TWO ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY*by C. R. Stam

TWO ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN LIBERTY*
*by C. R. Stam *
*
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free... If
the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John
8:32,36).
The true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ enjoys glorious liberty, and
our Lord Himself said that there are no strings attached... "Ye shall be
free indeed," free even from the most oppressive of all slave masters:
sin. While the Law never saved one man from sin, the Lord Jesus, by His
death on Calvary did, for we read that "Christ died for our sins."
Therefore the Apostle wrote by divine inspiration: "Stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1). His letters thunder severe
rebukes against believers who "desire to be under the law." To the
Colossian Christians he wrote:
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of
an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a
shadow of things to come; but the body [substance] is of Christ" (Col.
2:16,17).
But true liberty is used for good, otherwise it only reverts to bondage
again, for whatever overcomes a man becomes his master (II Pet. 2:19),
and doing evil can only harm ourselves and others. Thus the Apostle says
further:
"But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a
stumbling block to those who are weak" (I Cor. 8:9).
"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13).
"...Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he
alloweth" (Rom. 14:22).