Free indeed

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free ...You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom. This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! Galatians 5:1, 8-9

The false teachers twisted the concept of Christian freedom into something it was not. They taught that freedom is the license to do whatever a person desires. In fact, Christian freedom is the ability to do what is right, based on God’s Word. The false teachers told these new Christians that religious freedom was freedom from all the authority and moral demands of Christianity. The irony of their religious rhetoric is that the entire time these people raised the flag of personal freedom yet they were slaves to their sinful habits and addictions. From the text, Paul reiterated that once you are in Christ you have been freed from the bondage of sin. When we were not in Christ, we try to excuse our behavior and claim that our actions are just expressions of what freedom was all about. We buy into false notions that begin by saying what our instincts want to hear—a concept of freedom to do, experience, and attain anything we desire. We also want to hear that while having this freedom we can “stay in God’s grace.” The New Testament distinguishes clearly between people who are religious and people who are actually followers of Jesus Christ. They are not always the same people. This distinction is seen clearly with those who would prefer to follow false teachers. They were not followers of Jesus. The knowledge of Jesus was simply head knowledge, not knowledge of the heart. They knew all about Christ and Christianity but all these knowledge are not resulting to changed life. Christ has set us free and it is important that we stay this way. We nullify the Lord’s redemptive work if we allow ourselves to be enslaved again to the same dulling religious structures from which He has liberated us. What matters is honest faith in Christ. “What is important is faith expressing itself” in our daily living (Galatians 5:6).

Blessings,

Noel De Guzman

www.my-wbc.com