James 2:12
“So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the
law of liberty.”
The world “liberty”
in the bible verse above is “ἐλευθερία” or “ eleutheria” in the Greek and translates to “freedom”. Webster’s original dictionary
defines “liberty” as “Freedom
from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will
or mind. The body is at liberty, when not confined; the will or mind is at
liberty, when not checked or controlled. A man enjoys liberty, when no physical
force operates to restrain his actions or volitions. Natural liberty, consists
in the power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control,
except from the laws of nature. It is a state of exemption from the control of
others, and from positive laws and the institutions of social life. Liberty , in metaphysics,
as opposed to necessity, is the power of an agent to do or forbear any
particular action, according to the determination or thought of the mind, by
which either is preferred to the other. Freedom of the will is exemption from compulsion
or restraint in willing or volition.”
James 1:25 “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and
continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work,
this one will be blessed in what he does.”
In America ,
the word “Liberty ”
is on very coin minted, yet do we notice and think about its meaning or why it
is on there? Americans should give thanks to “the Author of liberty”, that we
have been privileged to live in this “sweet
land of liberty,” where we can worship God freely, in accord with His Word –
“one nation, under God, with liberty and
justice for all”. I’ve both read and heard that liberty is not license,
however, and the essence of the American system is liberty under law. And since
the birth of this nation, fundamentally, that law is “the law of nature and of
nature’s God” (Declaration of Independence) - the natural laws of God’s world
and the revealed laws of God’s Word. Within that framework we do have
liberty—but not liberty to defy either the physical law of gravity or the
spiritual “law of liberty.” The latter is formulated in Scripture and has been
applied over the centuries, in the English common law and later in our system
of constitutional law, both of which are based on Scripture.
2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty.”
I read that some people today, seeking license rather than
liberty, might recoil at the very idea of “the law of liberty,” calling it an
oxymoron, or contradiction in terms. But Jesus said that only “the truth shall
make you free!” - John 8:32. “Sin is the transgression of
God’s Law” - 1 John 3:4, and “sin, when it is finished, brings
forth death” - James 1:15, not freedom! No one can be
saved by the law, but those who are saved by grace through faith in Christ will
love God’s law, for it is “holy, and
just, and good” - Romans 7:12. We should say with the
psalmist: “So shall I keep thy law
continually for ever and ever. And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy
precepts” - Psalm 119:44-45. There is, indeed, a
law of liberty, and whoever will walk in “real liberty” will find it only in
God’s law of life, through His revealed Word. Never lose sight of the law of liberty.
Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not
be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”
In Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment