p. 4 | LIBERTY THROUGH CHRIST by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 15, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 46.

LIBERTY THROUGH CHRIST.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

GOD made man “upright.” He was morally and physically upright. This is all comprehended in the Creator’s pronouncing him “very good.”

When Satan undertook to destroy God’s work, he did not attack man physically, or in any arbitrary manner seek to overthrow him. He made an insidious attack on the man’s moral faculties; and, having overcome him on this point, the further consequence followed naturally. It is the moral fall that cuts one loose from God. When Adam disobeyed God’s law, the process of death set in; for the transgression of the law is sin (1 John 3:4; Rom. 7:7), “and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15; also Rom. 5:12 and 6:23.

In yielding to the counsel of Satan and disobeying God, the man transferred his allegiance from the Creator to the tempter. From being a son of God he became a servant of Satan. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” Rom. 6:16. And as the children of a slave are also slaves, so the children of the fallen man and woman became the natural servants of Satan. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. “In Adam all die.” 1 Cor. 15:22.

As a further natural result of sin, the human race imbibed the spirit of selfishness that actuated their conqueror. This produced individual tyranny over other individuals, and eventually there came political tyranny. Therefore the sin-stricken race became afflicted with moral slavery, political slavery, and physical slavery.

Jesus Christ set about the work of redeeming the lost race, or as many of them as would yield to the principles of His rule and accept salvation on His terms. The plan of salvation was entered upon by both the Father and the Son. Not only was the Son willing to make the necessary sacrifice, but “God [the Father] so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

In order to redeem fallen men, it would be necessary to set them free, to give them liberty. And here is Christ’s prophetic revelation of His mission: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek: He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isa. 61:1.

When Christ undertook to set men free, He did not begin to strike off the shackles of the slaves of men, or to overturn political tyrannies. He directed His effort toward the spiritual liberation of men. As all other features of slavery grew out of the man’s moral or spiritual captivity, so the freedom of the race from all manner of tyranny must come through spiritual freedom. Therefore the way to human liberty is along the highway of spiritual liberty.

When John the Baptist began his work of reform, it was not as a social reformer, or a political reformer, but as a religious reformer. He did not call upon men to throw off their physical and political shackles by force; but he called upon all classes of men to “repent.” The kingdom of God was at hand, and if they would repent, and prepare for that great event, all necessary reforms would follow logically. He did not appeal to King Herod to reform the laws; he simply admonished him to put away his sins.

When Christ began His public ministry, He repeated the appeal of John, “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Altho He knew that the Roman Government would sanction His death (Matt. 20:17–19), He made no effort to forestall such action, or to work a political reform. Nor did He admonish men to free their slaves. All these things were to come through the influence of the Gospel; they could not permanently be brought about in any other way. That had been amply demonstrated by the Deluge, in the deliverance from Egypt; and in the great Roman Republic.

All of the apostles suffered persecution at the hands of the government, but all the reform they ever sought to establish was through the proclamation of the Gospel. No one suffered more than Paul; yet, altho he had access to kings and governors and magistrates, and gained their respect as a man, he used his opportunities and his influence for the one purpose of preaching to them the Gospel of Christ.

Paul loved his Jewish brethren intensely (Rom. 9:1–5), and had great sympathy for them in their subordination to the Romans, yet he made no direct effort for the improvement of their political condition. He only implored them, on the evidence of their own Scriptures, to accept Jesus of Nazareth as their Saviour. In Him was all righteousness, and

through faith in Him must come all the liberty that fallen man could permanently obtain.

Christ had said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36); and, to those who accept this liberation as the basis of all liberty, Paul says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Gal. 5:1. The fulness of human liberty in every other respect will be experienced in the new earth, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” 2 Peter 3:13. All the commandments of God are righteousness. Ps. 119:172. When man fell, it was through disobedience to the commandment of God, into a condition of unrighteousness. So when the disciples of Christ are redeemed, they are restored to a condition of obedience, and become fit subjects for a land and a kingdom wherein righteousness rules. G.