Understanding Biblical Freedom

Romans 6:1-7 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

I’ve been doing a bit of thinking of this idea of freedom. Seems like the world’s definition of freedom means being freed up to do anything we want, being freed up to live authentically and truthfully, consistent with who we are or who we really want to be. Seems like the world’s idea of freedom is tightly bound up with human autonomy. Seems like Philosopher Michel Foucault has summed it up by stating that the greatest good is an individual’s freedom to maximise pleasure.


Enter the biblical definition of freedom – where it is so radically different from the world’s definition. In fact, at first glance, it doesn’t seem like freedom at all – at least from the world’s point of view. How can freedom restrict how we live our lives? How can freedom prevent us from truly living according to our desires and pleasures? How can freedom be there when we are actually submitting ourselves to another person? The world throws these questions at us.

This is where the biblical definition of freedom needs to be held together with another key truth or doctrine – that of original sin or what John Calvin calls ‘the natural corruption of our human natures’ (Inst. 2.1.11). We need to realise that as we are, we are not really who we were created or intended to be. When the world tells us we are really free when we are free to live in accordance with our natural desires and pleasures, we need to realise that’s a lie – because those desires and pleasures are far from natural in the way God intended it, but they only natural in the sense that they have been naturally corrupted by the Fall. Think deeper – when we act freely according to our pleasures and desires, that is actually not manifesting freedom, but instead it is manifesting slavery – slavery to our corrupted natures, slavery to sin. Peter Jensen summarises the issue well


“[...] the nature of freedom [...] is not [...] the capacity for complete self determination. Human beings are never free from other powers that determine their lives. The problem of freedom is not the choice between having a master and masterless; it is the problem of which master we have. Christian freedom is liberty from the false powers of sin and death, with their ways of thought and their evil consequences, and submission to the true Lord, who made us for himself and loves us.” (Peter Jensen, The Revelation of God (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2002), 149).

In this sense, the glory and wonder of biblical freedom shines through. As the Spirit works in us to transform and conform us to the image of God’s Son; as the Spirit reworks and retransforms those desires within us, biblical freedom is being freed up to do what we want (in accordance with these new desires that the Spirit puts in us). Biblical freedom is being freed up to live authentically and truthfully with our new found natures, consistent with who God made us to be. Biblical freedom is being freed to live for God. As Tim Chester states, “Telling a slave to be free is to add insult to injury. But telling a liberated slave to be free is an invitation to enjoy new freedom and privileges.” (You Can Change (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008), 55)

So the next time you and I are tempted to sin in the name of worldly freedom, REMEMBER – don’t believe the lie! Because more than anything else, you and I who are in Christ are the ones that are really free!