They do not stand fast in the freedom wherewith Christ has set us free.
They are not “free indeed” with the freedom which the Son of God won
for us.
This is not an academic question. It is not a discussion of points
of law, nor the making of fine distinctions in the deeper spiritual
mysteries. _It is a question of sin._
When our Lord was telling the Jews that if they believed him and
followed him they would know the truth, and the truth would set them
free, they threw back their shoulders in their pride of ancestry and
boasted that they were Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any
man. The Son of God did not stop to discuss questions of race, or of
political liberty, but went to the heart of the matter with one of his
tremendous verilies: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that
committeth sin is the bondservant of sin” (John 8:34).
Christians Who Are Bondslaves
That Word of the King of kings is the word that needs to be thundered
to-day, or, what is more effective, whispered to-day into the souls of
men. There is no bondslavery comparable to this. A man may be on the
side of righteousness so far as the conflict of nations is concerned
to-day, but what avails that for the solving of his individual problem
if he is the bondservant of sin?
If, then, the question of law and grace is a question of sin, it is the
most vital matter that can concern men to-day. Always alongside of sin
is another word beginning with S――“Salvation,”――that is, this word is
always alongside of sin in _this age of Grace_. When our Lord told the
Jews of this bondslavery, he did not leave them there, but added that
wondrous word: “If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be
free indeed.”
There is needed to-day a great challenge to be thrown at an unbelieving
world, a testimony that cannot be answered,――_Christians walking at
liberty_, men and women living in the midst of these awful days of
stress with the “freedom indeed” which belongs only to sons of God. But
instead of that an unbelieving world is constantly face to face with
the puzzling spectacle of professing Christians who are bondservants of
sin, who do not know the meaning of liberty.
For let us remember the word of the Master, and not nullify it with
theological explanations to make it fit into the experiences of
Christians: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth
sin is the bondservant of sin.” And Christians are bondservants of sin
because they are living under law and not under grace. They are not
using, not enjoying, the freedom that Jesus Christ purchased for us.
Have We Nothing to Do with Law?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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