One area that is causing much
confusion and division in the church, the body of Christ is that of Christian
liberty. The perception that most professing believers have in regards to our
liberty in Christ is unfortunately very misleading. So let us analyze very
carefully the liberty or freedom that we have in Christ. The apostle Paul gave
instructions to the church in Galatia saying, “Stand fast therefore in the
liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a
yoke of bondage.” (Galatians
5:1).
The most important question we
should be asking is: By what were the church enslaved? According to the context
of Paul’s admonition, and other supporting scriptures, the church was enslaved
to four distinctive things:
1.
The
law of circumcision
The law of circumcision was regarded
as a yoke which neither the disciples nor the forefathers were able to bear,
and the apostle Paul testified saying: “Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you
become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to
every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You
have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you
have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision
avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:2-6).
Since circumcision requires one to
obey the whole law which is rather impossible for we have been duly admonished
saying; “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he
is guilty of all. For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also
said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do
murder, you have become a transgressor of the law (James 2:10-11).
However, freedom from the law of
circumcision does not invalidate the obedience to the commandments of God as
alluded to by the apostle Paul who said, “Circumcision is nothing and
un-circumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what
matters” (1 Corinthians 7:19).
He also stated that, “Although I am free from
all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. To the
Jews I became a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as
one under the law – though not being myself under the law – that I might win
those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law –
not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ – that I might win
those outside the law” (1 Corinthians
9:19-21).
The apostle Paul was addressing the
situation between the circumcised who were indebted to keep the law, and the
uncircumcised who were without the law, and therefore the status now is, “In
Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision has any value. The only
thing that counts is faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).
Now the faith which is at work is not a blind nebulous faith, but a faith which comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and applied through love. In other words what really counts is recognize the truth of God’s word, acknowledge it, apply it through love, and become a slave to it.
For example the psalmist David wrote; “Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws. I will always obey your laws for ever and ever. I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them. I revere thy commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on thy statutes” (Psalms 119:43-48).
According to David, he walked about
in freedom by always obeying God`s laws forever and ever. He also said; “Your
word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it. I am small and despised, yet
I do not forget Your precepts. Your righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness, and Your law is truth. Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet
Your commandments are my delights. The righteousness of Your testimonies is
everlasting; Give me understanding, and I shall live. I cry out with my whole
heart; Hear me, O LORD! I will keep Your statutes. I cry out to You; Save me,
and I will keep Your testimonies” (Psalms 119:140-146)
Furthermore, Jesus Christ at His
circumcision fulfilled all the requirements of circumcision for it is written; “In
Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried
with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in
the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your
trespasses and the un-circumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken
it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:11-14).
The rationale for circumcision was
to become heirs of the covenant of promise which Jesus Christ fulfilled on our
behalf as we have been admonished saying; “Therefore remember that you, once
Gentiles in the flesh --- who are called Un-circumcision by what is called the
Circumcision made in the flesh by hands ---that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in
Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ” (Ephesians 2:11-13).
This is one of the four freedoms that we have in Jesus Christ which does in no way negate us from obeying the laws of God. God has overlooked these times of ignorance and has commanded all men everywhere to repent.
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