“…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
Freedom, at its core, is a God-enabled decision to intentionally engage in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ in community for the sake of the world. We lost our freedom through sin, our freedom to engage intimately and personally with God. Apart from that freedom, we became enslaved, chained to whatever was the “flavour of the month” to our own unique self-focus. Freedom means the opportunity to re-engage with God in His purposes now and into eternity.
Freedom, as my wife would say, means swimming in an ocean of grace.”

Jacques Ellul’s The Ethics of Freedom is one of the best books I have ever read and re-read. He writes, for example, “…God’s free decision, which is the good, is never fantasy or incoherent of absurdity. Our own freedom, which derives only from God’s, is like God’s. It is not just foolishness”(p. 198).
Ellul’s discussion is original, probing and vigorous, in constant dialogue with Scripture. He discusses issues such as those Scot lists, but only after working out a theology of freedom base on radical discipleship.

Without wanting to sound like I’m advocating a sinful lifestyle, I think a lot of people are almost afraid of their freedom. Mention the phrase “freedom in Christ” in a group of Christians, and someone is bound to quote back: “Yes but, do not use your freedom as a license to sin.” While that verse must be reckoned with to be sure, to some it becomes the framing verse of the discussion, where for Paul it was just one verse within a six-chapter declaration of freedom – almost an addendum.
Again, without wanting to say that sin doesn’t matter, I sometimes wonder if we don’t overestimate how much God really wrings his hands over some of the things we do. It seems to me that many of his favorite people in the Bible were a bit rough around the edges to say the least – David, Moses, Jacob, the disciples, etc. Of course, David’s sin carried significant consequences (at least his sin of adultery), but it didn’t remove God’s overriding pleasure with him as a man after God’s own heart.
The boundary lines are there, like the lines on the side of the road. But whereas most Christians seem to live their lives fixated on not getting too close to the edge, I believe God wants us to keep our eyes on the destination and just enjoy the ride.

Thanks for your post Joey. I don’t necessarily have anything new to add here, but I do want to affirm that this is an extremeley important discussion to have. The Christian community often makes the claim that life is so much more exciting and full once you’ve become a Christian. Really? While I do know a handful of Christians for whom that’s true (i.e., folks who are just absolutely jazzed about being creatures of God and who “swim in an ocean of grace”, to borrow Rick’s quote above), it seems that many of us get caught up in a form of Christianity that trades in our freedom for respectability. We’re respectable now because we belong to a legit community (a local church); we don’t drink, smoke or gamble to to excess; we’re responsible; etc. Those are all great and fine things (and I wouldn’t argue against any of those), but is this actually what’s so exciting about being a Christian? There has to be something more (in this life), and I think it has something to do with discovering and living out our freedom in Christ.

Good question and comments. I agree with Rick. And I think to assess our freedom, we have to think about the areas in the NT at least that talk about what enslaves us. Sin is talked about not just as something we do, but as a Power that has captured humanity to do its will. Similar things are said of money, of our own desires, of Satan (and his reign) and other demons, disease, as well as human powers such as masters, religious persecutors, and kings, and of death (all parts of ‘this age’). Jesus has set us free from all the powers and players of this age (the world in its current form) through his death and resurrection. The gospel is arguably the ‘news’ that there’s been a change of ownership. There is a new Sheriff in town. We may still serve our employers or even governors, but not because they have power over us, but because Christ–now our only Lord–asks us to.
There isn’t sufficient space here to go into each instance, but here’s my best quick summary: As the last quote from NT Wright’s book suggested, now that Jesus, the rightful king of the world, has died and been raised, God regards all of us that way and invites us to see ourselves that way, with the Spirit as the downpayment of that eventual total resurrection, of the coming age. Someone who has died to this whole world isn’t subject to its rules or pulls or treats, and the money that can subdue them. Someone confident of and looking forward to their resurrection isn’t afraid of powerful people who can kill their body. Such person is free from all the powers of this age, and ‘slave’ to the God of the next age, where they place their hope, of its righteousness. They have been purchased from the ruler of this age (whose days are numbered) by the Ruler of the age to come, and it has already begun.

Our death to this era, but already being ‘alive’ to the next is why marriage isn’t seen as the highest sexual calling for Christians. Since there will be no marriage in the age to come, singleness out of pure devotion to Christ is the highest calling–it most conforms to the age to come. But not everyone can accept this call. So faithful marriage remains a good alternative, still a picture, a shadow, of the age to come.
But this is also why to be governed by one’s sexual desires into promiscuous sex is totally unacceptable now. It is to allow ourselves to be governed by the powers and pulls of this age, who have already been judged, who will be thrown out. It is to place our hope in this age and its powers can provide, which are passing away. It is a failure to trust and hope in the resurrection, the new age that is dawning, and its Leader.

Glen’s comment prompts me to see how closely and intimately aligned grace and freedom are. And how that frightens people. Oh my! Yes, their first response is nearly always, “Yes, but….”
To use an analogy, grace (and the freedom grace brings) is like the Grand Canyon, wild, immense,glorious. We call people to enjoy its beauty and power. Grace beckons people to draw near, right to the edge, perhaps lying down with their heads out over the edge. Wow, what a view. But, as they get near to the edge, others panic and don’t trust them (though explained as ‘helping them stay safe’). What’s done? A fence is erected to keep people ‘safe,’ though removed from the wild thrill of living on the edge. How far away from the edge is the fence built? Depends on the group, though some would prefer to sit people in safe auditoriums while displaying the grandeur on a movie screen. Sure, they’re safe, but…?

“I have yet to hear a good exegetical engagement with the idea of freedom in Christ.”
Joey, that is so true. I think this is one of the main distinctions between religion and spirituality, between Christianity and Christ, between empire and Kingdom. Endless ideologies present as “freedom” but offer little more than well-intentioned dead ends.

Joey and others…
I wrote about “freedom” in my Galatians commentary (see to the right) and worked hard on the meanings of freedom. I’d be interested in what you think of that section…

Ordered it. Thanks, Scot.