From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Today many Evangelicals define Christian liberty in the same terms as a vanity license plate I saw recently. It said simply, "FREE2BME." But is that the Bible's definition?

That license plate's message echoes the teaching you'll hear from many 21st-century radio and television preachers, especially the ones whose self-help books crowd out the Bible in most religious bookstores. Christian liberty, according to one well-known Evangelical website, is "the freedom to do whatever you want in any matter the Bible does not address." In his best-selling book, televangelist Joel Osteen claims that all you really need to know is how to Become a Better You. Forget the idea, he says, that "you're not good enough."

But the Bible doesn't teach any of these things. It teaches that "in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing" (Romans 7:18). It teaches that if you are a Christian, you have been freed in order to become a slave, and that your new standard for living life in this world isn't "a better me" - but your sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ himself.

What Christian Liberty Really Is

Christian liberty is not cheap liberty. Christ purchased it for us with His own blood. At its essence, Christian liberty is freedom from the guilt of sin, freedom from the condemning wrath of God, and freedom from the curse of the moral law (Isaiah 53:12; Galatians 3:13, 5:18; Hebrews 1:3).

Christian liberty is also all of the present and future liberties that those essential freedoms entail. In the present life, these include freedom from bondage to Satan (Acts 26:18; Colossians 1:13), freedom from the dominion of sin (Romans 6:14), free access to the Father's throne (Hebrews 4:14-16), and the freedom to serve Christ - that is, the freedom to be the bondslaves of Christ (Romans 7:4; Hebrews 9:14, 1 Corinthians 6:19).

In the future, our Christian liberty will include freedom from the sting of death and the victory of the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54-57), freedom from this present evil world (Galatians 1:4), and freedom from not only the power of sin but the very presence of sin, forever (Revelation 21:27).

What Your Liberty Is Not

In a time when many in the church use their liberty as an excuse to live according to the flesh, we also need to remind ourselves what the Bible says that Christian liberty is not: It is not a license to sin -

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 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. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:15-18)

Liberated to Serve a New Master

To have a Biblical view of Christian liberty, we must remember that we have been liberated to serve the Lord with fear (Hebrews 12:28). We serve a new Master. We are not to exercise our liberty in any way that is clearly contrary to Scripture. But beyond that, Romans chapter fourteen tells us that we cannot exercise our liberty in matters not specifically prohibited in Scripture, in such a way that it would offend a weaker brother or cause him to stumble. True Christian liberty is always counterbalanced by the weight of our responsibility to our brethren.

Christian liberty is the freedom to walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the lust of the flesh:

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:13-26)

The Apostle Paul exhorted Titus to preach these things "with all authority," and it is imperative that believers obey them in the same spirit:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. (Titus 2:11-15)

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