Christian Freedom and Its Biblical Basis
As a child of God, you are freed from the bondage of sin and its consequences, not by any work or merit of your own, but by the finished work of Christ on the cross, as it is written, "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1). This freedom is a gift, not something to be earned, but rather received by faith, for "by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The idea that we must earn our freedom is a perversion of the gospel, for it suggests that Christ's work was insufficient, and that we must add to it by our own efforts.
However, as Christians, we are called to walk in this freedom, to live out our faith in a way that honors God, and to "not let sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions" (Romans 6:12). This is not a matter of earning our freedom, but rather of living in accordance with our new nature, as those who have been "born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). We are to "stand firm in the freedom with which Christ has made us free" (Galatians 5:1), and to "not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1), but rather to "serve one another in love" (Galatians 5:13), and to "use your freedom to serve others, not to indulge the flesh" (Galatians 5:13, NLT).
In Christ, you have been set free from the law of sin and death, and are now under the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2), which is a law of love, not of bondage. Your freedom is not something to be earned, but rather something to be enjoyed, as you walk in the Spirit, and live out your faith in a way that brings glory to God. As the apostle Paul writes, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:17), and it is this freedom that allows us to live as children of God, unencumbered by the weight of sin, and free to love and serve Him with all our hearts.