Freedom and Freedoms

Ordinary Time XIII; July 1, 2007

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Here is a question for you to ponder: What is freedom? The people of our nation celebrate this week the ratification and publication of a document 231 years ago that Abraham Lincoln said created “a new nation, conceived in liberty” (from the Gettysburg Address). The document, however, that consolidated the nation and that established it as a republic dedicated to freedom was not the Declaration of Independence but the Constitution with its Bill of Rights. The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 and ratified on June 21, 1788; the Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. Which of those dates would make a fitting national holiday?

The Bill of Rights does not guarantee freedom; it guarantees specific freedoms. In other words, it’s all very well to talk about “being free,” but the issue is really more practical: what are we free from? What are we free for? You know the old saying: Your freedom to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. In practical terms, we have always struggled as a people with applying the Bill of Rights to real, everyday life.

Many of us are concerned that the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights are being eroded. Laws we hear about in certain states and certainly much of federal policy seek to tighten the boundaries of our rights and limit their applicability. How many of our specific freedoms are we willing to sacrifice for a slightly greater sense of security or out of the desire to stifle dissent?

The subject of today’s reading from Galatians is Christian freedom and the same questions apply. What is Christian freedom? What are we free from? What are we free for? What does Christian freedom mean in real, everyday life?

“For freedom Christ has set us free,” Paul writes. “Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery… For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.”

So, in Christian terms, what does a free person look like? Is a free person one who says, “The rules do not apply to me,” and so enjoys serial adultery? Or fraud? Or theft? You know better, of course. So Paul answers the question for us, quite clearly: the free person is not the one who follows every whim and passion of our natural life, but the person who exhibits “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” To follow every whim and passion is not to be free, but rather to be a slave to our animal nature.

Simply put, freedom in Christ is not thumbing your nose at the rules that we believe God has laid down for human behavior. Freedom in Christ, rather, is not needing those rules in order to live a life of peace and faithfulness to God. Freedom in Christ is the opportunity to live as a friend of God, someone who bears the Spirit of God in you, helping you to do those things that will show your love of God and love of others without someone telling you what the rules are that you have to obey.

True freedom is a product of maturity. Children cannot be expected to refrain from hitting each other without being told, “Don’t hit your brother.” Parents, schools and other authorities must enforce those rules. Adults, however, ought to have matured sufficiently to know that my freedom to swing my fist ends where your nose begins. Yet if adults did mature sufficiently to be truly free then we would not need courts and prosecutors and police officers and jails; unfortunately the human desire to help oneself at the expense of others is not easily overcome.

But that is part of the work of the Spirit of God in us, to crucify our flesh with its passions and desires (v. 24) so that we can live as truly free people: at peace with God, with ourselves and with others. It does not happen magically, but takes years of Christian education, Bible study, prayer, worship, making use of the sacraments, and other spiritual practices to grow into true freedom in Christ. Even in the Church we have our disciplinary system to deal with Church members and officers who abuse their freedom by helping themselves at the expense of others. Would that it did not need to be that way!

The truly free person is the one who, confronted with temptation, instinctively asks, “Is it right?” rather than “Will I get caught?” The truly free person is the one who does not need to check what the rules say, but will promptly love the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul and all her mind, and will love his neighbor as himself.

Do you know anyone like that? Let us study Christ, follow Christ, feed on Christ, and trust in Christ, and by his Spirit that is who you and I will become.

God of freedom, for the freedom Christ has won for us by his Cross we praise you, and we pray for the fruit of the Spirit that we may be truly free. Amen.

Robert A. Keefer

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Clarinda, Iowa