Christ’s atoning work is rich in its dimensions. It encompasses justification (God declares sinners righteous in Christ), reconciliation (God restores the relationship that sin has broken), and adoption (God brings His people into His family as sons and daughters). Jesus also secured freedom for His people — a freedom that is itself multidimensional, as God liberates His people from bondage to sin, death, and the law.
Jesus spoke directly about this freedom in John 8:31–36. Responding to the Jews who insisted they had “never been slaves,” He asserted that anyone who sins is, in fact, a slave to sin (John 8:34). Throughout Scripture, sin is portrayed as a dominating power that holds the human heart in bondage. Christ alone breaks sin’s rule, freeing believers from its grip and releasing their hearts to love and serve God.
The Magna Carta of Christian Freedom
Paul emphasized another dimension of Christian freedom in the Book of Galatians — a book that so emphasizes Christian freedom that it is often referred to as the “Magna Carta of Christian Liberty.” Paul declared to the Galatians that Christ had set them free, and they were not to submit again to the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). The “yoke of slavery” is the law when treated as the means to be accepted by God. The context of Galatians indicates that the freedom Paul mentioned was freedom from the law as a means of justification (getting right with God).
This gospel freedom was being jeopardized by some “false brethren” who were seeking to bring the Galatian believers back into bondage to the Old Testament law (Gal. 2:4) by insisting that Gentile believers be circumcised (Gal. 5:2–3, 6:12–13) and observe the Old Testament special days and observances (Gal. 4:10). Essentially, this distorted the true gospel (Gal. 1:6–9, 4:17).
Paul argued that Christians are not bound to these identity markers of the Old Covenant and set forth his alternative — the true gospel: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Gal. 2:16).
This true gospel brings freedom to the believer. Believers are free from the law as a means of justification; free from divine wrath and condemnation; and free from a system of earning God’s favor by observing Old Testament covenant regulations, Jewish festivals, dietary laws, and temple rituals. In essence, Christians are free from trying to achieve salvation by rule-keeping — avoiding the unbearable burden of self-justification.
The Law Points to Christ
Paul pointed out that God never intended the Old Testament law to be the means of salvation. Rather, the law points beyond itself — to Christ. Exposing sin and human inability, it drives people to seek righteousness through faith rather than works (Gal. 3:24; Rom. 3:20–21).
When Paul wrote that believers are “not under the law” (Gal. 5:18), have “died to the law” (Gal. 2:19), and have been redeemed from being “under the law” (Gal. 4:5), he was not suggesting that Christians are free from God’s moral standards.
In Galatians 5 and 6, Paul explicitly warned that Christian freedom is not a license to gratify the desires of the flesh. Rather, true freedom carries moral responsibility and is expressed through love for others. God has given believers the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:18) to govern their lives, producing the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23).
Because God’s moral laws reflect His own righteous character (Ps. 19:7–9; Rom. 7:12), neither Paul nor the Spirit who inspired him would ever lead God’s people to act contrary to the very guidelines that reflect God’s character. The Spirit never leads contrary to the moral law, because the Spirit’s guidance always reflects the very character of God.
God’s Moral Standards Remain
Nor does Spirit-inspired love replace the believer’s obligation to follow God’s moral standards. When Paul wrote in Galatians 5:14 that the whole law is fulfilled in “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” he’s actually quoting from the law (Lev. 19:18). Love summarizes the law; it doesn’t abolish it. Love furnishes the motive for action, and God’s moral standards define the shape and direction that love must take.
Paul didn’t say that if believers love one another, they can break the law in the interest of love, but that if they love one another, they shall fulfill the law. No one can credibly claim to follow the pathway of love if he or she commits adultery, murders, steals, covets, etc. Jesus did not die to save people who had defied God’s moral standards so they could be free to further defy those standards.
When God liberated the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, their newfound freedom had as its purpose serving God and obeying His law (Exod. 19:4–5, 20:2). From the beginning, God’s people were taught that the alternative to servitude was not autonomy, but freedom to serve the Lord.
Slaves Now to Christ
Ironically, the life that comes from the Spirit and frees believers from the impossibility of gaining salvation by the works of the law results in a new slavery: slavery to Christ. Paul often referred to himself as a slave to Christ, wearing it as a badge of honor. The New Testament refers to all Christians as slaves of God (see Rom. 6:17–22; 1 Peter 2:16; Rev. 1:1, 19:5). This slavery brings true freedom.
A train is free when it moves along on the tracks designed for it. Leaving the tracks does not liberate but enslaves. Likewise, believers experience true freedom by living within God’s moral boundaries designed for their flourishing. While Satan would convince people that replacing God’s standards with one’s own is the road to true freedom, it actually leads to a bondage of the worst kind.
In Jeremiah 31:31–33, God described the freedom He will provide for His people: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” In the New Covenant, God does not abolish His law; He empowers His people to keep it. That is true freedom.
— Walter Johnson is a retired dean of the College of Christian Studies at North Greenville University, where he taught and served for 32 years.