Bondage versus Freedom

One of the incredible realities about our new life in Christ is that we are no longer in bondage to sin. Jesus has freed us from our bondage to sin taking advantage of the law and making the law death to us.

Being in bondage to such a life is described by Paul in his letter to the Romans as a vicious circle of trying to do good but not being able to because of sin undermining our very desire to be faithful to the laws of God. What is so incredible about this as well is that God knew this before we were born and set out a plan to free us from such a miserable state.

The other reality is that at times as followers of Christ, we continue to live the vicious circle of trying to maintain our relationship with Jesus by earning it rather than entering into it in the freedom that God has given us through Jesus. Paul declares in Romans that if we take this approach then the Spirit of Christ is not in us and we do not belong to Him.

As Christians we are not like followers of other religions who attempt to be good and so garner the acceptance of their god(s). Rather, as C.S. Lewis points out in his book Mere Christianity, we are those who believe that God does not love us because we are good but that He makes us good because he loves us.

What we find in Romans is Paul pointing out to the Roman believers that the moment they make their faith about what they do for God, they make it a faith of bondage rather than freedom. When we encounter Jesus and realize what He has done both for us and to us [Chapter 5 - the Second Adam] then we become the "new humanity" that God has desired that we be - in full relationship with the Father and dependance on the Spirit through our following Christ.

In the most practical and simplist way we can put it, God helps us be better human beings. By this, true humanity is humanity in full relationship with God. Anything other than this is no humanity at all. Bound up in the risen Jesus is our humanity now glorified and now at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us. In this, the Spirit draws us ever closer to Christ in anticipation of full redemption, transformation and glorified humanity for us as well in the future. For the time being, the Spirit is now working in our hearts and beginning to transform us from the inside out and so creating a new identity for us apart from sin.

When we look at each other as followers of Christ and if we truly see with the eyes of the Spirit, then we see each other in the true humanity that God has given us in Christ. By seeing each other this way, our relationships are not based on pedigree, family lineage, or nationality but on love - the love that the Father and the Son have for each other. It is this love that we were born out of and it will be this love that will restore us fully.

This coming week we will see how this reality plays itself out practically in the lives of believers as Paul speaks of love as the basis of the community of Christ - the body of believers and how as believers we should live in our communities carrying on the good news to those who do not know or yet understand.

Digger Deeper

There are two clips from two separate films that give a visual reference for what I've said in the blog. The first scene is found in the film As Good As It Gets and the second clip is found in The Shawshank Redemption. Think of other scenes that speak of this important truth that Paul speaks about in Romans - the reality of our humanity and its true identity in full relationship with the Father.