Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us freer and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

The freedom of the Christian

It is necessary that we first see generally what that “liberty” is, “wherewith Christ maketh His people free.” I cannot hold any one “free,” so long as his own conscience locks him up into the fear of death and punishment. The mind which has places which it is afraid to touch, can never expatiate every where; and the mind which cannot go anywhere, never is “free.” It is the sense of pardon which is that man’s emancipation. Have we not all felt the difference.
to work that we may be loved, and to work because we are loved; to have a motive from without, or to have a motive from within; to be guided by a fear, or to be attracted by an affection? But, again, to obey any one isolated law, however good that law may be, and however we may admire and love the Lawgiver, may still carry with it a sense of confining and contraction. To do, not this or that command, but the whole will, because it is the will of one we love--to have caught His mind, to breathe His spirit, to be bound up with His glory--that has in it no littleness; there are no circumscribing confines there; and these are the goings out of the unshackled being in the ranges which match with his own infinity. And yet once more. Such is the soul of man, that all that in his horizon falls within the compass of time, however long--or of a present life however full--that man’s circle being small, compared to his own consciousness of his own capability, through that disproportion, he feels a limitation. But let a man once look, as he may, and as he must, on that great world which lies beyond him as his scope and his home, and all that is here as only the discipline and the school-work by which he is in training, and immediately everything contains in it eternity. And very “free” will that man be “among the dead,” because his faith is going out above the smallnesses which surround him, to the great, and to the absorbing, and to the satisfying things to come. It will not be difficult to carry out these principles, and apply them to the right performance of any of the obligations of life. It needs no words to show that whatever is done in this freedom will not only be itself better done, but it takes from that freedom a character which comports well with a member of the family of God; and which at once makes it edifying to Him, and acceptable and honouring to a heavenly Father. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Spiritual freedom

What is liberty? Obedience to one’s self; obedience to a law which is written in a man’s own heart. If I obey myself, and myself is not a right self, it is, indeed, “liberty,” but being a bad liberty, it becomes “licentiousness.” It is compulsion; it is bondage. Liberty is when the outer law and the inner law are the same; and both are good.

1. Every one has a past which fetters him. The moment a man really believes, and accepts his pardon, he is cut off from all his sinful past! He is at liberty--free from his own bitter history--free from himself!

2. Now look to the “liberty” from the present. If I have received. Christ into my heart, I am a pardoned man, I am a happy man, and I know and feel that I owe all my happiness to Him--therefore I love Him; I cannot choose but love Him; and my first desire is to please Him; to follow Him; to be like Him; to be with Him. My life is to become a life of love. In obeying God, I obey myself. The new life and the new heart are in accord.

3. And what of the future? A vista running up to glory! But are there no dark places? Chiefly in the anticipation. When they come, they will bring their own escapes and their own balances. He has undertaken for me in everything. He will never leave me. So I am quite free from all my future. To die will be a very little thing. The grave cannot hold me. He has been through, and opened the door the other side. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Christian liberty

I. The liberty of the subjects that are freed. Christian liberty stands--

1. In immunity from evil.

(1) From that which is evil in itself. Satan; sin

(a) in the fault,

(b) in the punishment--whether the inward slavery of an accusing conscience or outward wrath of God, death, and damnation.

(2) From that which is evil to us, as

(a) burdensome traditions,

(b) the law, either ceremonial or moral, as regards either the obligation or the curse.

2. Less than this is bondage, more than this is looseness.

II. The prerogative of the King of Glory that hath freed them.

1. They could not free themselves.

2. Angels could not free them.

3. Only Christ could, whose ransom was infinite.

4. Only Christ has, whose love is infinite. How?

(1) By force; in that He hath conquered him whose captives we were.

(2) By purchase; in that He hath paid the full price to him to whom we were forfeited. We could not be free by birth since we were sons of wrath; nor by service since we were vassals of Satan.

5. Christ has freed us from seven Egyptian masters.

(1) The bondage of sin by the Spirit of Christ (Romans 6:12; Rom 7:14; 2 Peter 2:19; Romans 7:24; 2 Corinthians 3:17).

(2) An accusing conscience by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 10:22).

(3) The wrath of God by faith in Christ (Hebrews 10:27; Romans 5:1).

(4) The tyranny of Satan by the victory of Christ (2 Timothy 2:26; Hebrews 2:14).

(5) The curse of the law by the satisfaction of Christ (Galatians 3:10; Galatians 3:13).

(6) The law of ceremonies by the consummation of Christ (Romans 8:2; Ephesians 2:14).

(7) Human ordinances by the manumission and instruction of Christ (Galatians 4:10; 1 Corinthians 7:23).

III. The maintenance of the liberty which the power of that great prerogative hath achieved.

1. How strange that such an exhortation should be necessary. In the case of a liberated bird or an emancipated slave it would be superfluous.

2. Yet facts prove it necessary in the case of Christ’s freemen. (Bishop Hall.)

Christian believers exhorted to the maintenance of their spiritual liberty

I. This exhortation implies--

1. That attempts will be made to deprive us of this liberty. This is discovered soon after its first enjoyment.

(1) By Satan and sin.

(2) By companions.

(3) By pleasure.

(4) By persecution.

(5) By deceivers who attempt to undermine the doctrine on which salvation rests.

2. The awful possibility of losing this liberty, as testified

(1) by Scripture;

(2) by the history of the Church;

(3) by observation;

(4) by experience.

3. That there is no necessity to lose this liberty. When lost it is most frequently by

(1) a culpable ignorance of spiritual duties and privileges;

(2) a presumptuous self-confidence leading to unwatchfulness;

(3) a weak and wicked self-indulgence.

4. Yet while there is no necessity to forfeit their liberty, Christians are exposed to great and peculiar dangers

(1) from constitution and temperament;

(2) circumstances;

(3) difficulties and sorrows;

(4) spiritual exercises.

II. The duties in the observance of which spiritual freedom may be maintained.

1. The devotional reading of Scripture day by day in connection with religious biography and kindred works.

2. A regular and conscientious attention to private prayer.

3. A spirit of watchfulness.

4. Constant self-denial.

5. Unceasing cultivation of holiness. In conclusion:

Remember--

1. The price paid for your redemption.

2. The wretched state of the re-enslaved believer. (H. H. Chettle.)

Christian freedom

I. In the voluntary service of God (Luke 1:74; 1 Timothy 1:9).

II. In the free use of the creatures of God (Titus 1:15; Romans 14:14).

III. To come unto God through Christ in prayer. (Romans 5:2; Ephesians 3:12).

IV. To enter heaven (Hebrews 10:19). (W. Perkins.)

Liberty not lawlessness

Liberty is harmony between the law and the nature and inclinations of its subjects. Law is essential to freedom, but freedom requires that the law shall be such as comports with the best interests and highest reason of those who have to obey it; for then their best desires will concur with their obligations, and, wishing to do only what the law requires them to do, they will be conscious of no restraint. (Newman Hall.)

Spiritual and related freedoms

Let me remind you of the arrangement of the ancient temple. In the centre was the sanctuary, with the altar of sacrifice before it, and the altar of incense within; and beyond the veil, the Holy of Holies and the mercy seat. Here worship was offered, atonement made, the presence of God manifested. Let this represent liberty-spiritual--the union of the soul with its Maker. Beyond the sanctuary and enclosing it, was the Court of the Jews, through which access was obtained to the inner shrine. Let this represent liberty-doctrinal--that revealed truth by which the soul obtains admission into the liberty of God’s children. Beyond was the Court of the Gentiles--further from the Holy of Holies--but connected with it, surrounding and defending it. Let this represent liberty-ecclesiastical, by which doctrinal truth is best conserved and thus spiritual liberty best attained. Beyond all these were the outer walls and gates, and the lofty rock on which it was upreared. Let this represent liberty national, by which ecclesiastical freedom is guaranteed. (Newman Hall.)

Freedom and slavery

Know that to be free is the same thing as to be pious, to be wise, to be temperate and fast, to be frugal and abstinent, and, lastly, to be magnanimous and brave; so to be the opposite of all these is the same as to be a slave; and it usually happens that that people who cannot govern themselves, are delivered up to the sway of those whom they abhor, and made to submit to an involuntary servitude. (Milton.)

The soul’s rebellion against its thraldom

As the lark, imprisoned since it burst its shell, though it has never sprung upward to salute the rising sun, will often manifest how cruel is its captivity by instinctively spreading its wings and darting upward, as if to soar, but only beats its head against the wires and falls back on its narrow perch; so the soul of man, designed to soar and utter its raptures in the rays of the great central sun, will sometimes, even in its cage, attempt to rise and breathe a loftier atmosphere, but falls back vainly struggling against the bars which sin and death have framed around it. (Newman Hall.)

Standing fast in liberty

The phrase alludes to the duties of soldiers on military service. When marshalled in the ranks they must stand firm, without yielding their ground, without bending their knees; when placed as sentinels they must stand upon their guard and permit no enemy to surprise them. You are soldiers of Christ, and must stand fast--be valiant for the truth--and look to yourselves. (H. H. Chettle.)

Liberty from law unconscious obedience

No man has reached liberty until he has learned to obey with such facility and perfection that he does it without knowing it, If I step upon a little bit of plank in the street I walk along over it without thinking. Although it is only four inches wide I can walk on it as well as I can on the rest of the pavement. But put that plank between two towers one hundred feet high in the air and let me be called to walk over it. I begin to think, of course, of what I am called upon to do. And the moment I begin to think I cannot do it. When you try to do a thing you cannot do it as well as when you do it without trying. (H. W. Beecher.)

Christian liberty

The apostle now enters upon the more practical part of the Epistle. Freedom is the link which connects the two parts together.

I. Christian liberty is the liberty of faith. Faith receives the truth, the whole truth, concerning sin and redemption; and it is the truth, believed, that makes men free.

II. Christian liberty is the liberty of hope.

1. A hope which maketh not ashamed, for it is based on Christ’s accomplished work.

2. A hope which patiently waits for that which it knows it will assuredly possess.

III. Christian liberty is the liberty of love. The Saviour’s love to the sinner draws the sinner’s love to Himself.

IV. Christian liberty is the liberty of holiness. The safeguards of political liberty lie not in the laws which regulate, or the armies which defend it, but in the spirit which animates a people, in their respect for law, in their mutual toleration, in their recognition of others’ rights, and, above all, in their hearty devotion to the government under which they live. Where these prevail, a nation is already free, and a liberty so founded will never degenerate into license. So also Christian liberty is best secured from abuse, not by the threat of penalties, or by an appeal to fear, but by the operation of those principles which lie at the foundation of Christian character. The gospel sets man free from a bondage beneath which a loving obedience is impossible, in order that, being free, he may serve God in the spirit of Christian liberty. (Emilius Bayley, B. D.)

Spiritual liberty

Spiritual liberty consists in freedom from the curse of the moral law; from the servitude of the ritual; from the love, power, and guilt of sin; from the dominion of Satan; from the corruption of the world; from the fear of death and the wrath to come. (C. Buck.)

Christian liberty

The liberty wherewith Christ has made men free is a deliverance from a system of rules, positive and prohibitory--a temporary and provisional system which had an educational value, training men to the full privileges of religious manhood. It is an abdication of privilege, when men fall back upon the old standpoint of Judaism, and fence themselves in by rigid rules as if of primary importance. There is a perpetual tendency to make men subject to ordinances, whose language is, “Touch not, taste not, handle not,” after the commandments and ordinances of men; and not only to adopt these precepts as useful helps for their own moral progress, but to impose them upon others, almost as if they were of Divine origin; and to make them the standard of their judgment upon the spiritual condition of their fellow men. Every school of religious thought exhibits proofs of this temptation to represent as commandments of God, precepts of man’s own devising. This Judaising temper displays itself whenever men try to narrow down eternal principles of conduct into minute rules, which can prefer no higher claim than to be deemed useful to some, whilst they may be positively injurious to others In vindicating the freedom brought to us by the gospel, we throw ourselves back on the primary truths of Christianity--the Fatherhood of God, and the reconciliation wrought out by the atoning work of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. Fully believing that God is a righteous Judge, we shall yet not feel towards Him as if He were a hard taskmaster or rigid lawgiver, but as the Infinite Being whose love first created us, and subsequently devised our redemption; we shall exercise an unreserved faith in the completeness of the sacrifice for sin which has been made by our Saviour, and the present forgiveness which has been obtained for us; and we shall rejoice in the glorious liberty of the children of God. But this sense of liberty will not degenerate into licentiousness and unrestrained self-indulgence. Because we are not under the law, but under grace, we shall see ourselves called to a higher and nobler type of holiness. We shall certainly not be without law to God. Our religion will be displayed, not in a punctilious attention to external rules, but in a life-giving spirit, which will penetrate into every department of action in relation to others. In daily society it will impart a kindliness, a charity, a justice, in cur estimate of the words and conduct of those around us; it will teach us a Divine tolerance and a modest humility. It will make the best of both worlds, not in the low commercial sense, which tries to strike a balance between the claims of secular expediency and devotion to the service of God, but in the spirit of the apostolic exhortation which bids men “use this world as not abusing it.” Spite of all the manifold temptations on the plea of piety, or on the plea of the necessary subordination of the individual to the society, it will firmly refuse to descend to a lower level of Christianity than that which Christ its Founder intended. It will uphold the banner of freedom by maintaining, alike in theory and in practice, that Christianity is not in its essence a system of doctrine or a code of precepts, but a life and a spirit, a communion with God in Christ, manifesting itself in the power of true godliness. (Canon Ince.)

Personal liberty of the Christian

The doctrine of St. Paul is not that a Christian man has a right to liberty in conduct, thought, and speech in and of himself, without regard to external circumstances, interests, organizations, and without reference to his own condition. Paul’s conception of the rights and liberties of men stands on the philosophical ground underneath all those things. Rights and liberties belong to stages or states of condition. The inferior has not the right of the superior. A stupid man has not the right of an educated or intelligent man. He may have the legal rights; but the higher ones, that spring out of the condition of the soul, must stand on the conditions to which they belong. A. refined man has rights and joys that an unrefined man has not and cannot have, because he cannot understand them, does not want them, could not use them. Rights increase as the man increases--increases, that is, not merely in physical stature, or in skill of manual employment or material strength, but in character. So, as men work up higher and higher towards the Divine standard of character, their rights and liberties increase. The direct influence of Christ is to bring the human mind into its highest elements:. The power of the Divine nature upon the human soul is to lift it steadily away from animalism or from the flesh--the under-man--up through the realm of mere material wisdom and accomplishment, in the direction of soul-power, reason, rectitude--such reason and such rectitude as grow up under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. When love has permeated the whole man, he then has perfect liberty--liberty of thought, liberty of speech, liberty of conduct. A perfect Christian is the one and only creature that has absolute liberty unchecked by law, by institution, by foregoing thoughts of men, by public sentiment. Because a perfect man is in unison with the Divine soul, he has the whole liberty of God in himself, according to the measure of his manhood. But he has liberty to do only what he wants to do, and he wants to do nothing that is not within the bounds and benefit of a pure and true love. He becomes a law to himself; that is, he carries in himself that inspiration of love which is the mother of all good law. He is higher than any law. His will is with God’s will. He thinks what is true; he does what is benevolent. (H. W. Beecher.)

Christian liberty a trust

When a man is in slavery he is not his own master; he acts and lives under the direction of others, and the responsibility of life is in a greater or less degree shifted from him on to some one else. When a man becomes free, he assumes the duties of life, and recognizes that it rests only with himself whether those duties are performed or not. And so man living under the Christian covenant stands in a direct personal relation to God, a relation of trust. Gifted with freewill, he is answerable for his conduct; subjected no longer to the ordinances of the Mosaic Law, he claims the liberty of the gospel; but he dares not forget that there still is a law limiting and controlling the freedom which he enjoys, and that every action of his carries responsibility with it. The soul of the old law is enshrined and quickened in the body of the new. The spirit, not the letter, of Sinai is met with again in the Sermon on the Mount. All Christian duties are summed up there and enforced with the authority of One who taught not as the scribes and Pharisees, and who spake as never man spake (Matthew 22:37). Our liberty is a limited one. No man can do as he likes. He has a Master in heaven whom he must serve. He is indeed set free by the death of Christ from the ordinances of the old covenant, and he is no longer a slave; but he has been placed in a society which is governed by laws eternal in their force, and the measure of the liberty he enjoys is the good of his own soul and the well-being of his brother’s, for none of us liveth to him-self, and no man dieth to himself As Christian members in the commonwealth of Christ we possess, indeed, in its highest and holiest sense, the triple right of liberty, fraternity, equality; but the religion to which we belong is neither reactionary nor revolutionary, and our liberty must be controlled, our equality sanctified, and our fraternity blessed, by the Holy Spirit of God. (C. W. H. Kenrick, M. A.)

Stand fast

Brethren, I cannot be of any other faith than that which I preached nearly twenty-nine years ago on this platform. I am to-day what I was then. That which I preached here then I preach here now. You know the story of the boy who stood on the burning deck because his father said, “Stand there,” and he could not come away. Other boys, much wiser than he was, had gone and got out of the mischief. I am standing where I stood then; I cannot help it, so help me God. I know no more to-day than I knew when first I believed in Jesus as to this matter. I know by grace. Are ye saved through faith and that not of yourself--“it is the gift of God?” You shall leave this :Rock if you like; you may be able to swim; I cannot, and so I stop here; and when the crack of doom shall come I shall be here, God helping me, believing this self-same doctrine. There is something in our very adhesiveness and pertinacity which represents the spirit of the gospel. I am sure that steadfastness in these particular times has its value, and I urge you,, to it that the gospel which you have received, the gospel of the grace of God, you stand fast to as long as you live. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The secret of steadfastness

Standing on the shore of an estuary, one sees a boat riding in the tideway, when sea-weed and other things float by, over the self-same spot; and whether the tide ebbs or flows, whether it steals quietly in or comes on with the rush and roar of foaming billows, the boat always boldly shows its face to it; and turning its head to the current receives on its bows, to split them, the shock of waves. This, which to a child would seem strange, is due to the anchor that lies below the waters, and, grasping the solid ground with its iron arms, holds fast the boat. It seems no less wonderful to see a tree--no sturdy oak, but slender birch, or trembling aspen--standing erect away up on a mountain brow; where, exposed to the sweep of every storm, it has gallantly maintained its ground against the tempests that have laid in the dust the stateliest ornaments of the plain. But our wonder ceases so soon as we climb the height, and see wherein its great strength lies; how it has struck its roots down into the mountain, and wrapped them with many a strong twist and turn round and round the rock. (W. Arnot.)

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Stand fast

1. In Christ to whom you have been brought.

2. In adherence to the doctrines which the gospel has set before you.

3. You will find your strength and dependence only in the grace of Christ.

4. In the service of your Master to the end. (J. Harding, M. A.)

The bounds of Christian freedom

When we speak of freedom, we are apt to think only of the removal of restraints. But though it is important to get rid of all needless restraints, it is much more important that we should possess and train the powers for which the absence of restraint is demanded. If there is no life, the removal of restraints will be of no use. If the life is feeble, and tied down by inward restraints like those of superstition or of fear, the removal of outward restraints will not set it free. But if there is vigorous life, it demands for its development a constantly expanding freedom: and this spiritual power has in itself both its proper energy and its proper bound. It is a tree which has an innate capacity of growth. Give it air and light; remove whatever confines and overshadows it. It may need pruning and guiding; but it can provide its own symmetry for itself. I do not propose to dwell verse by verse upon the passage (Galatians 4:1) which I have taken for a starting point, but to illustrate and enforce its central principle. Wherever there is a just demand for freedom, it is because there exists a living power to be liberated; and this living power, if it be kept pure, contains in itself the true limit of its exercise. First, take the revival of Christian liberty at the time of the Reformation. Luther’s first great treatise was Concerning Christian Liberty. The liberty he claims presupposes the establishment in the soul of the Divine life of faith. You do not work, he says again and again, so that you may live. Life comes first; works, afterwards. The fruit will never make the root or the sap, but the root and the sap ensure the fruit. But, since this Divine life of faith exists, he demands that it should be free from the fetters of the clerical system of the Middle Ages. But let us come to more commonplace examples of freedom; we shall still find that it is the growth of the inner life or capacity which determines and controls the external conditions. Take the familiar case of a boy who wants to leave school and go to sea. If his father is wise, he will watch carefully, and try to estimate the meaning of this wish. Is it mere unruliness or restlessness, or dislike of study? If so, he will give it no encouragement. But, if he finds the boy in his leisure moments reading about the sea, and haunting about the seashore, and studying intelligently the boats and sails and machinery, after a time he will begin to recognize in the boy such a bent as indicates a genuine call. And when this is so, he may assure himself that the freedom will not be abused. The boy will be free from the constraints of the shore life; but that very zest for seamanship which has won its freedom will be most likely to ensure the right use of that freedom. There is a fine expression in the speech in which Pericles contrasted the free system of Athenian life, “the trustful spirit of liberty,” with the narrower system of Sparta. It might be thought that, unless such constraints as those imposed at Sparta existed, each man would try to impose his own will or tastes upon others. But the contrary, Pericles declared, was the case at Athens; each man respected the feelings of his neighbour. The slavish system is that of mistrust. Mutual confidence is the offspring of freedom. We might illustrate this by the experience of two great English schools some sixty years ago. When Keate was head-master of Eton, his system of discipline was one of terrorism. He never took a boy’s word, and, on the suspicion of a fault, he flogged him. At the same period, Arnold was head-master at Rugby. He always believed a boy; and it was only on rare occasions, when the proof was indubitable, that he punished. It might have been supposed that, under the severer system, boys would be afraid to do wrong, and that they would take advantage of the more lenient system to deceive. The contrary was the case. At Eton, under Keate, it; was thought quite fair to deceive a master. At Rugby, boys said, “It is a shame to tell Arnold a lie, he always believes you.” Thus freedom and trustfulness beget the sense of responsibility. To conclude: We have spoken of freedom first as an inward and spiritual state, secondly as the removal of outward restraints. The first of these is the most important. To the attainment of this we must constantly attend, both for ourselves and for those on whom we have any influence. There are tyrannies which have nothing to do with physical restraints, and against these we must war incessantly. There is the tyranny of evil habits. How can he he thought free who is the slave of customs which he knows to be wrong? There is the tyranny of fashion and opinion, and again of prejudice and party spirit. How can he be free who acts only as others choose? There is the tyranny of ignorance. How can he be called free whose life is bounded by a narrow circle of ideas? Let us strive for the sublime liberty which belongs to those who fear God and hate evil. (Canon Fremantle.)