31“…If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
– John 8:31-32
Before freedom in Christ is discussed, a few other questions must be cleared up first.
The first question is: what is truth? Pontius Pilate asked Jesus that very question during their conversation before he handed Jesus over to be crucified (John 18:38). The Bible answers the question of truth very simply: God is truth, because He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Titus: 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). Therefore, you can trust what God says (Psalm 9:10), as it will be the truth.
The second question is: what is Jesus’s word? Jesus’s word and what God says are exactly the same things, because Jesus is God (John 1:1-18). Jesus says that all of the Laws of God (i.e., the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17) are summed up in two laws: love God first and then love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). If you love God, you will keep His commandments (John 14:15). To understand what love is, see 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
The problem is no one can keep the commandments/Laws of God perfectly, all of the time (Romans 3:10-20). God requires perfection because He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Therefore, God sent Jesus to save us from our imperfection (Romans 3:22-26). God requires that we admit that we are sinners (1 John 1:9-10), that we repent of our sin (Proverbs 28:13, Acts 3:19) and that we accept His gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) in Jesus’s sacrifice at the cross as payment for that sin (John 3:16).
The third question is: what is a disciple of Christ? The Greek word used for disciple is mathétés and means “a disciple, learner, pupil”. A Christian disciple is someone who is actively following and learning about Christ, putting what they learn into earnest and constant practice.
Now to answer the question: what is freedom in Christ?
Freedom in Christ is freedom from the condemnation of the Laws of God (Romans 8:1-2). With condemnation, there is punishment which is payment for the sin. Therefore, with Christ, we are free from paying for the sins we commit, the payment being eternal and spiritual death (Revelation 20:11-15). Freedom in Christ is freedom from the slavery of committing habitual sin (Romans 6:14-23) and the freedom to live as Christ wills, to walk in His ways, love His laws (Psalm 119), to worship Him and to love Him (Romans 12, 11:29, 1 John 4:19). These freedoms were all bought by His death on the cross, His death in our place (Hebrews 2:9) and His subsequent resurrection from the dead (1 Peter 1:3-5). Our freedom in Christ brings us everlasting life with Him (Romans 8:15-17; Revelation 21). Those of us in Christ no longer need to fear the death of the body (Hebrews 2:14-15) that will eventually come to each and every one of us.
7 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. 8 1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
– Romans 7:24-8:4
