The Law and Christian Freedom

It is a common misconception among Christians today that Christian freedom is a freedom from rules and regulations. Christian freedom is a very broad concept. It includes freedom from the tyranny of Satan, sin, death, hell, this evil age, and many other things. However, Christian freedom is not a freedom from laws as such. It is a freedom from human laws that would bind the conscience, and it is a freedom that liberates us from our sinfulness so that we willingly obey God's laws and delight in them (Rom. 7:22).

Christian freedom is not freedom from God's law. This is evident for several reasons. First, law exists where there is no fall. In the case of the angels who did not fall, they obey God's commands (Ps. 103:20-22). Second, we are obviously not free as Christians to do the things the law forbids such as killing people, taking their property, lying, etc. Third, it is said in many places in Scripture that the godly person obeys God's commands (Jn. 14:15, 1 Cor. 7:19, 1 Jn. 2:4, etc.). Whatever Christian freedom may entail, it is not a freedom from the laws, rules, and commands of God.

However, for many people the law seems like slavery. Why is this the case? Because they do not want to obey it. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). Slaves generally have to be compelled to obey their masters because they do not want to. That is what the law is like for the natural man. It tells him to do all sorts of things that he does not want to do. Consequently, the law seems like slavery.

For the Christian and for the angels who have not fallen, things are different. The Christian delights in the law of God (Rom. 7:22) and therefore truly begins to obey God from the heart. When God says, "Do not steal." He responds cheerfully and promptly, "Yes, Lord, I am happy to do your will." The Holy Spirit conforms us to the law so that we truly begin to do what God wants from the heart.

But there's a problem. We Christians don't always want to do what God says. We want to do things our own way. We are saved from sin but we still continue to struggle with sin (Gal. 5:17). And so it is very important to note that we cannot use the Christian consciousness to determine what the laws are for the Christian. He only imperfectly wants to do what God says. There is still much opposition to it in his soul.

Now, permit me to make this more concrete. I have rarely heard Christians claiming that we have the freedom to kill people or steal because we have freedom in Christ. That is usually not where the issue comes in. It is often in things like tithing that the Christian balks. He will say, "I do not have to tithe because I am free in Christ. Now, I give voluntarily not under the compulsion of a law." The problem with this statement is that if a law is given by God, this does not mean that we do not obey it voluntarily. In fact, if we were what we should be, we would give a tithe that God commanded as willingly as we would whatever else we decided to give.

Another obvious example is the Sabbath. In our flesh, we do not like to spend time focusing on God. It is hard for us to do this willingly and voluntarily. Consequently, we think that we should be free from this because the Christian should offer all service to God voluntarily. We then bring the law down to our sinful level.

What should we do then? We should let the Word of God determine what God requires of us and not rely on our sinful conceptions of what seems right and good to us. We must recognize that we want to bring the law down to our sinful level. We must humble ourselves before God and submit to His will rather than our own. Instead of seeking to bring the law of God down to our level, we should ask God to give us the Holy Spirit to bring us up to the level of His law.

But what should we do if we don't feel willing to pray, go to Church, or be kind to our neighbor? We should ask the Spirit for help and engage in those things the best we can. Very often we will find that the Spirit will bring us into a better frame of mind as we engage in the activity itself.

The more we seek the Spirit, the more He will liberate us from our sinfulness to serve the living the God willingly. This is what we are looking forward to in heaven: when all our dispositions and all the motions of our heart will be as willingly obedient to God as the angels are in heaven. This will be perfect Christian freedom.