Do you ever wonder why the statue in New York Harbor isn’t called the “Statue of Freedom” or why that bell in Philadelphia isn’t called the “Freedom Bell”? How about why the Navy calls it “liberty” when sailors are in port rather than “freedom”? It’s because “Freedom” and “Liberty” mean very different things.
The Hebrew word for “freedom” (hupsah) and the Greek word (eleutheria) nearly always speaks of freedom from slavery.
The word “liberty” in both the Old and New Testament is a little different. Where freedom means total release from a situation, liberty means a partial release and addresses our actions. The individual is still under behavioral restrictions. You can see this most clearly speaking of Paul’s captivity in Acts 24:23:
Acts 24:23 (ESV)
23 Then he gave orders to the
centurion that he should be kept in custody but have some liberty, and that
none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs.
Paul wasn’t totally free from Roman captivity or the Roman legal system. He had liberty within that system, but his behavior was restricted. He still needed to abide by the law of the land and some other specific rules regarding his captivity.
In a similar way, we are free in Christ, free from sin. We have been released and no more can sin rule our lives. Paul uses this idea in Romans 6:18:
Romans 6:18 (ESV)
18 and, having been set free
from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
We are no longer slaves to sin. We have our freedom from that slavery. We are now voluntarily slaves of righteousness, bond slaves. Ours should be a life of freedom from sin, but not total freedom of action.
So, we still need to follow the two greatest commandments to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Paul dedicates all of 1 Corinthians chapter 8 to this topic. He tells us we may be free to eat meat sacrificed to idols, but that freedom is limited if it stumbles a brother.
A pastor friend of mine used to tell me we were free to drink alcoholic beverages, but he chose not to because it might stumble someone who thought it was sinful. He didn’t want to stumble his brother.
So, as Christians, we have freedom from the bondage of sin and liberty to do as we like with certain considerations, but like the liberty Sailors get in port, there are certain restrictions on our behavior which may damage the freedom of others should we participate.
This is, of course, not a salvation issue but an issue concerning our Christian walk. Let’s live in our freedom from sin. Let’s live lives of liberty. But, let’s not let grace go to our heads and forget the commands we are still under and the consequences of our actions.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 