For Liberty
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty” (Galatians 5:13).
The doctrine of Christian Liberty is a broad one with many wonderful lessons. To this list we may add a nice note found in W.E. Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Under the topic of Freedom we find this gem thought:
“The word is twice rendered “freedom” in the RV of Galatians 5:13 (KJV, “liberty”). The phraseology is that of manumission from slavery, which among the Greeks was effected by a legal fiction, according to which the manumitted slave was purchased by a god; as the slave could not provide the money, the master paid it into the temple treasury in the presence of the slave, a document being drawn up containing the words “for freedom.” No one could enslave him again, as he was the property of the god.” 1
This reference to manumission is a delightful one. While we can’t be positive that the Apostle wanted us to make the connection, it is unlikely that the Galatian brethren would have missed it, being in the Greek world of Asia Minor as they were.
We see a clear application to our vow of consecration. We are born in bondage to sin and death and cannot of ourselves escape it. As we read in Psalm 49:7:
“None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:”
In the context of Galatians, Paul is more particularly speaking of the bondage of Jews under the Law of Moses, the Law Covenant. For example:
“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world” (Galatians 4:3).
Paul, the Apostle
“Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” (Galatians 4:24, 25).
But his lesson is that Christ makes free! “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free” (Galatians 4:31). “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
Even the Gentile Christians who were not in bondage to the Law enjoy the liberty of Christ being redeemed from the world and the errors of the world. “Because the creature [creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). All of this happens as a result of consecration, the presentation of oneself unto God to follow the footsteps of Jesus (Romans 12:1).
Relating this back to the story told by W.E. Vine, we see that the church is specially invited during this Gospel Age to follow the example of Jesus and like him live a life of sacrifice. However there is the problem of our enslavement. We cannot pay the cost of our salvation and get out of slavery! Here Jesus steps forth and offers the value of his own life to cover the cost of our redemption.
That price is paid into the “temple treasury,” that is, into the hand of Divine Justice (1 Peter 1:18,19). This is akin to the Master in the story paying for the freedom of his slave. We are thus redeemed from the Adamic curse. Since we have consecrated our lives to God and it is accepted through Jesus, we become property of Jehovah God!
This is a redemption that can never by lost. We are forever free from the slavery of Adamic sin. How we live our lives subsequently is another matter and a further judgment will come. But we have been “manumitted” forever. We have a liberty which can never be taken from us.
(1) Vine’s Expository Dictionary, W.E. Vine, M.A., Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966, page 131.