From Galatians 5
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you. I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ’s hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
You may also like
9 thoughts on “The Life of Freedom”
Comments are closed.
Very appropriate passage! Thanks for sharing. I love visiting your site!! =)
Yes, grace in the morning and every hour. to rest and yet to strain forward to what lies ahead. the christian walk of passivity, resting in his grace and not living under the law and the walk of activity, bowing, believing, etc is what calls us each day.
There’s nothing passive about living the Christian life. That’s the lie that Keswick (“let go and let God”) tries to tell us. No, in Christ we are joint-heirs — neither mere agency or passive scene in God’s drama, but active co-agents joining God in His ongoing work. Keswick is another legalism that tests our “victorious life” by how passive we are. There’s no such test under grace.
Your “Keswickian” comments confuse me! I have heard the song that contains “Let go and let God have His wonderful way…” I understood that to mean that there are times when MY will is not necessarily God’s will. I fight this continually. Because I am a “worker” by nature and a “fixer” by choice, I want to run ahead of God and do HIS business. To me, that statement simply means that I need to step back from any situation and pray before proceeding. Sometimes, my works are “in the flesh” and completely against God’s will. BUT I do not believe that means that I am to set back and WATCH God do His work! We are His hands and feet.
Galatians 5 teaches that we are free from that yoke of bondage of the law, but it also teaches that if we walk in the Spirit we will have some fruits and some standards.
The statements you have made make me feel like you are saying that anyone who tries to tell you that a Christian should adhere to any group of rules is trying to put one under a yoke of bondage and is therefore in the wrong. I say that according to Galatians 5, anyone who walks in the Spirit will be under a code of conduct and will produce the fruits of the Spirit. I don’t believe the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit co-exist.
Please enlighten me as to where we differ if that is the case and what scripture you are using to prove your point. Thanks.
Congratulations on the book! Do we get to know the name of it?
Well, Linda, Keswick is a pickle. And if you search for Keswick here, you’ll find some more of my comments to piece together.
Keswick insists that it’s either God or me — that the two are always mutually exclusive and at war. Paul teaches us otherwise when he says that we as believers are entirely new creatures (the old man is crucified with Christ).
In fact, the last chapter of my book is about Keswick! :elmo: Thanks for asking about the title. It’s “Whatsoever Things Are Lovely”: The Romantic Rhetoric of Separation.
LOL…I guess we’ll just have to buy the book to know your true feelings!!
Yes, I had already read your different posts concerning Keswick. I find it very confusing. I can’t really understand what you are trying to get across.
Are you saying that we must accept that we are new creatures and anything we do is alright before God?
I understand the “new creature” to mean that within me, since my spiritual birth is a new creation, an “earnest” toward my redemption. As I mature spiritually and allow the Holy Spirit more control, that new creature responds.
I do also believe that my flesh is still very much alive, just as Paul wrote in Romans 7, and it wars with us. We must put off, the works of the flesh and that is biblical and MY job.
I do not think that just because I am saved, I am free from ever having any wars between the flesh and the spirit.
I AM free from condemnation concerning my sins, past, present and future!!! THAT is a blessing. It took years to understand that concept. Knowing that when I was only 5 years old and having recognized my sinful state before a holy God, and taking my place of submission before him, as to His having the only remedy for my condition, makes it all the more wonderful to realize that at that precise time, He knew every sin(of course he knew that before) that I had committed and ever would commit and yet He accepted me and removed my condemnation for ALL that sin.
As a maturing christian, in my “adolescent” stage, Satan hit me with, “Well, who wouldn’t have accepted you!! You were just 5 years old! What on earth could you have done NOT to deserve salvation?” BUT thank God, the realization of my sinful condition hit me and “truth” came forth!
I may have misunderstood you. Perhaps we are in agreement. Would love to read your book when it comes out!
Well, there are several things to hash out. #1 — the flesh (meaning your physical body) is not sinful. Often we’re told that the body is evil. It isn’t. That’s not at all Scriptural. That’s Gnosticism.
#2 — Remember that Paul said we are completely new creatures: “old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.” The old man has been crucified with Christ. Read Romans 5-7. It’s amazing.
This is so complicated to explain in this awkward medium. But a friend of mine summarized it well on her blog. And Jeff VanVonderen really explains it biblically in Tired of Trying to Measure Up.
I agree…this is a strange place to hash this out…and I will look at your references. But, just had to say, when I mentioned “the flesh”, I did not mean my physical body. I meant my carnal nature. That, I do believe is sinful. My body is just what it is….a house to cover who I really am, and all that another person truly can see. I do not believe that the “house” I live in is sinful in and of itself. No need to comment, will look at the two references you have.
Camille, your links do not work properly for me. Everything one in comment 407 takes me back to your family website. I sure would like to read the links you are speaking of. Thanks.