Freedom in Christ liberated us from the bondage of sin and death
Our liberty from the bondage of sin and death again did not invalidate the keeping of the commandments for this is what the apostle Paul wrote; “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness.” And, ‘Having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:18, 22).
The bondage of sin and death from which we have been delivered is our independent sinful carnal nature, which is naturally hostile to God, and does not submit to God’s law, and neither can be. But with our new birth in the Spirit, we have received a new heart and a new spirit of adoption at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and when combined with the Holy Spirit, He will cause us to walk in His statutes and keep His judgments and do them. As we have been duly admonished saying: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26;: 11:19-20).
The natural carnal mind as we have been instructed is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but having been liberated from this disobedient nature we now have a nature that is compliable and obedient to the laws of God and so having been set free from this disobedient nature we now have become slaves of righteousness: For just as we presented our members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now we are to present our members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Therefore, being free from sin does not negate us from obeying the laws of God as we have been duly admonished saying; “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not” (Romans 6:14-15)!
We should also establish the fact that sin is not imputed when there is no law and as one can clearly see from the scriptures; neither grace nor faith did away with the law, because the question is asked, “Do we then make void the law through faith? The answer is; “Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Therefore, the liberty we have from the bondage of sin does not give anyone the license to disobey the laws of God because; “He who sins (transgress the laws of God) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8),
The liberty that we have in regards to the law of sin and death is that, according to the law of sin and death, the wages of sin is death, but the death of Jesus Christ perfects those who are sanctified as we have been duly instructed saying; “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:14-18).
The liberty we have is not that there is no sin, because; “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Neither can we say that we have not sinned, for if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him (God) a liar, and His word is not in us” (1John 1:8-10).
And so the plea goes out saying; “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).
Since the plea to all believers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that we all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among us, but that we be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, I beg to ask the question why are we so divided with regards to our liberty in Jesus Christ?
Why do the majority of those who profess to believe in Jesus Christ believe that they can disregard and disobey the laws of God when God has placed them in our hearts so that we can love them and wrote them in our minds so that we can remember them? When this is also the test by which we know that we know Him. For we have been duly instructed saying; “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1John 2:3-4).
Truly, these times of ignorance God has overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Yes, we are indeed liberated from the law of sin and death but, we are not to use this freedom as a cloak for wickedness, nor as an opportunity for the flesh, but we are to use it as bondservants of God and through love serve one another, thus fulfilling the royal law of love.
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