Printer Friendly Version

Particulars of Christianity:
305 Liberty in Christ


Liberty, Bondage, and Righteousness

Liberty in Christ: Extended Introduction
Liberty in Christ: Introduction
Definitions and New Testament Survey
Synonyms for Liberty in Christ
Liberty and Death
Liberty, the Law, and the 10 Commandments
Origin of the Law of Liberty
Liberty and Yet Prohibition
Incorporating Pagan Practices in the Old Testament
"Christianizing" Pagan Practices
What is Observing Times?
Liberty, Bondage, and Righteousness
Liberty and Meat Sacrificed to Idols
Liberty and 1 Corinthians 8
Liberty, 1 Corinthians 10, and Idolatry
Liberty, 1 Corinthians 10, and Your Neighbor
Summary and Practical Applications
Addendum: Romans 14, the Conscience, and Morality



Having established the first two aspects of this threefold conclusion about our "liberty in Christ" we will now move on to establish the third aspect of that liberty, our freedom TO DO righteousness. Then, we will take all of this knowledge of what it means to be "free in Christ" and apply it to our examination of Paul's use of the term "liberty" (eleutheria, Strong's No. 1657) in the midst of his discussion about eating meat sacrificed to idols in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10. Finally, we will conclude with a summary of our findings regarding what our "liberty in Christ" does and does NOT entitle us to as Christians. And in that summary we will discuss the practical applications for us as Christians living in the modern Church culture.

Actually, the third aspect of our threefold conclusion about what it means to have "liberty in Christ" is very easy to demonstrate. Not only "in Christ" are we free FROM the Law of Moses (except for the 10 Commandments), and not only "in Christ" are we free FROM the legally prescribed penalty of death, but also in Christ we are now, for the first time, free FROM the sinful nature and free TO obey God and live as slaves of righteousness instead of slaves to sin. Furthermore, in being free FROM the Law of Moses we are now slaves that serve the Law of the Spirit, which is the Law of Liberty or Law of Christ.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants [1401] to obey, his servants [1401] ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants [1401] of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free [1659] from sin, ye became the servants [1402] of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants [1401] to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants [1401] to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants [1401] of sin, ye were free [1658] from righteousness.

We have noted 4 different Greek words in the passage above. The first two are the Greek words "eleutheros" (Strong's No. 1658) and "eleutheroo" (Strong's No. 1659.) Of course, we've been covering the usage of these two Greek words from the very start of our study. Both of them are used throughout the New Testament to refer to our "liberty in Christ." In fact, all 7 times eleutheroo is used it is used to denote this issue. And, both eleutheros and eleutheroo are closely related to another Greek words, eleutheria (Strong's No. 1657), which is the predominant Greek word used throughout the New Testament to discuss our "liberty in Christ." In fact, as we have said before, all 11 times that eleutheria is used in the New Testament it is used to refer to our liberty in Christ.

The third and fourth Greek words that we have noted in the passage above are the Greek words "doulos" (Strong's No. 1401), which means "a slave" and "douloo" (Strong's No. 1402), which means "to make a slave of." Obviously the two are related. Doulos (1401) is the root word for duoloo (1402). And not only that, but doulos and duoloo are closely related to two other Greek words, kataduoloo and douleia, that we have covered earlier in this study.

We found douleia (Strong's No. 1397), which means "slavery or bondage" in Romans 8:15. And we found katadouloo (Strong's No. 2615), which means "to enslave" in Galatians 2:4. And we saw that just as in Romans 6 above, in Galatians 2:4, Paul is speaking of our Christian liberty (eleutheria - 1657) just as he does in Romans 8:1-2,13-15 (eleutheroo - 1659.) Douleia means, "slavery, bondage." Both katadouloo and douleia come from the same root word, "doulos" (Strong's No. 1401), which means, "slave." This is yet another similarity that tells us Paul is discussing the same issue in both Galatians 2:4 where he refers to our "liberty in Christ" and here in Romans 6.

And, the use of the Greek words duolos and duoloo here in Romans 6 is also similar to Paul's use of the Greek word douleuo (Strong's No. 1398), which means "to be a slave" in Galatians 4:8-11, where Paul speaks about the Galatians' return to observing times as an indication that they were returning to bondage.

So, from Paul's use of the Greek words eleutheros, eleutheroo, duolos and duoloo here in Romans 6, we know that Paul is once again talking about our "liberty in Christ." And what is Paul saying about that liberty in Christ here in Romans 6?

What Paul is saying here in Romans 6 with regard to our liberty in Christ is quite simple.

Romans 6:20 For when ye were the servants [1401] of sin, ye were free [1658] from righteousness.

Paul is saying that before Christ, when we were without Christ, we were in bondage to sin and free FROM living obediently and righteously. Or in other words, before we had Christ, righteousness had no dominion over us, for we were under the dominion of sin.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

But, Paul continues, now that we have Christ, that is no longer the case, but instead the opposite is true, we are no longer under the dominion of sin.

Romans 6:18 Being then made free [1659] from sin, ye became the servants [1402] of righteousness.

In Christ, we were "made free FROM sin" and instead came into bondage TO righteousness. Or, in other words, before we had Christ, we did not have the freedom TO obey for we were slaves to our sinful nature. But now, our liberty in Christ gives us the freedom TO obey and the freedom FROM the sinful nature.

Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants [1401] to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants [1401] to righteousness unto holiness.

But even though we are now slaves of righteousness in Christ, Paul concludes that whether or not we obey is still a matter of our choosing, for Paul encourages the Romans to "now yield" themselves as servants of righteousness. By instructing the Romans in this way, Paul places the power to yield to righteousness or resist righteousness under the power of the Romans' own choosing, just as a slave has the choice whether or not to be obedient to its master or to resist.

In this way we established the third aspect of our threefold conclusion regarding our "liberty in Christ." From Romans 6 we can plainly see our "liberty in Christ" not only makes us free FROM the Law of Moses (except for the 10 Commandments) and free FROM the legally prescribed punishment of death, but it also makes us free FROM the sinful nature and free TO live obediently and righteously.

Lastly, as we noted in summary when we began this exploration of our threefold conclusion regarding our "liberty in Christ," we can clearly see after all this investigation that NEVER, NOT ONCE is the phrase "liberty in Christ" ever used in the New Testament to refer to a specific liberty to do a specific act. And even more to the point, the New Testament authors NEVER used the phrase "liberty in Christ" to refer to a freedom to perform a specific act that was previously considered sinful under the Old Testament. This will become very significant shortly as we examine 1 Corinthians 10 in depth.

However, right now it is important to restate that whenever the New Testament authors used the phrase "liberty in Christ" or a synonym of it, they were ALWAYS and ONLY referring to our freedom FROM the Law of Moses (except for the 10 Commandments), our freedom FROM the legally prescribed penalty of death, our freedom FROM the sinful nature, and our freedom TO live righteously. They NEVER used "liberty" to refer to our freedom to do things that were formerly sinful.

And lastly, being free from the bondage of the Mosaic Law, from the bondage of death, from the bondage to the sinful nature, and from the bondage of our former pagan ways did not mean we were free from any bondage whatsoever or that we were without any law whatsoever. For we were only free from these bondages if we obeyed what Paul calls the Law of the Spirit (Romans 8:2), the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2), and what James calls the royal Law and the perfect Law of Liberty (James 1:25, 2:8,12.)

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free [eleutheroo - 1659] from the law of sin and death.

As we can see from Romans 8:1-2, our freedom FROM condemnation and FROM the Law of Moses is conditional upon our obedience TO what Paul describes here in Romans 8:2 as the Law of the Spirit and in Galatians 6:2 as the Law of Christ and what in James 1:25 and 2:8,12 is referred to as the royal Law and the perfect Law of Liberty.

James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Our liberty from these former things is conditional upon our obedience to the new Law, the Law of Liberty, which included the 10 Commandments.