Chapter 11
Christian Freedom and Liberty
Undoubtedly, Christian freedom (NIV) or liberty (KJV) does exist! This is clear from Gal. 2:4 and 5:1. However, as we shall soon see, it’s not the kind of freedom that allows for, or even tolerates, unholy or immoral behavior, as many understand it.
Much confusion exists regarding this subject in our day. A prime example is what an OSAS proponent personally told me years ago in response to what I observed on TV—a “minister” who was wearing a cowboy hat and smoking a cigar as he mockingly sang the gospel song, Amazing Grace. The OSAS proponent said to me, “He’s abusing his Christian liberty.” How desperately people need to know the truth on this topic, as evident from some being unable to distinguish blasphemy from Christian liberty abuse!
Since the Bible definitely teaches there is such a thing as Christian freedom and liberty, what is it? Is it being accurately represented by the OSAS teachers? Let’s examine what they are saying and compare that to the Scriptures.
Charles Stanley mentions this subject in one of his sermons on OSAS:
Somebody so afraid that somebody’s gonna feel free to walk out and live like the devil and just do their own thing. Let me ask you a question. Can it not just as easily motivate you to fall on your knees before Almighty God and cry out to him in thanksgiving and praise for saving you out of all the filth and the rot and the sin and the disobedience and the rebellion, and for keeping you through times when you doubted and you didn’t know whether to trust him or not, and you didn’t know what to do, and you leaned upon yourself and you did every wrong thing, and somehow God never ceased to love you? Can you not be motivated to be obedient to him and follow him just as well as go out and sin? All of these folks who are worried about sinning and having license to sin—that’s the wrong focus. That is Satan’s focus to keep you from having freedom and liberty.[1]
A personal letter sent into Bob George’s ministry resulted in the following response:
Christian liberty does allow you to do anything you want to because under I Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23 it says: “all things are permissible but not all things are profitable.” Now, in 6:12 it says you will not be brought under the power of any so if you do take in an occasional drink it may end up being two or three, or four or five and before you know it you are hooked and become a drunkard.[2]
Yet under the heading of Christian Liberty, we read the following from a Reformed view, which is clearly linked to OSAS:
Their standing with God (the “peace” and “access” of Rom. 5:1, 2) is assured because they have been accepted and adopted in Christ. It does not, nor ever will, depend on what they do, nor will it ever be imperiled by what they fail to do. They live, not by being perfect, but by being forgiven.[3]
How should we test what these OSAS sources are saying?
Repeatedly, we who are Christians are commanded to be holy in our behavior (1 Thess. 4:3-7; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Pet. 1:15,16; 2 Pet. 3:11), even after we have already been declared holy and sanctified in Christ at the point of salvation (Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 1:2,30)!
Since Scripture doesn’t contradict Scripture, we know that our freedom in Christ, therefore, cannot interfere with this repeated command. To say otherwise is to show yourself misinformed.
Holy living is not optional for the Christian in spite of his allowed liberties. It is still a command for us, as it was in the Old Testament, as Peter points out (1 Pet. 1:15,16 cf. Lev. 11:44; 19:2).
Paul’s freedom in Christ message, as mentioned in Gal. 2:4 and 5:1, refers to freedom from circumcision (5:1-4), and observing special Jewish days, months, seasons and years (4:10), which would include keeping the Sabbaths, Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and the sabbatical year. See also Col. 2:16,17.
Furthermore, Paul’s teaching in Rom. 14 shows that we are not under any unclean food regulations, as set forth in Leviticus 11.
This allows us the freedom to eat shrimp, crabs, lobster and pork, if we so desire! However, we are still forbidden to eat or drink blood (Acts 15:20,29) as in the Old Testament days (Lev. 7:26,27).
Similarly, according to 1 Corinthians 8, Paul allowed the Corinthian Christians to eat meat sacrificed to an idol; but added that this freedom could become a stumbling block to the Christian who didn’t have this knowledge and possibly might fall into sin (v. 13) and be destroyed (v. 11) thereby.
Consequently, he advised them to surrender this freedom for the sake of others, verses 9-13. In other words, it was freedom regarding the eating of food, with restrictions attached!
Do Not Use Your Freedom To Indulge The Sinful Nature
Perhaps the clearest single verse of Scripture which refutes the present-day freedom and liberty in Christ message is found in Gal. 5:13:
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature (NIV).
This is what the true grace teacher wrote about our Christian freedom in Christ!
Finally, it is in this same epistle to the Galatians, which emphasizes Christian liberty, that Paul wrote his often-repeated warning to Christians:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (5:19-21, NIV).
Do Not Use Your Freedom As A Cover-up For Evil
Peter likewise taught:
Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God (1 Pet. 2:16, NIV).
Implied in this verse is the distortion of Scripture regarding our freedom in Christ to cover-up evil! Apparently, this was a problem in Peter’s day, as it is today. Regarding this, Peter speaks of certain false teachers:
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him (2 Pet. 2:19, NIV).
Though Paul was not under the law (1 Cor. 9:20), he was under Christ’s law (1 Cor. 9:21)! Christ’s law seems best described in Gal. 6:2:
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (NKJV).
Furthermore, while Paul taught Christians: We are not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:15), the rest of the same passage on down to verse 22 declares:
● Sin leads to death while obedience leads to righteousness (v. 16).
● Offer the parts of your body in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness (v. 19).
● The result of holiness is eternal life (v. 22)!
These truths should not be excluded from Paul’s grace message. To do so can easily misrepresent it.
Paul could say, we are not under the law, yet it is a Scriptural fact that he (and other inspired New Testament writers) taught Christians:
● against false gods (1 Cor. 8:4-6);
● against making graven images (Acts 19:26); and expanded idolatry to include greed (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5), which is another term for coveting;
● against the misuse of God’s name and profanity (Eph. 5:4; Col. 3:8);
● against murder (Rev. 21:8) and expanded its meaning to include hatred of a brother (1 Jn. 3:15);
● against adultery or sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:9,10; Gal. 5:19-21);
● against stealing (Eph. 4:28; Titus 2:10);
● against bearing false witness or slander and lying (1 Cor. 6:9,10; Eph. 4:25,31; Col. 3:8,9; Titus 3:2);
● to honor one’s father and mother (Eph. 6:1-3).
All these are just like the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21). Eph. 6:1-3 is most clear on this point!
Paul taught we are not under the ceremonial law as evident from Galatians, but we as Christians are under the law of Christ even though we are under grace and saved by grace.
Furthermore, though at times, he stressed that, “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14 cf. Rom. 13:8-10), Paul also stressed the behavior or moral aspects of the Christian life too, as just cited. Therefore, legalism in the New Testament is connected with the ceremonial law and not the obeying of the moral commands!
In other words, we as Christians today, though not under the law, are not
permitted to steal, get drunk or be sexually immoral. To do so is to show you do not love Jesus (Jn. 14:24), besides revealing your unsaved spiritual condition (1 Cor. 6:9,10).
Romans 7:14-20
Sometimes connected with the freedom in Christ message is Rom. 7:14-20:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it (NIV).
Some have erroneously alluded to this passage by saying it’s normal Christian living and the like:
Paul is speaking of of [sic] the normal Christian life.[4]
The experience described in Rom. 7:14-25 is that of every genuine Christian.[5]
Applying this Roman’s passage to Paul, Gromacki and MacArthur respectively wrote:
Paul said that he was “sold under sin” (Ro 7:14). Sin owned and controlled him; he was its slave.[6]
Romans 7 is the classic text describing the believer’s struggle with his sinful flesh. Note that while Paul acknowledged his own disobedience . . .[7]
Remember this, we should always compare Scripture with Scripture when studying the Bible. If this is done, it will become apparent that Paul didn’t keep on doing (Rom. 7:19) sinful things, as he frequently taught against; neither was he unspiritual (v. 14). Let’s journey around the New Testament to learn more about Rom. 7:14-20.
Was Paul A Hypocrite Or Holy?
Please consider what Paul wrote about himself in his first epistle to the Corinthians:
He [Timothy] will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church (1 Cor. 4:17, NIV).
Paul’s way of life (or behavior) agreed with what he taught all the churches. So what did Paul teach Christians about behavior? Among other things, he taught:
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving (Eph. 5:3,4, NIV).
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices (Col. 3:5-9, NIV).
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 4:3-8, NIV).
Paul’s personal behavior conformed to these passages, according to 1 Cor. 4:17. What else did Paul say about his own behavior?
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you (Phil. 4:9, NIV).
Ponder that statement! If the Philippian Christians would put into practice what they had heard and seen in Paul as exemplary, the God of peace would be with them. Could Paul have been that kind of example if he was controlled by sin?
Lightner wrote:
Paul, for example, often did what he didn’t want to do (Rom. 7:15).[8]
In contrast, Paul declared explicitly how he and his co-laborers behaved:
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed (1 Thess. 2:10, NIV).
What a refutation Paul’s actual life was to the OSAS interpretation of Rom. 7:14-20.
The Scriptures add to all of this by saying that Paul:
● never used flattery nor put on a mask to cover up greed (1 Thess. 2:5);
● put no stumbling block in anyone’s path (2 Cor. 6:3);
● was pure, patient, kind, had sincere love, truthful speech, etc. (2 Cor. 6:6,7);
● had only one goal and that was to please God (2 Cor. 5:9);
● feared God (2 Cor. 5:11);
● risked his life for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 15:26);
● his life meant nothing to him only to finish the race and complete the task that the Lord Jesus gave him (Acts 20:24);
● fulfilled his duty to God in all good conscience (Acts 23:1);
● when he was cursed he blessed, when persecuted he endured it, when slandered he answered kindly (1 Cor. 4:12,13);
● ran his race to win first prize (1 Cor. 9:24);
● did not seek his own good but the good of others for their salvation’s sake (1 Cor. 10:24,32); etc.
In another concise summary of his own life, Paul said that he conducted himself in the holiness and sincerity that are from God:
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace (2 Cor. 1:12, NIV).
Is it possible for Paul’s words, I am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin (Rom. 7:14), to refer to himself in light of all of these passages about his own behavior? Never!
Besides Paul’s holy and zealous lifestyle, we know the OSAS interpretation of Rom. 7:14-20 is wrong in yet another way! Let’s focus our attention in upon verses 18 and 19:
. . . For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing (Rom. 7:18,19, NIV).
In other words, the spiritual power is missing to live a holy life free from sin’s bondage, according to those verses. Is it possible that Paul is speaking of himself or the normal Christian life by writing such? If so, then how did Paul live such a consistently holy life?
Paul elaborates on the Christian’s freedom from sin:
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:18, NKJV).
Before salvation, however, a person is powerless:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6, NIV).
An unsaved person is without spiritual power, being under the control of his sinful nature (Rom. 7:5) and the evil one (1 Jn. 5:19), but after salvation, one is freed from the power of Satan (Acts 26:18) and sin (Rom. 6:18; Jn. 8:36) to live a holy life (2 Tim. 1:9).
Furthermore, if we focus our attention in upon Rom. 7:18, we clearly see that Paul wrote in that passage that nothing good lives in me. Could Paul have written that from his own Christian perspective?
Isn’t it true that God lives in all Christians (2 Cor. 6:16) and God is good (Mk. 10:18)? Since that is true, and Paul was a Christian when he wrote his epistles, then it is impossible for Paul to have written nothing good lives in me from the perspective of a Christian!
What then was Paul referring to when he used the singular pronouns I and me in Rom. 7:14-20?
Rom. 7:17 clearly shows the sinful nature is the I and me that Paul wrote of:
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire
to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out (Rom. 7:18 NIV).
In other words, the sinful nature is personified in Rom. 7:14-20 just like wisdom is in Proverbs 8! So, Paul was not writing of himself or the normal Christian life, but of the sinful nature in this much-disputed passage.
Finally, how could Paul have stated, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7) at the very end of his life, if he was owned and controlled by sin? Since the Christian battle, in part, is against sin (Heb. 12:4), Paul fought this fight against sin also in his own life and came out as an overcomer.
Christ’s Slave
The Christian is free, but at the same time, he is Christ’s slave (1 Cor. 7:22) and a slave to righteousness (Rom. 6:18)! As freed people, we are to be living for Jesus and his cause (2 Cor. 5:15). In fact, service to God is an immediate responsibility after turning from our idols that kept us in spiritual darkness and death (1 Thess. 1:9 cf. Jonah 2:8).
With these verses in mind, how could the real freedom in Christ message, coupled with the true grace message, added to the proper interpretation of Romans 7, dismiss lukewarm, unholy, worldly, entertainment-seeking, amusement-seeking, pleasure-seeking “servants” who have very little or no fear of God as normal?
Also, Hebrews 4 speaks of a Sabbath rest for the people of God. It should be very clear at this point in the book that it is impossible for this Sabbath rest to mean that one can be close to God and be carefree and indifferent to his Christian responsibilities, duties, and obligations as a servant living under grace.
His Commands Are Not Burdensome
In contrast to what some think and have been taught, living a holy life is not burdensome. Jesus said:
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Mt. 11:30, KJV).
John wrote:
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome (1 Jn. 5:3, NKJV).
See also Psa. 19:7-11; 119:14. The opposite, however, is true for the ungodly. To live an unholy and rebellious lifestyle is burdensome. Jeremiah 2:19 says:
“Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the Lord GOD of hosts (NKJV).
Furthermore, regarding drunkenness specifically, we read:
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine . . . Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” (Prov. 23:29,30,33-35, NIV).
Finally, the bondage, burden and slavery to sin is graphically expressed in the following:
The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast (Prov. 5:22, NIV).
This is what the freedom mentioned in Jn. 8:36 is all about, that is, freedom from sin’s bondages:
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (NIV).
Everything Is Permissible . . .
Finally, Paul wrote twice:
Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial (1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23, NIV).
The context of both verses is primarily referring to the eating of food. Moreover, we can be sure the correct interpretation of these verses will never contradict holy behavior for the Christian, which is never optional!
A prime example of an interpretation that is a contradiction to this is what came from Bob George on nationwide radio:
Caller: Can a child of God use it, use the marijuana?
George: . . . a child of God can do anything they want to. Everything is permissible but not everything is profitable. But to deny the problem isn’t in his usage of marijuana. The problem is in his denial of the truth.
A little later in the same program, Bob George said:
. . . I could go out as a child of God and get drunk tonight if I wanted to. It’s not that, if, if, if it, if it was not permissible, then it would be a law, but it’s not profitable.[9]
George said a similar thing on a different radio broadcast:
And as Paul said, “All things are permissible, but not all things are profitable.” So is committing fornication permissible? Yes. Is it profitable? No, it isn’t.[10]
This last quote was spoken directly to a young man from New York who has been having a habitual problem with sexual sin!
Reader, if you conduct yourself according to what you just read (as it was taught all across the United States by way of radio as being permissible), you will surely go to hell, according to Scripture!
Do not be deceived, the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9). The truth is: we are to abstain from (Acts 15:20,29), flee from (1 Cor. 6:18), and avoid sexual immorality (1 Thess. 4:3).
Tolerating Jezebel
What do you think the loving Lord Jesus would say to us today about these types of teachings and those who tolerate them?
In Rev. 2:20, the Lord Jesus, now resurrected and ascended into heaven, said to the Christians at Thyatira:
. . . I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel . . . By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality . . . (NIV).
Please note the following: Just to tolerate teachings that lead Christians into sin, especially sexual immorality, is condemned in itself by the Lord! The Greek word eao translated tolerate (NIV) or sufferest (KJV) is defined as:
to let be, i.e. permit or leave alone:—commit, leave, let (alone), suffer.[11]
In other words, to be stirred for the moment without doing anything to actively help correct this serious problem is to tolerate Jezebel. Such will also allow evil to spread.
According to that same passage, it’s possible for a true servant of God to be misled into sexual immorality through a teaching.
Certainly, the kinds of OSAS teachings quoted in this book are examples of such! Consequently, we should not tolerate OSAS teaching for a minute, if we heed Jesus’ words.
Permission = License
Finally, Jude 3,4 read:
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (NIV).
Jude wrote of those who change the grace of God into a license for immorality. Since license and permission are synonyms,[12] to blatantly say drunkenness and fornication are permissible for the Christian is to clearly teach a license for immorality. This is what the Jude 3 command, contend for the faith, was given directly to counter!
In light of all this, it is ironic that CRI, an international countercult ministry, which mentions the Jude 3 command to contend for the faith, could give the following coast to coast endorsement of Bob George over their radio program, via Dr. Ron Rhodes:
I understand where Bob George is coming from on that. I’ve got to tell you, however, that we at CRI disagree with his interpretation, especially in terms of 1 John 1:9. Now we believe that Bob George, in the big picture, is a great brother. He has done a lot of good things for the Christian community. So in the big picture, we consider himself a friend of the ministry, but the small picture is, is that in 1 John 1 verse 9 that talks about our confessing sins, we believe that that is something that the Christian is to do . . . .[13]
Questions for Dr. Rhodes:
(1) Do you consider such teachings that permit drunkenness and fornication for the Christian to be a good thing for the Christian community?
(2) Do you think Jude would consider Bob George a friend of his ministry, in light of Jude 3,4?
(3) Thank you for openly disagreeing with George’s unscriptural view of 1 Jn. 1:9, but why did you neglect to mention his other extremely unscriptural views?
Could it be that unwittingly, Rhodes and others like him who approve such teachings by endorsing the teacher(s) in the big picture are sharing in their wicked work (2 Jn. 11)?
Finally, it’s also a possibility, as extreme as it may sound, that Rhodes recognizes that much of what George says is the logical conclusion of OSAS, though he himself would never openly admit it!
Ponder This . . .
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you (Phil. 4:9, NIV).
Ponder that statement! If the Philippian Christians would put into practice what they had heard and seen in Paul as exemplary, the God of peace would be with them. Could Paul have been that kind of example if he was controlled by sin or often did what he didn’t want to do?
Moreover, he declared explicitly how he and his co-laborers behaved:
You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed (1 Thess. 2:10, NIV).
What a powerful refutation Paul’s life was to the OSAS interpretation of Rom. 7:14-20.
Furthermore, if we focus our attention in upon Rom. 7:18, we clearly see that Paul wrote in that passage that nothing good lives in me. Could Paul have written that from a Christian perspective? Isn’t it true that God lives in a Christian (2 Cor. 6:16) and God is good (Mk. 10:18)? Since these are true, then it is impossible for Paul to have written Rom. 7:14-20 from the perspective of a Christian!
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Notes
[1] Charles Stanley, Eternal Security—You Can Be Sure, cassette tape #3, MH190.
[2] Ed Hecht, People to People, personal letter dated 12/17/93.
[3] New Geneva Study Bible (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), p. 1,856.
[4] Robert Morey, The Saving Work of Christ (Sterling, VA: Grace Abounding Ministries, Inc., 1980), p. 130.
[5] Arthur W. Pink, Eternal Security (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, Fourth Printing, 1996), p. 29.
[6] Robert Glenn Gromacki, Salvation Is Forever (Chicago: Moody Press, Third Printing, 1976), p. 26.
[7] John F. MacArthur, Jr., The Gospel According to Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1989), p. 174.
[8] Robert P. Lightner, Sin, the Savior, and Salvation (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991), p. 255.
[9] Bob George (Dallas, TX: People to People), 11/9/93.
[10] Ibid., 11/16/93.
[11] James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1976), Greek Dictionary, p. 24, #1439.
[12] Webster‛s New World Thesaurus (Simon and Schuster, 1971), p. 449.
[13] The Bible Answer Man, 1/3/94.
