Rambling Thoughts on Liberty

Jared posted his personal manifesto on Christian liberty the other day and it got me to thinking about this topic. This topic is far from settled in my mind, but this is a snapshot of my thinking right now.

I do not think Christian liberty is primarily liberty TO something, but liberty FROM something. As I understand it, our liberty is liberty FROM the OT Mosaic law (Galatians 5:1-3) and human traditions based on that law. More precisely, we are freed from trying to be justified based on keeping the Old Testament law (Galatians 3:16). In context, _the part of the law Paul always refers to is the ceremonial, not “moral” parts – circumcision, kosher, the Sabbath, the feasts and ceremonies_.

Christian liberty does not mean we have liberty to sin, so we cannot conclude that we are set free from the moral aspects of the Mosaic law. But even when it comes to the moral parts of the law, we are utterly free from being justified or condemned based on our obedience in those areas.

We are not free to violate the non-ceremonial parts of the Mosaic law. We are, however, free from “seeking to be justified by law” (Galatians 5:4).

Paul and Christ both explain that the entire law can be summed up in the commandments “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”. And both of those commandments are still binding on Christians today. If those are at the heart of the Law, and we are still bound by them, how could we conclude that we are free to do what the Law forbids? It doesn’t make any sense.

In Galatians 5:13-26, Paul goes to great lengths to make a rather interesting point. Even though, strictly speaking, Christians are no longer under the law, a Spirit-led life will produce the same behaviors the moral law demanded!

So, we are free from:

# The ceremonial (non-moral) parts of the Law.
# Seeking to be justified through keeping ANY part of the Law (this is what legalism is)
# Keeping human traditions based on interpretations of the Law

We are most certainly NOT free from obeying the moral law, which is to say, we are not free to sin.

I thought the flowchart Jared listed was helpful, so I will do the same.

# Does the Bible explicitly forbid it? For instance, murder. If so, don’t do it.
# Does the Bible indirectly forbid it? For instance, the Bible doesn’t speak to taking mind-altering drugs, but it does speak to “drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” and it’s reasonable to put drug abuse in this category. If so, don’t do it.
# Is it reasonably going to put me in a situation that will lead me to sin, or to greater temptation? If so, don’t do it.
# Is it reasonably going to cause a _weaker_ brother to stumble? I don’t mean “big baby” Christians, I mean genuinely new Christians who are struggling with their practical sanctification. If so, don’t do it.
# Is it reasonably going to hurt my witness or the witness of Christians in general? The Bible tells us to “give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32). If so, don’t do it.
# Can it be done to the glory of God? If not, don’t do it.
# Is it in line with what the Bible tells us a Christian’s character and life ought to look like? Galatians 5:19-23 tell us that the deeds of the flesh are “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disuptes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” as opposed to the fruit of the Spirit which is “love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodnes, faithfulness, gentleness, self control”. Other passages tell us to “redeem the time” and metaphorically refer to Christians as soldiers who are single-minded in their dedication. Elsewhere we’re told to be dignified, to be serious, to be disciplined. If what you want to do does not fit these characteristics, avoid it.
# If it passes these “tests”, go ahead and enjoy it.

I don’t have the time right now to fully back all this up with Scripture, but I think most Christians will know which ones speak to the points I made.

It’s true that many of those points are “judgment calls”, not black and white. However, I think that when you take them all together, instead of just harping on one or two points, reasonable Christians will generally agree in their assessment of things.

It might be beneficial to give some practical examples.

# Let’s say I want to commit adultery. Well, the Bible clearly forbids this, so I won’t do it. Whew.
# Let’s say I’m forming an emotional relationship with a woman at work. That’s not forbidden. But it is indirectly addressed, and does increase temptation, and probably hurts my witness, so I won’t do it.
# Let’s say I am in a situation where I’m alone with a woman. That is the same situation as above, so I won’t do it.
# Going to Applebees, in my estimation, doesn’t fail any of those tests, so I’m free to do it.
# Going to Hooters, on the other hand, probably fails the tests of increasing temptation, hurting my witness, and causing others to stumble. Even if they _do_ have good wings, as I’m told.
# Watching movies with _gratuitous_ violence can’t really be done to the glory of God, imho, so I won’t do it.
# Watching movies with nudity, near-nudity, or sex is indirectly addressed in the Bible, can’t be done to the glory of God, increases temptation for no good reason, hurts my witness, and will likely cause others to stumble. I won’t do it.
# Drinking alcohol is, in America, almost universally associated with “partying”. My dad and I were looking at the Budweiser Clydesdales at the state fair on Tuesday. I looked at the trucks that had brought the horses, and _every one_ of them depicted immodestly dressed women partying and apparently about to “hook up” with someone. If I’d had a digital camera I would have taken a picture to demonstrate. Since alcohol is so closely tied to this lifestyle, I won’t have anything to do with it. It’s indirectly addressed, it hurts my witness, it increases temptation, it will cause others to stumble, and it can’t be done to the glory of God. (I do believe that some forms of drinking do not necessarily fall into these categories, but they are so exceptional as to be noteworthy which to me says avoid it altogether.)
# Watching a great many shows on TV – Friends, Simpsons, Alias (here I am picking on Barry and he has a new baby at home…), etc. – this is not in line with the serious character that should mark a Christian’s life. Furthermore, at least many of these shows depict ungodliness in an uncritical way, even celebrating it. I avoid it.
# I watched “The Good Girl” several months ago. It was an excellent “morality play”. And if they had just left out the nudity and depictions of sex, I’d have no problem with it. It could have been done. But as it is, that ruined the show. I cannot, to the glory of God, watch two people having sex. I cannot see Jennifer Aniston topless and not lust after her. It could have been a GREAT show about morality, fidelity, redeption, and repentance, but it has enough objectionable content to make it off limits.

So, can I apply these standards to other Christians, or is that legalism?

It is not legalistic or self-righteous to show other Christians the Biblical commands concerning our behavior – that’s just teaching the Bible. Nor is it legalistic to show other Christians how a given behavior can be evaluated in light of those principles. I do not think that you’ll wind up with much disagreement, and in those areas we should be charitable to those who reasonably disagree and trust God to enlighten us.