If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Everyone who commits sin is its servant in cruel bondage under another power, while the Son abides in the house forever with authority to make people free with a freedom that is real. It was spoken to Jews who claimed that as Abraham's seed they had never been in bondage, when they were then under the Roman yoke, and instead of answering the political claim He exposed their spiritual bondage proved by seeking to kill Him because His word had no place in them. Christ alone can free people from sin's yoke and Satan's mastery, and those He frees are the only truly free people; this freedom was purchased by giving His life as ransom and by His blood for all who believe. There is no compulsion in it, for man is left free to choose whom he will serve, and freedom is received by continuing in His word as true disciples, believing His promise, surrendering will and way without reserve and taking hold of Him in living faith. The freed soul has sins forgiven with peace and restoration to God's moral image, and serving God and obeying His word and royal law is not servile bondage but freedom, liberty and peace.
Words and Historical Setting
The saying was addressed to Jews who insisted that as Abraham's seed they had never been in bondage, a claim that was false since they were then living under the Roman yoke. Instead of answering their political claim, Christ turned the issue to spiritual bondage and to the need for the Son to make them truly free. Everyone who practices sin is enslaved to sin and needs that liberation from the Son.
Their bondage was proved by their seeking to kill Him because His word had no place in them. Unbelief and malice reveal the worst kind of bondage, the rule of evil, in which sinners are bound to a most cruel tyrant. Having placed themselves under Satan's training, they acted from another father and treated God's people as he directed, hearing the word of truth yet hating both message and messenger because truth disturbed their deceptive practices. Mere fleshly descent from Abraham therefore did not make them free nor true children of Abraham, but their deeds showed whom they served.
The saying turns on the contrast of servant and Son: everyone who commits sin is a servant of sin who does not abide forever. Continuing in Christ's word makes true disciples who know the truth. The Son abides in the house forever and has authority to make people free, and the freedom He gives is real, a release from sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus so that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit. This stands within His declaration that He is the light of the world, so that following Him keeps one from walking in darkness and gives the light of life.
The Son who frees is Jesus, sent by God as the great teacher who gives every soul the help needed to break the chains of sin-slavery and become free men and women in Christ Jesus. He is perfectly acquainted with the need of all in the world and perfectly acquainted with the principles of truth, which is the gospel unto salvation. He is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, and that economy was the gospel in figure and symbol. Having stood in the councils of God, the elements of truth from least to greatest are always familiar to His mind, and all the treasures of heaven were given to Him to bestow upon the fallen race. He reveals the infinite mind of God and speaks with personal knowledge, for He is the expression of the mind of God to man, and as the Word and the wisdom of God He unfolds truth of the highest order, presenting truth with the authority of a divine oracle and with power and knowledge as words of eternal life.
The object of Christ's mission was to set souls free from the slavery of sin. In His few years of labor among the Jews He laid the foundation of that freeing work by showing its purpose in words and acts of healing and hope that served people from every nation. He instructed His disciples to bear the message of a Saviour's love to those outside. Generation after generation His witnesses give His lessons of practical service and carry this work to the whole world, and after His ascension to heaven the work is carried forward with greater power than before because He and His Father cooperate in doing greater things for His people than were seen while He was among them.
Bondage and the Liberator
Everyone who practices sin is its servant and slave, not his own but under the control of another power in the most abject slavery under Satan and the prince of darkness. By yielding, man placed his will helplessly under the tempter's control and became a captive in his power, blinded to the beauty of truth while thinking he follows his own judgment. Selfish indulgence of sinful passions is not liberty but brings remorse and cruel bondage, and sin can triumph only by enfeebling the mind and destroying liberty.
Satan is the originator of sin and the great deceiver who seeks to bind people by pride and independence from God. He obscures the gospel and leads to denial of Christ's divinity, the only source of eternal life. No one has power to free himself from this control, but Christ by His own power overcomes the strong man to rescue those held captive.
Christ alone can free people from sin's yoke and Satan's deception and mastery, and those He frees are the only truly free people and are free indeed. He came to earth to ransom an enslaved race and is humanity's only hope, giving true freedom to those who give themselves wholly to Him and rely completely on Him. Many refuse this freedom and choose to cling to sin and its thraldom, unwilling to allow Him to break their shackles, and rejecting Him leaves them without hope.
This freedom was purchased by giving His life as ransom and by His blood as propitiation not for some only but for all who believe. God poured the whole treasury of heaven into this world and gave all heaven in Christ, purchasing the will, the affections, the mind and the soul at a cost withholding not even Himself, the Father suffering with Christ in His humiliation and agony. Those made free stand under His blood-stained banner, cleansed from sin's defilement as they take hold on His merits unto salvation. This freedom is grounded in the gift of God's Son come in human flesh as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.
The freedom He gives is release from sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, so that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit, with the Son abiding in the house forever unlike a servant and having authority to make people free. Jesus frees the one who asks Him by pardoning sin and cutting the cords that bound him to the enemy so Satan no longer has control over him. When converting grace enters the soul the person is free indeed from sin and guilt with earnest repentance and forgiveness, not concealment, evasion or excuses, relieving even those burdened by his guilt.
Receiving True Freedom
Truth as it is in Jesus is no fetter holding the soul, but what makes men free indeed, separating them from sins and from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. Continuing in His word makes true disciples who know the truth, while everyone who commits sin is a servant who does not abide forever, and those who boast they are in bondage to no one yet hate the message because it disturbs deceptive practices are bound to the most cruel tyrant under Satan's training. Merely agreeing with truth as an idea is not enough, for truth must be applied to life to bring unity with Christ and growth in grace and calling, and practicing the truth brings emancipation rather than a yoke of bondage. This freedom is received by inspiring faith and belief in the truth, and it is confessed by talking faith and not doubt, being hopeful and cheerful in the Lord, looking up to the One given to save from sins, and showing constantly increasing confidence that He will accept every soul who serves Him in sincerity.
In redemption there is no compulsion or external force, but man is left free to choose whom he will serve under the influence of the Spirit of God. The only condition of freedom is becoming one with Christ who is the truth, and surrender to Him brings the highest sense of freedom with restoration to true glory and dignity. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself, when desire to be set free and a cry in great need for power out of and above self brings the divine energy of the Holy Spirit into the powers of the soul so they obey the will in fulfilling the will of God. Subjection to the divine law is liberty, because sin can triumph only by enfeebling the mind and destroying liberty.
Freedom is received by believing Christ's promise and trusting His power to save, finding peace and rest in Him in true release from Satan's dominion. It comes by looking away from self to Jesus as sin-pardoning Saviour, taking hold of the Mighty One and never letting go, trusting the love shown in giving His own life, refusing the dark side, and being hopeful in God, until by beholding Him the person is changed into His image and belongs to the Lord. To be free in Him means surrendering will and way to God without holding anything back, trusting what the Lord can do for and through us rather than what we can do ourselves, giving oneself without reserve to God and breaking with Satan. Then doubt and groaning are replaced by a new heart and a new song of praise with trust and thanksgiving, and clinging to the cross with nothing of one's own to offer brings a clear conscience and a spirit under command. Even one who feels hopeless and irredeemable can find freedom, for that suggestion is a lie originated by Satan, and there is hope because Christ is making every effort to draw the sinner to Himself so none need remain in love of self and the world. God's children held in bondage by satanic power can be released to breathe freely and rejoice in the Lord, coming close to God and laying hold of helping power so influence becomes a blessing and not a stumbling block.
This receiving calls for determined perseverance, for breaking the force of habit requires strength that comes from Jesus and not from self. The will must be put on God's side, looking to Jesus in weakness and trusting that He has conquered Satan, so believers need not regard themselves as helpless or remain enslaved, but cherish their purchased powers for His service. Jesus must be welcomed to take possession of the soul, for He will not share the heart with Satan. It involves humbling the self, confessing wrongs and backslidings, being subdued by grace, and turning fully from sinful indulgence to receive God's promise of forgiveness by faith into the liberty of God's children, while the impenitent remain bound in darkness. Freedom comes not from having abundant light and evidence but as the soul trusts divine power and acts on the light given in sincere dependence, and the Holy Spirit supplies further light and strength to work with that resolve.
Freedom is a privilege bought by His giving His life to make men free, and Christ is a complete Saviour able to save fully and to the uttermost all who come to Him. That freedom places all the resources of heaven at demand, to be laid hold of by living faith grasping the hand of infinite power that is able to keep from falling. It gives right to claim the blessing of God and to ask Him for needed things, and God is honored when the keeping of the soul is committed to Him as unto a faithful Creator. This making complete in Christ comes by serving God with true devotedness, when Jesus is found to be a whole Saviour.
Life of the Freed
The soul made free is forgiven, given peace by the Prince of peace, granted rest, and restored to God's moral image, and that restoration gives true nobility. This freedom is full salvation, full of light and joy with no divided thoughts, the whole person yearning after God, delivered from darkness, despair, gloom and burden through Christ and hope in His soon coming. It brings a clear conscience and a spirit under command, so happiness rests in what one is within and in God rather than in circumstances, amusement, human sympathy or praise. It is real freedom, not permission to sin, for sin is not liberty and heavenly truth is not bondage, and it seeks counsel from Jesus the source of all wisdom rather than from men while searching the Word for the standard set up. True religion under this freedom is being led by the Way, the Truth and the Life in thought, word and deed along the narrow royal divine path cast up for the ransomed, with Jesus at the right hand, so that persecution for godly living does not intimidate, and inward peace and happiness attend the change as with Sister Davis.
The change is visible, for beholding Christ transforms into His image, His light brightens life and beautifies actions, the countenance is changed and faces are lighted up. Where Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, deliverance from the yoke of bondage through truth holds while living in harmony with truth by constantly looking to Jesus and weaving His grace and love into words and actions. It shows itself in praise glorifying God instead of doleful talk of trials, in honest business dealings that do not dishonor the Master, in a cheerful countenance others can see, and in settled determination to honor God in word and conduct.
To be free is to come under God's royal law which proclaims liberty to captives, to become one with Christ and be restored to perfect manhood, so that submitting to His will is restoration and not bondage. Serving God and obeying His word, requirements, commandments and law does not diminish happiness or bring servile bondage but brings freedom, liberty, salvation, peace and contentment. This obedience looses the bands of wickedness, reveals Christ's perfection, and releases from selfish impulses and passions ruled by Satan and from oppression, and those who follow the light given them are free in Christ Jesus. Freedom comes through the blood of Jesus, and keeping the commandments is the way of freedom into which He invites every soul to receive His richest gifts.
When Christ dwells within and controls the will, the person is set free from self that causes variance, quarreling, self-will and discord. Peculiarities are subdued and temperament softened, so different minds and varied gifts work together in harmony and bear with one another, for Christ in one does not oppose Christ in another. If variance remains it proves self still needs crucifying, and freedom is not complete unless it issues in loving one another as He loved in obedience to His command, which gives evidence of completeness in Him.
Freedom means not being enslaved to appetite or disposition but serving God, resisting Satan's devices, putting away sin and pursuing holiness by voluntary surrender. Even the tobacco devotee and other slaves of appetite and addictive habit can be truly reformed and need not remain slaves, for in Jesus' name a person can break the hold, control actions, overcome appetite and give up the idol. This calls for thorough personal effort to reform, and by the Spirit the one set free is changed and becomes a faithful worker.
Those made free have liberty as sons of God, a wide place to stand and the fullness of divine love in the heart, cleansed from sin's defilement by taking hold on His merits and believing unto salvation. That freedom carries responsibility to reveal Christ by telling what He has done, speaking of the crucified and risen Saviour rather than talking of the devil, and showing unstained character instead of making a failure of discipleship. The church shares this freedom when she repents and is converted, refuses evil and chooses good, seeks God with humility, reaches her high calling, stands on the platform of eternal truth and lays hold by faith on what is prepared for her. Then she is healed and appears in God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, with her people as God's chosen, His pleasant portion, His representatives precious in His sight.
Freedom is sustained by drawing life and nourishment freely from Jesus, with life hidden with Christ in God, giving assurance of acceptance, boldness to seek grace and strength, victory over the powers of darkness and a testimony. It is joined with cherishing Bible truth and teaching children to speak truth even when honesty seems costly, keeping truth before the family as a safeguard against lies. It comes with broken believing hearts sanctified through the truth and with self-denying lives ready for troublous times ahead, not by seeking heaven some other way, and it brings renewed strength when released from burdens and shackles. In the kingdom of glory this freedom issues in ended sorrow and sin and eternal joy.
Freedom in Practice
True freedom in Christ means breaking with secret orders and other worldly ties that weaken the sense of duty to God and draw the heart away from Him, and uniting fully with Him to live as a genuinely free person released from those binding connections. Freedom also means being cut loose from wicked people and separated from the world and their corrupting influence as far as possible, mingling with them only as much as is unavoidable. This separation is necessary because the wicked are the lawful prey of the enemy, through whom Satan works in every way to perplex and destroy, corrupting the atmosphere around them with darkness that will only grow worse and worse. When company with them cannot be avoided, continual prayer and watching every moment are required lest their spirit be shared.
Those whom the Son makes free belong to God and are to stand as His own, not to be bought or sold or brought into bondage to any person, group, human plans, human wisdom, or yokes placed on the necks of brethren. This freedom calls them to follow Christ when He calls, to leave former work and practices, and to learn His methods for serving in the work of saving souls. It calls for looking to the Holy Spirit rather than to men, with the promise that choosing to follow the Lord brings the wisdom needed to strengthen what is failing, that Jesus will go before those made free, and that the glory of the Lord will be their rereward as He reveals Himself to them so they may reveal His love and saving power to the world.
God has made every person free in conscience and religious faith, with God-given rights that no human law may bind. Making laws to bind conscience, mixing sacred things with carnal things, conforming the church to the world through secular influence, and one person exercising power over another's faith and conscience by claiming to be mind and judgment for him, even calling him property, violates that freedom. Such domination is Satan's masterly working that leads to cruel imprisonment and hinders poor, timid, ignorant souls from doing God's will, a religious liberty many have been slow to learn and still discern imperfectly, but many will be taught by God and learn aright from Jesus Christ. Christ also frees from binding influences that keep people from standing faithfully for what is right, and they must make a determined effort to break that hold and stand as free people in Him. God's servants must be free from entanglement in order to build up the church, gather souls, and strengthen the weak and wavering, and anyone not ready for that work must first labor for himself and pray for power from on high.
This freeing power restores even those regarded as hopeless or unfit to learn the gospel, for by divine grace through the Holy Spirit clouded, dull minds awaken, sinful inclinations and vice disappear, ignorance is overcome, and hearts are purified by faith working through love, bringing spiritual life, strength, and enlightenment. Those who receive the truth in Jesus are released from the world's hold, from slavery to sin and bondage to worldly principles and evil habits, and from oppression. This comes as truth enters the heart through the Holy Spirit, the will is submitted to God and brought under Christ's rule, and by faith God's promise of forgiveness is received so that turning from sinful indulgence brings the liberty of God's children rather than servitude to sin. Yet the claim to freedom can be false, for churches may claim to be free while remaining in bondage to sin when they set aside God's law and replace the Bible with human ideas. So it was at His first advent, when the Sanhedrin brought people Christ had given His life to free into another bondage by controlling them according to its own will, and even those who have known the freedom of God's children from Satan's power can turn back toward the enemy and work against the people God is using.
Everyone who commits sin is its servant in cruel bondage under another power, while the Son abides in the house forever with authority to make people free with a freedom that is real. It was spoken to Jews who claimed that as Abraham's seed they had never been in bondage, when they were then under the Roman yoke, and instead of answering the political claim He exposed their spiritual bondage proved by seeking to kill Him because His word had no place in them. Christ alone can free people from sin's yoke and Satan's mastery, and those He frees are the only truly free people; this freedom was purchased by giving His life as ransom and by His blood for all who believe. There is no compulsion in it, for man is left free to choose whom he will serve, and freedom is received by continuing in His word as true disciples, believing His promise, surrendering will and way without reserve and taking hold of Him in living faith. The freed soul has sins forgiven with peace and restoration to God's moral image, and serving God and obeying His word and royal law is not servile bondage but freedom, liberty and peace.
Words and Historical Setting
The saying was addressed to Jews who insisted that as Abraham's seed they had never been in bondage, a claim that was false since they were then living under the Roman yoke. Instead of answering their political claim, Christ turned the issue to spiritual bondage and to the need for the Son to make them truly free. Everyone who practices sin is enslaved to sin and needs that liberation from the Son.
Their bondage was proved by their seeking to kill Him because His word had no place in them. Unbelief and malice reveal the worst kind of bondage, the rule of evil, in which sinners are bound to a most cruel tyrant. Having placed themselves under Satan's training, they acted from another father and treated God's people as he directed, hearing the word of truth yet hating both message and messenger because truth disturbed their deceptive practices. Mere fleshly descent from Abraham therefore did not make them free nor true children of Abraham, but their deeds showed whom they served.
The saying turns on the contrast of servant and Son: everyone who commits sin is a servant of sin who does not abide forever. Continuing in Christ's word makes true disciples who know the truth. The Son abides in the house forever and has authority to make people free, and the freedom He gives is real, a release from sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus so that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit. This stands within His declaration that He is the light of the world, so that following Him keeps one from walking in darkness and gives the light of life.
The Son who frees is Jesus, sent by God as the great teacher who gives every soul the help needed to break the chains of sin-slavery and become free men and women in Christ Jesus. He is perfectly acquainted with the need of all in the world and perfectly acquainted with the principles of truth, which is the gospel unto salvation. He is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy, and that economy was the gospel in figure and symbol. Having stood in the councils of God, the elements of truth from least to greatest are always familiar to His mind, and all the treasures of heaven were given to Him to bestow upon the fallen race. He reveals the infinite mind of God and speaks with personal knowledge, for He is the expression of the mind of God to man, and as the Word and the wisdom of God He unfolds truth of the highest order, presenting truth with the authority of a divine oracle and with power and knowledge as words of eternal life.
The object of Christ's mission was to set souls free from the slavery of sin. In His few years of labor among the Jews He laid the foundation of that freeing work by showing its purpose in words and acts of healing and hope that served people from every nation. He instructed His disciples to bear the message of a Saviour's love to those outside. Generation after generation His witnesses give His lessons of practical service and carry this work to the whole world, and after His ascension to heaven the work is carried forward with greater power than before because He and His Father cooperate in doing greater things for His people than were seen while He was among them.
Bondage and the Liberator
Everyone who practices sin is its servant and slave, not his own but under the control of another power in the most abject slavery under Satan and the prince of darkness. By yielding, man placed his will helplessly under the tempter's control and became a captive in his power, blinded to the beauty of truth while thinking he follows his own judgment. Selfish indulgence of sinful passions is not liberty but brings remorse and cruel bondage, and sin can triumph only by enfeebling the mind and destroying liberty.
Satan is the originator of sin and the great deceiver who seeks to bind people by pride and independence from God. He obscures the gospel and leads to denial of Christ's divinity, the only source of eternal life. No one has power to free himself from this control, but Christ by His own power overcomes the strong man to rescue those held captive.
Christ alone can free people from sin's yoke and Satan's deception and mastery, and those He frees are the only truly free people and are free indeed. He came to earth to ransom an enslaved race and is humanity's only hope, giving true freedom to those who give themselves wholly to Him and rely completely on Him. Many refuse this freedom and choose to cling to sin and its thraldom, unwilling to allow Him to break their shackles, and rejecting Him leaves them without hope.
This freedom was purchased by giving His life as ransom and by His blood as propitiation not for some only but for all who believe. God poured the whole treasury of heaven into this world and gave all heaven in Christ, purchasing the will, the affections, the mind and the soul at a cost withholding not even Himself, the Father suffering with Christ in His humiliation and agony. Those made free stand under His blood-stained banner, cleansed from sin's defilement as they take hold on His merits unto salvation. This freedom is grounded in the gift of God's Son come in human flesh as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.
The freedom He gives is release from sin and death through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, so that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit, with the Son abiding in the house forever unlike a servant and having authority to make people free. Jesus frees the one who asks Him by pardoning sin and cutting the cords that bound him to the enemy so Satan no longer has control over him. When converting grace enters the soul the person is free indeed from sin and guilt with earnest repentance and forgiveness, not concealment, evasion or excuses, relieving even those burdened by his guilt.
Receiving True Freedom
Truth as it is in Jesus is no fetter holding the soul, but what makes men free indeed, separating them from sins and from hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. Continuing in His word makes true disciples who know the truth, while everyone who commits sin is a servant who does not abide forever, and those who boast they are in bondage to no one yet hate the message because it disturbs deceptive practices are bound to the most cruel tyrant under Satan's training. Merely agreeing with truth as an idea is not enough, for truth must be applied to life to bring unity with Christ and growth in grace and calling, and practicing the truth brings emancipation rather than a yoke of bondage. This freedom is received by inspiring faith and belief in the truth, and it is confessed by talking faith and not doubt, being hopeful and cheerful in the Lord, looking up to the One given to save from sins, and showing constantly increasing confidence that He will accept every soul who serves Him in sincerity.
In redemption there is no compulsion or external force, but man is left free to choose whom he will serve under the influence of the Spirit of God. The only condition of freedom is becoming one with Christ who is the truth, and surrender to Him brings the highest sense of freedom with restoration to true glory and dignity. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself, when desire to be set free and a cry in great need for power out of and above self brings the divine energy of the Holy Spirit into the powers of the soul so they obey the will in fulfilling the will of God. Subjection to the divine law is liberty, because sin can triumph only by enfeebling the mind and destroying liberty.
Freedom is received by believing Christ's promise and trusting His power to save, finding peace and rest in Him in true release from Satan's dominion. It comes by looking away from self to Jesus as sin-pardoning Saviour, taking hold of the Mighty One and never letting go, trusting the love shown in giving His own life, refusing the dark side, and being hopeful in God, until by beholding Him the person is changed into His image and belongs to the Lord. To be free in Him means surrendering will and way to God without holding anything back, trusting what the Lord can do for and through us rather than what we can do ourselves, giving oneself without reserve to God and breaking with Satan. Then doubt and groaning are replaced by a new heart and a new song of praise with trust and thanksgiving, and clinging to the cross with nothing of one's own to offer brings a clear conscience and a spirit under command. Even one who feels hopeless and irredeemable can find freedom, for that suggestion is a lie originated by Satan, and there is hope because Christ is making every effort to draw the sinner to Himself so none need remain in love of self and the world. God's children held in bondage by satanic power can be released to breathe freely and rejoice in the Lord, coming close to God and laying hold of helping power so influence becomes a blessing and not a stumbling block.
This receiving calls for determined perseverance, for breaking the force of habit requires strength that comes from Jesus and not from self. The will must be put on God's side, looking to Jesus in weakness and trusting that He has conquered Satan, so believers need not regard themselves as helpless or remain enslaved, but cherish their purchased powers for His service. Jesus must be welcomed to take possession of the soul, for He will not share the heart with Satan. It involves humbling the self, confessing wrongs and backslidings, being subdued by grace, and turning fully from sinful indulgence to receive God's promise of forgiveness by faith into the liberty of God's children, while the impenitent remain bound in darkness. Freedom comes not from having abundant light and evidence but as the soul trusts divine power and acts on the light given in sincere dependence, and the Holy Spirit supplies further light and strength to work with that resolve.
Freedom is a privilege bought by His giving His life to make men free, and Christ is a complete Saviour able to save fully and to the uttermost all who come to Him. That freedom places all the resources of heaven at demand, to be laid hold of by living faith grasping the hand of infinite power that is able to keep from falling. It gives right to claim the blessing of God and to ask Him for needed things, and God is honored when the keeping of the soul is committed to Him as unto a faithful Creator. This making complete in Christ comes by serving God with true devotedness, when Jesus is found to be a whole Saviour.
Life of the Freed
The soul made free is forgiven, given peace by the Prince of peace, granted rest, and restored to God's moral image, and that restoration gives true nobility. This freedom is full salvation, full of light and joy with no divided thoughts, the whole person yearning after God, delivered from darkness, despair, gloom and burden through Christ and hope in His soon coming. It brings a clear conscience and a spirit under command, so happiness rests in what one is within and in God rather than in circumstances, amusement, human sympathy or praise. It is real freedom, not permission to sin, for sin is not liberty and heavenly truth is not bondage, and it seeks counsel from Jesus the source of all wisdom rather than from men while searching the Word for the standard set up. True religion under this freedom is being led by the Way, the Truth and the Life in thought, word and deed along the narrow royal divine path cast up for the ransomed, with Jesus at the right hand, so that persecution for godly living does not intimidate, and inward peace and happiness attend the change as with Sister Davis.
The change is visible, for beholding Christ transforms into His image, His light brightens life and beautifies actions, the countenance is changed and faces are lighted up. Where Christ is formed within as the hope of glory, deliverance from the yoke of bondage through truth holds while living in harmony with truth by constantly looking to Jesus and weaving His grace and love into words and actions. It shows itself in praise glorifying God instead of doleful talk of trials, in honest business dealings that do not dishonor the Master, in a cheerful countenance others can see, and in settled determination to honor God in word and conduct.
To be free is to come under God's royal law which proclaims liberty to captives, to become one with Christ and be restored to perfect manhood, so that submitting to His will is restoration and not bondage. Serving God and obeying His word, requirements, commandments and law does not diminish happiness or bring servile bondage but brings freedom, liberty, salvation, peace and contentment. This obedience looses the bands of wickedness, reveals Christ's perfection, and releases from selfish impulses and passions ruled by Satan and from oppression, and those who follow the light given them are free in Christ Jesus. Freedom comes through the blood of Jesus, and keeping the commandments is the way of freedom into which He invites every soul to receive His richest gifts.
When Christ dwells within and controls the will, the person is set free from self that causes variance, quarreling, self-will and discord. Peculiarities are subdued and temperament softened, so different minds and varied gifts work together in harmony and bear with one another, for Christ in one does not oppose Christ in another. If variance remains it proves self still needs crucifying, and freedom is not complete unless it issues in loving one another as He loved in obedience to His command, which gives evidence of completeness in Him.
Freedom means not being enslaved to appetite or disposition but serving God, resisting Satan's devices, putting away sin and pursuing holiness by voluntary surrender. Even the tobacco devotee and other slaves of appetite and addictive habit can be truly reformed and need not remain slaves, for in Jesus' name a person can break the hold, control actions, overcome appetite and give up the idol. This calls for thorough personal effort to reform, and by the Spirit the one set free is changed and becomes a faithful worker.
Those made free have liberty as sons of God, a wide place to stand and the fullness of divine love in the heart, cleansed from sin's defilement by taking hold on His merits and believing unto salvation. That freedom carries responsibility to reveal Christ by telling what He has done, speaking of the crucified and risen Saviour rather than talking of the devil, and showing unstained character instead of making a failure of discipleship. The church shares this freedom when she repents and is converted, refuses evil and chooses good, seeks God with humility, reaches her high calling, stands on the platform of eternal truth and lays hold by faith on what is prepared for her. Then she is healed and appears in God-given simplicity and purity, separate from earthly entanglements, with her people as God's chosen, His pleasant portion, His representatives precious in His sight.
Freedom is sustained by drawing life and nourishment freely from Jesus, with life hidden with Christ in God, giving assurance of acceptance, boldness to seek grace and strength, victory over the powers of darkness and a testimony. It is joined with cherishing Bible truth and teaching children to speak truth even when honesty seems costly, keeping truth before the family as a safeguard against lies. It comes with broken believing hearts sanctified through the truth and with self-denying lives ready for troublous times ahead, not by seeking heaven some other way, and it brings renewed strength when released from burdens and shackles. In the kingdom of glory this freedom issues in ended sorrow and sin and eternal joy.
Freedom in Practice
True freedom in Christ means breaking with secret orders and other worldly ties that weaken the sense of duty to God and draw the heart away from Him, and uniting fully with Him to live as a genuinely free person released from those binding connections. Freedom also means being cut loose from wicked people and separated from the world and their corrupting influence as far as possible, mingling with them only as much as is unavoidable. This separation is necessary because the wicked are the lawful prey of the enemy, through whom Satan works in every way to perplex and destroy, corrupting the atmosphere around them with darkness that will only grow worse and worse. When company with them cannot be avoided, continual prayer and watching every moment are required lest their spirit be shared.
Those whom the Son makes free belong to God and are to stand as His own, not to be bought or sold or brought into bondage to any person, group, human plans, human wisdom, or yokes placed on the necks of brethren. This freedom calls them to follow Christ when He calls, to leave former work and practices, and to learn His methods for serving in the work of saving souls. It calls for looking to the Holy Spirit rather than to men, with the promise that choosing to follow the Lord brings the wisdom needed to strengthen what is failing, that Jesus will go before those made free, and that the glory of the Lord will be their rereward as He reveals Himself to them so they may reveal His love and saving power to the world.
God has made every person free in conscience and religious faith, with God-given rights that no human law may bind. Making laws to bind conscience, mixing sacred things with carnal things, conforming the church to the world through secular influence, and one person exercising power over another's faith and conscience by claiming to be mind and judgment for him, even calling him property, violates that freedom. Such domination is Satan's masterly working that leads to cruel imprisonment and hinders poor, timid, ignorant souls from doing God's will, a religious liberty many have been slow to learn and still discern imperfectly, but many will be taught by God and learn aright from Jesus Christ. Christ also frees from binding influences that keep people from standing faithfully for what is right, and they must make a determined effort to break that hold and stand as free people in Him. God's servants must be free from entanglement in order to build up the church, gather souls, and strengthen the weak and wavering, and anyone not ready for that work must first labor for himself and pray for power from on high.
This freeing power restores even those regarded as hopeless or unfit to learn the gospel, for by divine grace through the Holy Spirit clouded, dull minds awaken, sinful inclinations and vice disappear, ignorance is overcome, and hearts are purified by faith working through love, bringing spiritual life, strength, and enlightenment. Those who receive the truth in Jesus are released from the world's hold, from slavery to sin and bondage to worldly principles and evil habits, and from oppression. This comes as truth enters the heart through the Holy Spirit, the will is submitted to God and brought under Christ's rule, and by faith God's promise of forgiveness is received so that turning from sinful indulgence brings the liberty of God's children rather than servitude to sin. Yet the claim to freedom can be false, for churches may claim to be free while remaining in bondage to sin when they set aside God's law and replace the Bible with human ideas. So it was at His first advent, when the Sanhedrin brought people Christ had given His life to free into another bondage by controlling them according to its own will, and even those who have known the freedom of God's children from Satan's power can turn back toward the enemy and work against the people God is using.