nikolai_42
Well-known member
Question : Is the believer's freedom a derivative freedom or an absolute freedom?
Clarification : Derivative in the sense that there is still a subordination of some sort such that there is constraint that the believer is constantly aware of. Not the constraint of the sinful proclivities reigning over him, of course, but a constraint nonetheless.
Relevant scriptures : Just to start, Jesus said this :
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
The word for "indeed" is apparently that which means "truly" or "in reality". It almost seems (my interpretation) like one could be seen to be walking in the shadow of sin for one's life (being dead in trespasses and sin) and not realizing the shadow that envelops him. But when that man is freed from sin (in the sense of John 8:36) he finds himself liberated from bondage - and it seems (as many could attest) that there is nothing holding him back. He is utterly free and is ready to "go and sin no more". Of course, that is not the experience over time. We sin need to repent - but does that negate the freedom experienced?
Now, to Paul. He says this :
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God
Romans 1:1
Here Paul is really (if I am understanding it correctly) that he is a slave of Jesus Christ. Christ is his master. This is in contrast with the understanding of freedom that many experience when liberated from sin and death.
So is the reality that as long as the believer is in this body that he should be experiencing - in essence - a derivative freedom? One that is not originally his own (i.e. that he is not free to do what he will in some sense)? The answer seems simple, but what does that say of the liberty one finds when one is made alive in Christ? And more directly - what the believer's experience of liberty should be? Is it a tempered liberty (liberty but being under constraint as one who is serving another as a slave) or is it an absolute liberty (though he be in Christ, there should be a sense of absolute freedom without any sort of immediate restraint)?
Less a theological question than a practical one, I think.
Clarification : Derivative in the sense that there is still a subordination of some sort such that there is constraint that the believer is constantly aware of. Not the constraint of the sinful proclivities reigning over him, of course, but a constraint nonetheless.
Relevant scriptures : Just to start, Jesus said this :
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
The word for "indeed" is apparently that which means "truly" or "in reality". It almost seems (my interpretation) like one could be seen to be walking in the shadow of sin for one's life (being dead in trespasses and sin) and not realizing the shadow that envelops him. But when that man is freed from sin (in the sense of John 8:36) he finds himself liberated from bondage - and it seems (as many could attest) that there is nothing holding him back. He is utterly free and is ready to "go and sin no more". Of course, that is not the experience over time. We sin need to repent - but does that negate the freedom experienced?
Now, to Paul. He says this :
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God
Romans 1:1
Here Paul is really (if I am understanding it correctly) that he is a slave of Jesus Christ. Christ is his master. This is in contrast with the understanding of freedom that many experience when liberated from sin and death.
So is the reality that as long as the believer is in this body that he should be experiencing - in essence - a derivative freedom? One that is not originally his own (i.e. that he is not free to do what he will in some sense)? The answer seems simple, but what does that say of the liberty one finds when one is made alive in Christ? And more directly - what the believer's experience of liberty should be? Is it a tempered liberty (liberty but being under constraint as one who is serving another as a slave) or is it an absolute liberty (though he be in Christ, there should be a sense of absolute freedom without any sort of immediate restraint)?
Less a theological question than a practical one, I think.