PAUL’S LIFE JOURNEY is something we can all learn from. We first meet him as a young zealot for his Jewish religion (Acts 8:1); we last see him aged, contentedly preparing for death, and that which comes after (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6). He did not get from the one to the other in a single step, and neither shall we. But get there we must, and best so if we have put to rest the cares of this world in preparation for the next. Paul made his journey one trial at a time, but his consistency throughout his trials gave him victory over self and selfish desires; he learned to divest himself of the thoughts, actions, and material resources that kept him from freedom in Christ. His words echo across the millennium and centuries and into our lives today: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 6:1)
The slavery that Paul speaks of is first directly related to sin and its consequences; but it is not limited to that. He says, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.” (Rom. 6:12-13) And he underscores the redemptive mercy of God found in Christ Jesus. “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14)
But his life journey, and the thoughts he shares, move beyond sins of commission to the potential of sins of omission, and then beyond again. We get no sense in his letters that he is in an unrepentant sin condition, but rather that he uses his knowledge of the human sin propensity to keep himself in check in these regards. He has a life-long struggle, common to us all, in this respect. “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.” (Rom. 7:14-15) He furthers this thought, adding “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin.” (Rom. 7:21-23) James, in similar context, adds “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:17)
The concept of dealing with sins of commission and sins of omission is a rudimentary—though never to be forgotten, always to be guarded—aspect of a Jesus-follower’s life. In Hebrews we are told to “move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death.” (Heb. 6:1) It is in this context that we examine the mature Paul’s later writings and their import—that is, beyond overcoming the slavery to sin lies the purpose of the one who is able to forgive sin. (cf. Luke 7:49, Col. 1:13-4, Heb. 10:16-17)
Earlier, Paul says “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19b-20a) It is out of this personal context that Paul speaks of the Spirit-led dominion he has learned to apply to his words and actions. “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” (1 Cor. 9:19) In fact, however, Paul is first and foremost still a slave, but his slavery is far different than his life as a Jewish religious zealot. In the Book of Romans, his theological magnum opus, Paul opens by describing himself as “a servant of Christ Jesus, set apart for the gospel of God.” (Rom. 1:1)
The word he uses for servant is that of not just a *slave, but a **bondservant—one who willingly becomes a life-long slave of his master. The outcome of Paul’s slave relationship to Jesus is the underlying force that gives him unerring freedom of directed choice about how he interacts with others. And so, he continues, “To the Jews I became like a Jew; to those under the law like one under the law; to those not having the law like one not having the law; to the weak like one weak.” (1 Cor. 9:20-22) And in all of these interactions, Paul’s purpose is the purpose of his master, “who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6), in order to bring “many sons and daughters to glory.” (Heb. 2:10a) And so Paul says, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22b)
In the most hypothetical sense, all of us are as free as we choose to be. But hypothesis in such a broad context, like an old whaling ship run aground on a rocky reef, breaks apart in hard contact with complex realities. From the simple fact that we live in gravity we learn that we cannot fly unaided by mechanical contrivance—this, of course, a sophomoric juxtaposition of human will in contrast to the laws of physics. More tenuous, but stronger yet for its nuances, are all the subtleties of relationships—the ‘ties that bind.’ Neither husband nor wife is free to violate the bonds of wedlock. The results are much like jumping off a cliff expecting to fly. Feel free to forsake paying your bills, and watch as car or house is repossessed.
Freedom without responsibility always leads to chaos. In spiritual parallel, the creature that establishes freedom from its creator is not free, but has merely traded masters. There are ultimately only two masters between whom we not so much have the choice to serve, but must make a choice, since there is no other. One, or the other, no other options. Choose wisely.
Q. Do I desire the freedom of the outlaw, or the boundaries of God?
*Strong’s 1401 – “dulous.”
**Louw-Nida 87.76.