synonymous with “slave to sin” (Rom 5:12; 6:6, 16–20).
Unless they are converted, the sons of Adam stravage as children of the devil (1 Jn 3:10), as did the prototypical Cain (Gen 4). Dauntless in their descant political speeches about freedom, the truth is that people are slaves to the world system. Tenebrific media, government, education, and entertainment — produced by the Prince of the power of the air — keeps people confused about their origins, genders, economic status, health issues, and plantation leader’s agenda to manifest his liberal world order.
Men live in a quagmire — hopeless. Satan is a master of sciamachy, insisting to His subjects that he does not even exist! Blinded to their own plight and the Gospel of God’s salvation (Rom 1:16; 2 Cor 4:4), their ineluctable end is the inferno of eternal hell (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). Hence, the natural man labors to prolong his jornada.
Christian kin and kith enkindle stratagems to reconnoiter the battlefield flush with deceiving spirits. How to set the captives free? The Christian knows the answer. It is the truth that sets one at liberty (Jn 8:32). Jesus Christ Himself is the truth (Jn 14:6), and it was for freedom that His paschal passions brought rufescent rivers of life from His wounds upon the cross (Gal 5:1; Heb 9:22). There is no way to enumerate all the benefits of Christ’s death in this brief article, but freedom is one auriferous vein to explore.
It is the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17), by which we triturate the devil’s hokum. Nothing is so antithetical to the father of lies than the truth as it is in Jesus (Jn 8:44; Eph 4:21). May the nefarious demons tremble as we disambiguate the communique of endless lies and nubilous confusion leading to chaos. There is no bipartisan, esemplastic ideology for us to equivocate on with the angel of light, who prowls only to devour (2 Cor 11:14; 1 Pet 5:8).
For one to have ataraxia of heart and mind — and one day, the body — one must be set free from the Law of God, which serves to prosecute guilty sinners, as the law of sin and death. God’s Law is spiritual, holy, good, and right. Offering zero nuturance, the Law exposes the sins that lead to death. Like a drawn saber, the Law indicts every sinner and wintles every hope of every world religion. There is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12), for Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior of sinners (Titus 1:3; 2:13; 3:6).
Jesus fulfilled every requirement of God’s holy Law (Mt 5:17). He alone has earned the title, “The Lord, our righteousness” (Jer 23:6; 33:16) because He alone has right legal standing before the just Judge of the whole earth (Gen 18:25). Bondage to sin is only remedied by our Redeemer’s precious blood (1 Pet 1:19) that reconciled every soul He made atonement for in His substitutionary death, as the sacrificial Lamb of God (Lev 16; Jn 1:29; Rev 5:6, 12), who bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet 2:24). He who knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21), our Passover sacrifice (1 Cor 5:7), became sin for us and bore the wrath of God in His body — a propitiation for our sins (Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10).
Cavorting and carousing with sardonic reprobates, who defenstrate the authoritative Word of God, only encumbers your approach to Christ, who alone provides true freedom to those who were given to Him by God the Father (Jn 6:37), who draws the elect to Christ’s aegis (Jn 6:44, 65). In order to reach the verdurous pastures of the Good Shepherd (Ps 23; Jn 10) and deflect the fiery darts of the master toxophilite (Eph 6:16), you must be born again of God by the sovereign will and work of the Holy Spirit (Is 26:12; Jn 3:1–8; Phil 2:13; 1 Pet 1:3).
The Christian who has been translated from the dominion of Satan and his domain of darkness is freed (Acts 26:18; Col 1:13), as were the Israelites from Egypt in the Exodus. Saints are not free to sin, however. With God’s Law now serving as a guide for holy living, the adopted children of God are free to obey God, walking by the Spirit, who lives and works within the Christian (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11, 15, 23; 1 Cor 3:16; Gal 4:6; 5:16, 25; 2 Tim 1:14; Jas 4:5).
There is no obligation for believers to return to the Law for justification before God, but the Law now serves to sanctify the member of Christ’s body — along with the rest of the Word of truth (Jn 17:17; Rom 15:16; 1 Thess 4:3, 7; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2).
Sanctification is entirely and exclusively a work of God’s Spirit employing God’s Word. The believer is free from empty works, in order to gain favor with God. So many liberties and so much freedom is not easy to grasp because of years spent in bondage to vanity and pride, but I encourage you to be brave and explore the land of the truly free, where King Jesus rules and reigns, forever.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 4, 2022
