Bible
Truths
Foundations
of the Faith
Our Freedom in Christ
Our
Position and its
Impact
on Living the
Christian
Life
Pastor John L. Griffith Sr.
(218)-229-2863
www.ironrangebible.com
Freedom in Christ
Galatians 5:1 begins that last
major section of Galatians and he does so with a very strong statement that has
tremendous implications in our life as believers in Christ. It
was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm
and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. We must also
remember the point Paul made just prior to this in
Paul has shown the superiority of
the Abrahamic Covenant to the Mosaic Law and thus of grace over law. Since the Law leads only to
bondage, and grace to freedom, it is foolish to seek to return to bondage by
placing oneself under the Mosaic Law or
any law performance system which some were doing.
Paul begins with
the goal of the redemptive work of Christ and that is our freedom!
So Paul goes from
summarizing the previous section in
Grammatically it
refers to an advantage that we as believers possess. That is what is ours in
Christ, what he did for us by going to the cross is for our advantage. Here the emphasis is on the result to us who
have believed in Him.
This freedom is a
gift, the source of this freedom is Christ, that
Christ set us free (evleuqero,w) verb, which means to make
free or set free.
The basis of this freedom we discovered back in
Redemption paid the price to purchase the slave, us, out of the slave
market, to release from slavery.
Not only
from the guilt and penalty of sin but also from the enslavement to the
indwelling sin nature and its ruling power. When
examining the verb to set us free
we find that it is in the aorist tense which speaks to the historical reality
of the work of Christ on the cross that provided salvation and freed us from
the curse of the law. The active voice points to the fact that it was
accomplished by Christ as He was totally obedient to the Father's will.
The indicative mood speaks to the reality of the freedom we have in our
relationship with Christ which is provided by Him.
It was for freedom that Christ set us free;
As we consider this first phrase some things we need to think about .
1. Jesus Christ's work on the cross was designed
to set us free!
By this I
mean it was to free us from condemnation of spiritual death, eternal separation
from God and free from us from slavery to the sin nature (Rom 8:1-4) free from servitude to the sin
nature. Free us from slavery to any and all systems of law performance living, that is man devised legalism.
2. This statement totally rejects
the possibility that the means of this freedom that we have in Christ lies
within the realm of our own ability or capacity to produce therefore it is not
by works. This freedom is potential to any and all mankind because of the work
of Christ and it is actualized by the individual through faith in Christ.
3. As freed slaves we must
develop the capacity for this freedom.
Christ accomplished everything needed to provide for us positional
freedom in Christ at salvation when we believed in Christ.
Everything we need to realize the
full potential of this freedom in our life after salvation, in our life as a
believer, which
is the subject of much of the rest of the epistle.
The link Paul lays out for
providing this capacity is the Word and the Spirit.
4. The truth you know, that forms
your frame of reference, the Doctrine resident in you forms the basis for the
capacity to enjoy and appreciate this freedom.
John 8:31-32, 36;
James
5. This freedom becomes a reality
experientially in our lives,
only when the Holy Spirit is empowering the life so that we are
walking by the Spirit or walking worthy of our calling . 2 Cor. 3:17;
6. Functionally what does this
freedom say to us? That
we as believers are no longer a slave to our sin nature with its lust patterns
and human good. It no longer has to rule or dominate our life. Rom
7. This freedom can be a reality
regardless of the political, or economic system in which one lives.
Your free in your relationship with
God which impacts your thinking and attitudes and therefore how you deal with
the routine issues of life. 1 Cor. 7:20-23
8. Paul reminds the Galatians
that they were delivered from slavery to idolatry and paganism when they
believed in Christ and now some have and others are on the verge of reverting
to another form of slavery to live their lives.
This would occur if they adopt dependence on self effort and law
performance living as introduced to them by the Judaizers.
9. What should their lives (and
ours) be characterized by? Dependence
on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who illuminates
the truth, fills us with it so that we can be occupied with Christ and His
thinking. Heb. 12:1-2
The normal
Christian life is a supernatural life and we are given supernatural power in order to live
this life.
The divine
enablement for daily living is from the Holy Spirit who indwells all believers
and the Word illuminated to us.
In Romans 8:2 Paul expands our understanding of the freedom we have in
Christ.
Paul begins Romans 8:2 with the word "for" (ga.r) which
indicates that he is giving the reason for the believer not being condemned to
a life of servitude to the sinful nature. This is the thrust Paul made in the
flow of thought from chapter 7 to 8:1.
"The law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death."
In other words, God has provided a means of deliverance. We no longer
need to be enslaved by the sin nature and its lust patterns as well as its
desire for human good. The means for
that deliverance, he
calls here, the law of the Spirit of life.
The phrase of life is a functional title. It describes for us
something about the noun it is related to, that is, the Holy Spirit. It could describe what the Holy Spirit does or is. In this context it
describes what He does. Another title is
that He is the Spirit of truth, which puts the emphasis on what He is!
What is the first thing done for us at the point of faith in Christ,
believing the Gospel? The Holy Spirit
regenerates and gives us a new life
in Christ! (Titus 3:5) When the Holy Spirit regenerates the new
believer what does He do? He gives them
life, spiritual life, eternal life!
He has also done something else for us when we believed, and that is
what Paul is emphasizing here, "has set us
free from the law of sin and of death." [which leads to
death]
That He has set us free (evleuqero,w) is the same verb as in Gal 5:1 and
means to be set free, liberated, and it speaks of completed action. The aorist tense takes us back to the cross, to the point
of time we believed and the act of regeneration, when the freedom began and was
established in our life. In the past,
when we were regenerated, from that moment the Holy Spirit also set us free
from the ruling power of the sin nature.
It takes a growing capacity from the word in us to live consistently
within the sphere of the will of God. At any time we can choose to put the sin
nature back in rulership and live under slavery to it. That's the point of Rom
6:11-14.
What Paul is leading up to here is that we as believers have a whole new
way of living, a whole new means of enablement for living, have completely new
resources available to us. Part of the uniqueness being a church age saint in
union with the King Jesus Christ!
Several significant things should be noted concerning Paul's statement
in Romans 8:2. First Paul refers to two
distinct laws: The law of the Spirit of
life and the law of sin and death. Law, no matter what kind it may be, is
established for the purpose of governing or influencing a course of action. In light of this, the law of the Spirit of life
is the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, which is related to the newness of life (Romans 6:4;
7:6). We have a whole new framework for
the life of the believer in Christ.
The reason that the believer is
not condemned to a life of servitude to the sin nature is that the enabling
power of the Holy Spirit has set him free from the ruling power of the sin
nature.
Second, the freedom from the sin nature to which Paul refers to here is
different from the freedom from that same nature to which he refers in Romans
6:7. Two things indicate this.
#1 Paul
uses two distinct different words for freedom in these passages.
The
word in 6:7 is a legal term. [dikaio,w] freed from, to be justified.
The
word in 8:2 is not a legal term. [in a spiritual or moral sense evleuqero,w]
#2 The
freedoms spoken of in these two Passages are obtained through two different
means.
The freedom of 6:7 is obtained through our identification with Christ.
The freedom of 8:2 is obtained through the indwelling Holy Spirit and
His enabling power operative in the life through the Word of truth believed and
applied.
In Romans 8:2 Paul is saying that someone much more powerful than the
sin nature has intervened on behalf of the believer and has set him free from
the ruling power of his former master. That someone is the Holy Spirit. If we continue to choose to live under the
law of sin and death we will eventually fail, crash and burn. That's Rom 7's message! But when we come to
that realization of
We must believe the facts of our position in Christ,
choose to live under the law of the Spirit.
Because we have a new life, we're in Christ, we're separated from the law of sin,
the sin nature and its power then we will be able to soar and fly as a
believer. Because He is the power source
for the new life! We now are enabled to
serve a new master!
Paul will continue in 8:3-4 with the provision of our
freedom/liberation, the how and the why. He says that grace succeeds where the
law fails. Grace motivates to holy living, while the law is unable to do
so! 8:3 focuses on the HOW while 8:4 focuses on the WHY!
Now
lets examine another passage that speaks to the issue
of the freedom we have in Christ and that is Galatians 2:20. Here Paul makes the application of Positional
truth to our daily life in Christ.
Having explained in
"I have been crucified with Christ; (sustauro,w perfect
passive indicative) which means to be crucified together with.
The
first word in the Greek text actually is Christ which tells us that the
emphasis of the context is Christ and His work, not what Paul or you or I could
do, the focus is Christ.
What
Paul is saying here of himself is also true of every believer.
"I have been crucified with
Christ You
can put your name here. What is being
spoken of here is retroactive positional
truth, that is, what God did for you the moment you believed in Christ. The
perfect tense says that this is a completed act, that is, at the point of
salvation, when you
believed you were crucified with Christ.
This takes us to the identification truth that you find in Rom 6. [also Col. 2:9-14]
The
perfect tense also tells us that this identification with Christ has enduring
lasting results.
The
passive voice says that this action of being crucified with Christ is received, therefore it is accomplished by God/Holy Spirit in
response to faith in Christ. The indicative mood points to the historical
reality of this identification with Christ.
This
statement actually points out for us how Paul as well as you and I have
actually died to the law. By dying with Christ who died under its penalty,
bearing the curse of the law having become a curse for us, the laws demands were satisfied and therefore the law has no
hold on Paul or anyone else who believes in Christ. (Rom.
This
results in the divine provision for daily living. The current positional truth for living, and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
The
words live and lives are both durative present
verbs from za,w. The emphasis is keeps on living. Paul is saying that as a new creation in
Christ it is no longer the old self-centered, self-righteous Saul with my sin
nature dominating and ruling my life that now lives. This is to be the norm for
all believers also. Point is that who you were in Adam before salvation is
no longer the basis of your life. Christ
is now the Source of your Christian life. “For to me to live
is Christ” (Phil.
The
old nature still lives in you, but you as a new creation in Christ are no
longer related to it. Your separated from its power,
it no longer has to rule your life.
(Rom. 6:2,7; 8:2)
When
Paul says but Christ lives in me; keeps on
living in me, you, the
new-creation “me,” are indwelt by Christ.
It is not Christ living instead of you, as the emotional devotional
crowd minus doctrine would say but rather He is the Source of your new life as
a recreated person. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.
1:27). This indwelling of Christ is
realized through the Holy Spirit's ministry of filling you with Christ,
that is through the illuminated word taken in and believed. (Eph
The
next phrase and the life which I now live in the flesh that is the life we live now as
believers in this body no longer does the sin nature have to dominate my life
therefore I have a new way of life. I
have a new paternity, a new source of life!
Why would we want to go back to the old way of living?
How are we able to live this new
life in Christ? I live by faith in the Son of God (evn pi,stei) by means of faith. Always the faith must have an object, once again just
like earlier in
Christ
is the object of the faith. This takes
us back to the word of God, the only place you can know who Christ is and what
His thinking is, remember we have the mind of Christ 1 Cor 2:16.
2:20b and
the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up
for me.
Paul
wants to make sure we understand that this new life in Christ does not rest
either on the
basis of law codes, nor in the human efforts of any of us, but that it rests in
and looks confidently to Christ for its provision.
Ron
Merryman very perceptively said, "Simply, this new life is not
dependent upon the ineffectual efforts of man to draw near to God
[relationship] instead it depends upon the total sufficiency of Christ."
This
is the second time in 5 verses that Paul has emphasized the importance of
faith. In
But
our faith is only as secure as the object of our faith. The true dignity and
the worthiness of Jesus Christ as the object of our faith is
intended here by the title "Son of God."
Next
Paul gives the reason or motivation for our faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself up for me. The
word loved (avgapa,w Aorist ptc)
expresses the divine motivation for going to the cross. And
gave Himself (delivered)
paradi,dwmi (Aorist ptc) which takes us to the cross. And He did it for me u`pe.r evmou/
the preposition of substitution in the place of, for, in the name of,
instead of. This points out that He was there bearing
the guilt and penalty that we rightly deserved.
The
fact that He died in our place forms the ground of basis for
justification: the demands of the law
for death due to sin have been met.
Therefore God can now justify the one who believes in Christ on a
righteous basis without compromising His character. This is the greatest demonstration of love in
all of history. (1 John 3:16; Rom 5:8)
Pulling
this together should motivate us to live our lives with a purpose of honoring
Him in all aspects of our lives. Paul's
exhortation here is very personal.
[Expanded
translation of Gal 2:20]
I
have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who keeps on living but
Christ who keeps on living in me and the life which I am now living in the
flesh-body I live by means of faith in the Son of God who loved me and
delivered Himself up on behalf of me.
Summary of
1. Paul is explaining more fully what it means
to die to the law so that he and we are able to live to God.
- to live the
Christian life in a manner that pleases Him, to walk in a manner worthy of our
calling
2. Basic to understanding this context is understanding of the believer being in union with Christ
and therefore having a standing before God.
- to be in
Christ speaks of our position, the work of God the Holy Spirit at the point
of salvation through what is known as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
- this is not an
emotional experience; it occurs as a response to faith in Christ and being
justified.
3. Another aspect of the baptizing ministry of
the Holy Spirit is that each believer is also identified with Christ in His
death, burial and resurrection.
- this is referred to
as retroactive positional truth,
it’s a spiritual identification
- When Paul speaks of the results that flow to
us from this identification, like raised up to
walk in newness of life or as here the
life that I now live he's referring to what is called current positional truth. All based on the work of Christ.
4. When Paul says here that he was crucified with Christ (RetroActive
Positional Truth) and it has lasting impact in the present reality of his
life (Current Positional Truth CPT).
5. At the cross all sin was judged as they were
poured out on Jesus Christ.
- 1 Pet.
6. Need to recognize also that all human good,
human works systems were also rejected Titus 3:5; Isa. 64:6.
- rem: what is the source of the human good? Sin nature!
7. Being crucified with Christ (RAPT) recognizes that
being identified with Christ includes the sin nature being positionally handled
in that it no longer has to rule, we no longer have to live life dominated by
it.
- Rom. 6:6, all we were in Adam, first birth; 6:2,7; 8:2-3; Col. 2:12-14