2 Corinthians 3:17 Now
the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom. (NIV)
In today’s society, when
we speak about freedom, we normally mean being able to do what we want. We
think about it as our personal right to be fiercely independent and woe betide
anyone or any institution, authority, or government that gets in our way. Some
folks are really aggressive when it comes to defending their rights to maintain
their freedom, but what they are really doing is not allowing anything or
anyone to interfere with their individual preferences. They might even use
today’s scripture or similar verses to back up their claims, especially if they
consider themselves to be strong Christians.
However, what the Apostle
Paul meant by freedom and what we may mean today are very different. We tend to
revise what was once written in order to suit our ‘freedom’ to interpret
scripture as we please. But the times and society that Paul was living in were completely
dissimilar to what we know today, so in order to correctly understand and apply
this Biblical concept of freedom, we need to seriously look at its context.
For a start, Paul was
writing to a small Greek congregation that existed in a society full of slaves
and conquered people. Most of the churches that Paul wrote to were made up of a
diverse population of all classes and ethnic origins. Each believer existed
under the totalitarian rule of the Roman emperor; some of the first Christians
were wealthy merchants whereas others were the lowliest slaves. This means that
when Paul was writing about freedom, he wasn’t expressing it in terms of
individual, economic, political, or personal rights; the apostle was writing
about a spiritual liberty where believers would be free from the eternal
consequences of sin and restored to God’s everlasting favor, so that all of
them could serve God faithfully, cheerfully, and above all, freely. Paul was
not writing about establishing individual rights or personal preferences; he
was encouraging the Corinthian Christians to freely give their lives over to
God in order to advance Christ’s mission.
So, this Biblical idea was
not a case of doing what Christians individually wanted; it was the spiritual freedom
to do what God fully intended for their lives.
Points to Ponder
When I think about
freedom is it all about me or God? Do I honestly serve Him freely or just when
it’s personally convenient?
Prayer: Lord Jesus,
teach us about what freedom is. Forgive us for aggressively maintaining our personal
preferences and individual rights, instead of faithfully serving You freely. In
Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.
John Stuart is the pastor
of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville,
Tennessee. Come and freely worship God with us on Sunday mornings at 11:00
AM. You will be made very welcome 😊
Today’s image is one of
John’s drawings called “Free Spirit.” If you would like to view a larger
version, please click this link: FreeSpirit.
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