For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Galatians 5:13-14)
Most Christians who strive to live a Christian lifestyle have traditionally been conservative in their opinions and political choices. However, in recent years, many of these Christians have embraced new libertarian values and candidates. In Acts 6:9, mention is made of a synagogue of the Libertines who opposed Stephen. Libertines were historically known as people who were freed slaves. Therefore, the idea of a person having freedom was associated with term liberty. In time, liberty became synonymous with freedom.
America’s founders embraced the idea of liberty. Many of their families had fled Europe to come to America to escape oppressive regimes and religious institutions not long after the Protestant Reformation. With their new found freedoms, they laid the foundations of a nation that would provide religious freedom as its central core. This freedom however, required something other than laws to guide the behaviors of the people. This is why religious freedom was important. The founders believed that if the people had the love of God and their neighbor in their hearts, laws did not have to be passed to control their behaviors.
In today’s Scripture verses, the Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Galatia that they had been called to liberty. This liberty was from Christ, who delivers us from the bondage of the keeping the law as well as the penalty of breaking the law by His death on the cross (Romans 6:23; Galatians 3; Galatians 5). As believers, we are no longer under that law and its penalty. However, when God the Holy Spirit came to live inside of us at the moment of our salvation, the law was written on our hearts. This means that instead of commandments written in stones that lead to death, we have the commandments written on our hearts because we have eternal life (Jeremiah 31:33; Romans 2:11-16; 2 Corinthians 3) . You see, the law written in stone uses the intimidation of death to control the behaviors of men. The law written in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit uses inspiration to motivate men to demonstrate their love of Christ and their neighbor by their behaviors.
Since we are no longer under the law, we have freedom from the penalty of the law (death). However, this means we must also not use our freedom as permission to live sinfully, which mocks God as believers (Galatians 6:1-9). Unfortunately many Christians in the Libertarian movement have done just that. While they promote liberty and freedom from the tyrannical control of government, they also promote personal liberty and freedom to live in ways condemned by Scripture. Therefore, we must be on guard not to substitute the desire to live in freedom in Christ with the desire to live in freedom in the flesh without Christ. May God bless us in continuing in the Word so that He would guard our hearts and minds and desire to live for Him (Psalms 119:11; Psalms 119:105; John 8:31; Romans 12:1-2; Philippians 4:4-9; 1 Peter 1-11).
