Crucifixion and Freedom

In Galatians 5:1 Paul tells us, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free." To be set free means to no longer be in bondage. To be free means to no longer be in subjection to, under the dominion of, or be controlled by.

Unlike the silly song that tells us we are free to dance, there is a spiritual freedom, a true liberty of heart and soul and mind that we have been given in Christ. Paul lays the foundation for our understanding of this freedom in Romans 6:1-14, as he tells us that we have been set free from sin, we are no longer slaves to sin, that sin should no longer be our master.  The key to understanding this, and the foundation of our freedom, is given in 6:6-8 as we are told our old self was crucified with Him and that he who has died has been set free from sin. So we see that it is crucifixion that sets us free. Our being baptized into Christ unites us with Him in His crucifixion and resurrection. We have been freed from sin and its stranglehold by being crucified with Christ.

In Galatians Paul fills out the rest of of what is implied in Romans 6:1-14, and what has been accomplished in our being crucified with Christ. In Galatians 2:19-20 we see that through crucifixion we are set free from the bondage of the Law (Romans 6:14, 7:1-2, 6).  In Galatians 5:24 we see that through crucifixion we are set free from the flesh with its passions and desires (Romans 6:12-13, Galatians 5:16-21, Ephesians 2:3, Romans 13:13-14).  In Galatians 6:14 we see that through crucifixion we have been set free from the world with its anti-God philosophies and ways (I John 2:16, 5:4-5, 5:19, Colossians 2:20).

As Christians we no longer breath the foul air of imprisonment, but now breathe the fresh air of freedom. The freedom that only death can bring.  Let us rejoice in our freedom, and praise God for our freedom, because in Christ we are free indeed.

Christ and Our Sin

...our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus

who gave Himself for us to redeem us

from every lawless deed.

Titus 2:13b-14a

Redeem, lutroo in the Greek.  It means to set one free by means of a ransom.  Every lawless deed (NASB)/all lawlessness (ESV), pas anomia in the Greek.  The phrase here means every type, every form , every kind of sin.

So this small section in Titus tells us that our great God and Savior Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, to ransom us and set us free from any and all sin.  This is not a broad brush of sins in a general sense, but sins in a particular sense.  Christ did not die for sins in general, but sins in particular.  He died for our particular sins, each and every one of them.  Therefore, it is not a universal salvation, but a particular salvation.  We have been freed from the penalty and power of every type and every form of sin.

The ransom has been paid and we have been set free from the bondage and power of each and every type of sin, every kind of sin.  Therefore there is absolutely no sin that can have dominion over us.  We are no longer slaves to sin, any sin, there is no longer any sin that can be master over us.  That means that we have been released from the power of pornography, immorality, homosexuality, bitterness, selfishness, gluttony, arrogance, lying, unforgiveness, and a host of other sins.  Christ has paid the price with His very own blood, and has effected our ransom so that we would be set free from the power and dominion of any sin. 

He has also redeemed us, set us free, from the penalty of each and every sin.  Each and every sin has a just recompense and each and every sin must be accounted for; and Christ has paid the penalty for each and every one of our sins for us.  Therefore we have been released from the damning effect of each and every sin, the eternal consequences of each and every sin, the eternal weight of judgment and the eternal wrath of God for each and every sin.

So, how dare we take sin lightly, any sin, so as to not even speak of sin at all.  There is no such thing as a little sin, or an innocuous sin.  There is no such thing as an inconsequential sin.  Each and every sin must be, and will be, accounted for.  Each and every sin has its just penalty and must be atoned for.  Each and every sin merits the eternal wrath of God, and no sin is overlooked or swept under the rug by God.  Christ redeemed us, each and every one of us, by paying the redemption price for each and every sin for us all.  So let us not take our sin(s) lightly, don't blow them off, don't shrug them off because they seem too small.  Confess your sin, be broken and contrite over your sin, each and every one of them; because Christ died for each and every one, to pays its penalty and to set you free from that sin.

This is the great salvation we are not to neglect.  Let us pay great attention, and give great praise to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the greatness of His saving us.

The Way of Sacrifice

...To see Christ as having offered the perfect sacrifice that brings us salvation is not to enter a realm cheap grace.  It does not mean that we offer no sacrifice.  It means that our sacrifice is of a different order.  It is not atoning, but a costly response to a sacrifice that is atoning.

The way of salvation is a way of sacrifice.  That means basically that it is the sacrifice of Christ that takes away sins once and for all.  But it also means that those for whom the sacrifice was offered live sacrificially.  They offer their bodies 'as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God' (Rom 12:1).  Paul speaks of himself as being made a sacrifice in the service of other Christians (Phil 2:17) and he refers to the gifts the Philippian Christians sent him as 'a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God' (Phil 4:18).  The writer of Hebrews refers to a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name' and he speaks of doing good and sharing with others as sacrifices with which God is well pleased (Heb 13:15-16).  Peter is another who sees Christians as offering 'spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ' (I Pet 2:5).  Clearly there is an important element of sacrifice in the service that Christians are expected to render to God.

Leon Morris
The Atonement
Page 65

The Cross, God's Righteousness in Salvation and Forgiveness

No explanation is adequate which does not see God as shown to be just or righteous, legally in the right, in the way in which He provides salvation for sinners....the way God saves sinful man accords with what is right.  God is just, not only in saving, but in the way He saves....The cross demonstrates the righteousness, the justice of God.  In the very act by which sin is put away decisively, the death of Christ on the cross, God is seen to be just.. It is not the fact that God forgives that shows Him to be righteous, but the fact that He forgives in a certain way, the way of the cross.  It is the cross that shows God to be righteous in the very act of forgiveness...

...God forgives in a way which accords with right.  God does not set aside the moral law when He forgives.  It can never be said that He forgives simply because He is too strong for the devil.  That would mean that in the end with God might is right.  The language of justification is a perpetual protest against any such view.  It provides an emphasis on the truth that our God is just, is righteous, that He has regard to moral considerations even when He saves people who do not deserve salvation.  God saves in a way which is not only powerful but which is right.

Leon Morris
The Atonement
Pages 194-195

Accepted by God

We are accepted by God on the basis of Christ's merits,

not on the basis of our own; and by placing us into Christ,

God has guaranteed His acceptance of us.

Understanding the Cross

"We cannot get a glimmering of an understanding

of what the New Testament understands by

Christ's atoning work unless we see that God

is hostile to every evil thing and every evil person."

Leon Morris

The Atonement

Its Meaning and Significance

Page 138