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HOW ARE CHRISTIANS FREE WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY RULES AND REGULATIONS IN SCRIPTURE?
The Apostle Paul instructs believers to walk by the Spirit and then suggests that the effect is a proclivity not to gratify the flesh (Gal 5:16). Many Christians see the commands of Scripture, however, as hindrances to freedom. It is often said and suggested that freedom only exists in Christ. Why then do many Christians feel enslaved rather than free? Why do biblical instructions often feel like imprisonment rather than freedom? To answer such a question, Scripture offers great reconciliation and helps believers understand what it truly means to be free.
Free
from Sin
First,
Christians are free from sin. Sin, at its core, entraps, imprisons, and
destroys. That is Satan’s goal; humanity is born in such a torment and does not
escape except by the grace of God. When one becomes a Christian, he or she
begins a process of transformation into the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). The
process mentioned here is called sanctification; it is progressive, i.e. not
occurring at a single moment but over time. What this means is that although
Christians are free from sin, they will still sin; nonetheless, when believers
sin, they are not being who they are in Christ. Human nature, however, dictates
that sinful flesh battles against the spirit of Christians who are now positionally
righteous and being made (not already made) actually righteous. The key to this
concept is that Christians are free from sin, i.e. through the power of the
Holy Spirit, believers possess the ability not to sin. To say that no one is
perfect is not to claim an excuse for sin, for there is no excuse for such.
Rather, believers should understand that they have been set free from the power
of sin and, in Christ, contain the ability to resist it. Christians are free
from sin.
Free
Found in Christ
Paul lists the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians (Gal 5:22-23) and concludes by claiming that no law exists against such characteristics, i.e. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Referring to these qualities as fruit implies that these are the effects of a believer, one who has been changed by Christ, i.e. Christians no longer desire to live contrary to these qualities but exhibit them. The fruit of the Spirit opposes the ways of the world, which certainly contains laws against it. To live as Christ then is truly freedom, for there is no law against it. While some may view Scripture as a text filled with rules and regulations, for Christians, the effect of being changed by Christ supernaturally exhibits alignment with such so-called regulations so that they are not regulations at all but a way of life against which there is no law. Christians, therefore, are free from the law because 1) Christ has fulfilled it and 2) the fruit of new life does not hold any law against it. Such is true freedom.
Consider
Biblical Commands Not as Rules but as a Model
Biblical
commands should be considered as models rather than rules. The commands of
Scripture are not rules against how to live but a model for what the Christian
life should reflect. If someone is to build something and has instructions but
chooses to ignore such instructions, it is likely that he or she will design
something that does not function properly because it was not built properly. It
is then quickly realized that the instructions were not designed to hinder the
builder but to help in the proper development of the project. Scriptural
commands are similar in that they are designed to reveal what the Christian
life should look like. Freedom may not exist without boundaries; in the same
manner, Christians are free because their lives are different and now exhibit
the life of Christ, against which there is not a law and around which the
believer’s life conforms.
