July 3, 2005
Christian Liberty
Now that the days are getting shorter and my annual eleven-month bout
of seasonal affective disorder has started to set in, I look for things to
pick me up. One of those things is the Fourth of July holiday. It has little
to do with fireworks, picnics, concerts, or hot dog eating contests at Coney
Island. My encouragement comes primarily from what the holiday commemorates.
I cannot read the opening and closing of the Declaration of Independence
without getting chills. The soaring ideals that are expressed in that document
and the people who articulated those ideals motivate me to live up to a greater
standard of citizenship than I might if I did not have their example.
It is all too easy to forget just how much of a risk the colonists took
in 1776. On June 7th of that year, when Richard Henry Lee of Virginia
moved that the Continental Congress pass a resolution in favor of independence
and John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the motion, they were acting in
ways that everyone knew would be interpreted as treason. In fact, the Congress
decided ahead of time to not record their names in the minutes of the session
as a measure of protection.
After several days of debate, the Congress named a committee of five to
draft a declaration of independence in anticipation of an affirmative vote
on Lee's resolution. Those five–Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman,
Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson–were also arguably subject to charges
of treason.
Nor was the task of Congress easy. Jefferson had about two and a half
weeks to draft a written rationale for severing the colonial ties that had
existed for almost 170 years. Also, a unanimous vote of the thirteen colonies
was necessary if the project were to succeed, but a unanimous vote was not
a certainty. The people and even the delegates themselves were of divided
opinion. For example, the delegates from Maryland were all in favor of independence,
but the will of the people of Maryland was opposed. Only a second convention
in late June changed the will of the people of Maryland to direct the delegates
to vote for independence. When a vote on Lee’s resolution was taken on July
1, Pennsylvania and Delaware did not approve. In the case of Delaware, only
two of the three elected delegates were in attendance, and they voted against
each other. The third delegate, who was ill, was summoned to make the 80-mile
trip to Philadelphia to break the tie the next day. In the case of Pennsylvania,
the colonial convention had given the delegates permission to vote according
to individual conscience. During the July 1st vote, the delegation
of seven was divided 4-3 against independence. Two delegates chose to not
attend the next session on July 2 so that the delegation could make the Congressional
vote unanimous.
When the final version of the Declaration of Independence was approved
on July 4th, only John Hancock, president of the Congress, and
Charles Thomson, the secretary and witness, signed the document. It was in
this form that the declaration was sent to the King of England. Again, the
two signatories were marked as traitors.
The delegates to the Continental Congress were not the only ones who put
their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on the line. Jacob Duché was
the leader of the Anglican Church in Philadelphia. He had lately become a
voice in favor of independence, finding the roots of political liberty in
religious liberty. After the colonies voted for independence, Duché
crossed the name of King George III from the Anglican prayer book. Because
the King of England was the head of the Anglican Church, this act symbolically
excommunicated the king.
As Duché discovered, liberty can have a more profound meaning for
us as Christians. Whether we celebrate the July 2nd anniversary
of the Colonies’ vote for independence, the July 4th anniversary
of their adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the July 1st
anniversary of the implementation of the British North American Act that
made Canada a self-governing dominion, or the June 28th anniversary
of the handover of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority to
governing council of Iraq, we are reminded of what freedom can mean.
The apostle Paul wrote about Christian liberty in Galatians 5:1: "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."
This letter was addressed to believers in a region of the Anatolian peninsula
in what is now the country of Turkey. The area had been home to the Hittites
around the time of Moses in the middle of the second millennium BC. Around
800 BC, it became part of the newly established Phrygian kingdom with its
capital at the city of Gordium, where Alexander the Great would later undo
the Gordian knot with his sword. You might not recognize the name Phrygia,
but you probably know its most famous king, King Midas. In the seventh century,
the region was taken over by the kingdom of Lydia, which introduced coined
money to the world. In 546 BC, the area became a province of Persia. The
Persian Empire continued to expand into Europe until 490 BC when the Athenians
defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, a victory famously announced
by the messenger Pheidippedes, who promptly died after running the roughly
26 miles to Athens. As the boundaries of the Persian Empire receded back
through Asia, King Xerxes introduced slavery to Indo-European subjects. The
region traded hands for several decades until Alexander the Great swept through
between 334 and 333 BC. After Alexander’s death in 323, the territory fell
under the successive control of Antigonus, Lysimachus, and then Seleucus
in 281 BC.
About this same time, there was a population explosion among the Celtic
peoples of Western Europe. The Gauls parted company with the main body of
their fellow tribesman in the upper Rhine River valley, where Germany, France,
Belgium, and the Netherlands sit today. Some migrated to Spain and are remembered
today through the name of the region they settled, Galicia. Some migrated
to Italy where they battled the Roman legions. And some Gauls moved southeast
through the Balkan Peninsula to Macedonia, the northern part of Greece, in
281 BC. They failed to sack the city of Delphi but retained their military
reputation. In 279 BC, three tribes, comprised of about 10,000 men and an
equal number of women and children, split off and crossed into Asia Minor
at the invitation of Nicomedes I of Bithynia, who needed help in his dynastic
struggle against his brother. Their help proved pivotal, and they were permitted
to stay in the north central steppes of Anatolia. They chose as their capital
an ancient caravan city 150 miles north of Iconium that they named Ancyra,
which meant "anchor." The city survives today as the Turkish capital Ankara.
Speaking of Turkey, in the city of Istanbul, there is a piece of land
called the Golden Horn that juts into the Bosporus Strait and forms a harbor.
The Golden Horn is where the old city is located. There is a bridge that
extends from the old city north across the harbor. It is called the Galata
Bridge because it leads to the district of Galata, which was named for the
Gauls who did not cross into Asia in the third century BC. Those who had
crossed into Asia were called Galatai in Greek. The prefix of that
name denoted that they were Gauls, and the suffix simply indicated it was
an ethnic name. The name might have had a double meaning because the Greek
word for "milk" was gala. The name might have referred to the pale
complexion of the Gauls. Regardless of the etymology, the territory they
settled came to be known as Galatia.
The Galatians established a military aristocracy and gained a reputation
as mercenaries. Some of their mercenary activity was directed against the
Romans. Rome subdued the Galatians in 189 BC. Problems eventually arose again,
and in 64 BC, Rome made Galatia a client state, along with Cappadocia and
Judea. A new government was established in which one chief for each of the
three Gaul tribes was appointed tetrarch. They were supposed to be
co-equal, but one quickly gained supremacy over the other two. Eventually,
the Romans began referring to this leader as "king." The third king, Amyntas,
died in battle in 25 BC. His heir, Pylamenes, built a temple to a Phrygian
goddess in allegiance to the Roman emperor Augustus. Augustus took over Galatia
as a Roman province and added territory to the south that the Galatians had
never ruled. This territory included the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium,
Lystra, and Derbe, cities Paul visited during his first missionary journey.
Galatians is one of Paul’s earlier letters. It has been called a "short
Romans" because Romans reads much like an expanded version of the material
in it. It has also been called "Luther’s book" because Martin Luther relied
so heavily on it, even referring to the book as his "wife." The older theory
about the letter was that Paul addressed it to the historical Galatia in
the north and that perhaps he had visited the region during his second missionary
journey prior to going to Troas even though no details of such a visit are
recorded in Acts. The younger theory is that he addressed it to the annexed
provincial territory that he had visited during his first journey. According
to this theory, he probably wrote the letter around AD 48 or 49 prior to
the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15. Either way, the purpose of the
letter was to answer the questions, "What is the responsibility of Gentile
converts to Christianity in relation to Jewish laws and customs? Do they
have to go through all the same requirements that the Jews had to as Jews
before they became believers?" To put it more negatively, the purpose of
the letter was to address the heresy of the Judaizers, who were teaching
that the Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians.
Paul’s approach in the letter was to identify the source of the gospel
by relating his personal testimony regarding the good news, to provide a
defense of the gospel by teaching the truth regarding the law, and to describe
the application of the gospel by depicting what living the truth by the Spirit
looks like. The verse we read earlier is the conclusion of Paul’s teaching
regarding the truth of the law as well as the introduction to how to apply
the gospel in daily living.
Let’s read the verse again: "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." Imagine for a moment how this verse would have struck
a Galatian believer in the first century. The spiritual meaning was communicated
through a metaphor with which the people of Asia Minor were intimately familiar.
Even with no knowledge of their own history, the Galatians would have quickly
interpreted the words through the filter of their experience as non-Romans
in the Roman Empire. Some of the believers might have even been slaves themselves.
When Paul wanted the recipients of his letters to remember a concept, he
used language to conjure images that they understood.
Whenever the Bible speaks of liberty, it implies a prior state of bondage
or incarceration. The liberation is from something, and the liberation is
for a reason or purpose. In this case, we have been liberated from slavery
for a life of enjoyment and satisfaction that was not possible before. This
begs the question of to what or to whom we were enslaved. The immediate context
of this passage refers to enslavement to the law. The broader context also
includes the idea of enslavement to sin. We know from other parts of the
Bible that we were also slaves to the demonic powers of darkness, ceremonialism,
superstition, and even death.
What might be a more interesting question is, how did we get into the
state of slavery? In the ancient world, there were numerous ways one could
become a slave. A person could sell himself into slavery or be captured,
purchased, born to a slave parent, ordered into slavery as restitution, abducted,
or abandoned as an infant. Being born into slavery describes how we became
slaves to the sinful nature, the powers of darkness, and death. But to become
slaves to the law, we really have to sell ourselves into it, or willingly
choose to take on that burden. The law was a created framework to show us
what we could not accomplish on our own. It also included the curse that
obedience to one part of the law demanded obedience to all parts of the law.
Paul goes on in the next few verses to say that turning to the law ruins
grace, makes man a debtor, is to fall away from grace, hinders the progress
of other believers, and removes the offense of the Cross. These tendencies
are all marks of spiritual immaturity.
The phrase "for freedom" in verse 1 had a specific connotation. Manumission
of slaves in ancient Greece was accomplished in an unusual way. The master
and the slave would go to a temple together, and the master would pay a price
to the temple treasury. The slave would be given a paper with the words "for
freedom" written on it. The person could never be enslaved again because
he was now the property of the temple god. Alternatively, manumission could
be granted in return for a contract of services, so the former slave would
have the same employment but legal freedom. In reality, Christ has purchased
our freedom and we now belong to Him. In practice, though, we sometimes live
as though our manumission came about by the second method. Although we know
and even affirm our status of freedom, we maintain the lifestyle of slaves.
Although the sin nature and legalism no longer have any claims on us, we
subject ourselves to their influence and control. In the words of St. Augustine,
we are "free but not freed."
The liberty Paul describes is from slavery to powers that oppose
God for the fulfillment of His claims upon one’s life. We enjoy release
from bondage to created things only through bondage to our Creator. Galatians
5:13,14 puts it, "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not
use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another
in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.’" Ironically, the only way to fulfill the law is not to
be slaves to the law but rather slaves to the Lawgiver.
Paul knew that this process would not be easy, so in verse 1 he issued
the command, "Stand firm." When I hear that command, I think of the passage
about spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:13-18:
"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything,
to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted
with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all
this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions
with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always
keep on praying for all the saints."
The sandals that Roman soldiers wore were equipped with spikes. When a
soldier’s feet were on the ground, the spikes would dig into the earth to
give him traction and the ability to hold his position against advancing
troops. Paul exhorts us to stand as firmly as a Roman soldier.
There is another point to be made here. Notice that we are commanded to
resist the evil one. Other verses echo this instruction. James 4:7 says,
"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." I Peter 5:8-9 says,
"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like
a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in
the faith, because you know that your brothers around the world are undergoing
the same kind of sufferings." When it comes to temptation, we are instructed
to retreat. I Corinthians 6:18: "Flee from sexual immorality." I Corinthians
10:14: "Flee from idolatry." II Timothy 2:22: "Flee from the evil
desires of youth."
Our inclination is often to retreat from Satan and to try to resist temptation.
Both aspects of this approach have problems. First, let’s consider the retreat
from Satan. If you will recall the list of spiritual armor in Ephesians,
you might recognize that all the pieces are designed to withstand a frontal
assault. There is no armor to protect the back. A Roman soldier who turned
to run away in battle would leave his back exposed and would lose sight of
his enemy. The same is true for us. Our spiritual armor will be rendered
ineffective if we turn to run away from the devil.
Next, let’s consider resisting temptation. Temptations wouldn't be temptations
if they weren't tempting. They are called temptations precisely because they
are alluring and difficult to resist. They stroke us where we are vulnerable.
In contrast to the spiritual battle in which all believers are engaged against
a common enemy, temptation frequently greets us in isolation because we are
not all equally tempted in the same way. Furthermore, temptation does not
have the capacity to recognize Scriptural truth the way Satan does. We remain
on guard by continually praying in the Spirit for ourselves and others, and
we repel Satan’s advances by correctly brandishing the word of God. However,
temptation does not advance upon us, it lures us in. We move toward it. We
cannot make temptation run away by refuting it with Bible verses. The only
way to increase the distance between us and temptation is for us to fall
back.
If we are to stand firm, we need to resist Satan and retreat from temptation.
Our stand is also more effective when we take it together. Go back to the
spiritual armor. One of the pieces is the shield of faith. The shields that
Roman soldiers used were designed to interlock with other shields. Soldiers
standing side by side could link their shields together to form an unbroken
barrier. The Ephesians passage referred to using the shield to extinguish
the flaming arrows of the evil one. Flaming arrows might be fired in a volley
from the enemy line. The Roman line would see the arrows arc through the
air before raining down on their positions. For protection, the Romans would
all crouch down and hold up their shields for cover. Again, by linking the
shields together, the Romans would form an unbroken umbrella for coverage
until the volley of arrows was finished. The lesson for us is that a combined
defense offers each of us greater protection than if we go it alone.
I want to make a couple of points about heresy. (I hope I do not make
heretical points, though.) First, the intent of the people who propagate
heresy and false teaching is not always malicious. After all, we all know
where the road paved with good intentions leads. In this particular situation
in the Galatian churches, the Judaizers might have been motivated by a sincere
desire to avoid the persecution of Zealot Jews who objected to their fraternizing
with Gentiles. It is possible to expose the incorrectness of a message without
assuming the worst about the messengers who deliver it.
Second, even when false teachers have malicious intent, it is important
to remember that the things that enable such people to be malicious–existence,
intelligence, will–are themselves good things. Another way of saying it is
that evil is evil, but the existence of evil is not. Evil is a perversion
of good, and it reminds us that there is a better way.
Third, the history of heresy and false teaching is the shadow side of
the development of doctrine. As nice as it would be to not have to confront
false teaching, there is a long-term benefit that comes from exposing it
for what it is. Our understanding of doctrine becomes more refined and enriched.
False teachers force us to be sounder teachers.
Fourth, I would argue that a greater problem than not recognizing heresy
as heresy is trying to accommodate it in spite of what we know. The ability
to recognize heresy is related to the level of spiritual growth. A relatively
young believer can easily be susceptible to false teaching, for example.
On the other hand, when people who know better decide that the correctness
of essential doctrine is not worth struggling over, then truth is relegated
to a second-class status from which it no longer has the power to set people
free.
A common criticism of Christianity is that Jesus simply founded a peculiar
sect of Judaism, but Paul came along and twisted Jesus’ teachings to the
point that Christianity became a new religion. The implication, whether tacit
or explicit, is that Paul created something Jesus never would have wanted.
This criticism seems to miss the point that Paul wrote most of his letters
before the gospels were written. Galatians most probably pre-dates all four
gospels, with the possible exception of Mark. The doctrine that Gentile converts
do not need to obey the Jewish laws and customs was one of the first in the
theology of the Church.
The criticism of Christianity also misses the point that there were two
competing versions of the history of Israel that were presented to the world
in the first century. Just as Jesus and the apostles re-formulated what constituted
fulfillment of the law, the Jews who rejected Jesus were involved in reinventing
Judaism after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70.
In the first century AD, there were roughly six million Jews living in
the Roman Empire. They represented about one-tenth of the total population.
Approximately one million Jews lived in Palestine. During Jesus’ life, most
Jews never heard of Him, so very few either accepted Him or rejected Him.
By the fourth or fifth century, the number of Jews had dwindled to no more
than a million, perhaps fewer. The question arises as to what happened to
the millions of Jews who disappeared. The simplest explanation is that they
became Christians, or that they accepted the version of the history of Israel
that Jesus and the apostles presented.
The version of history presented by Paul in Galatians is that Christ has
set us free from our previous state of bondage. Our spiritual growth, our
shared prayers for each other, and our retreat from temptation all contribute
to keep us from living as slaves to created things. Real freedom is not the
ability to do anything one wants to do. Real freedom is the ability to do
everything one ought to do. Real freedom comes through being captured and
captivated by God.
C.S. Lewis defined faith as the "art of holding onto things your reason
has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods." He was mainly referring
to the effect of suffering, but I think this definition also applies to our
predilection for reverting to our old ways. In this sense, faith means holding
onto the idea that Christ’s work is complete and God’s grace is sufficient
apart from our efforts, in spite of the fact we might feel otherwise.
Probably the most useful definition of faith I have ever heard came from
an Assistant Pastor who was my Sunday school teacher in Columbus, Ohio. He
defined faith as "taking God at His Word." God’s Word to us is that we are
free.
I began this morning by talking about the Declaration of Independence.
Those who wrote, approved, and signed the document are commonly accused of
being hypocrites. They stated that "all men are created equal" while maintaining
the institution of slavery. Thomas Jefferson alone owned 200 slaves. Of the
five men on the committee that drafted the Declaration, John Adams was the
only one who was not tainted in some way by slavery. I believe this accusation
of hypocrisy is unfair for the vast majority of them and ignores two very
important points. One, they affirmed the most significant truth about the
status of people as equally created beings. Two, they never claimed that
all people equally experienced their freedom as created beings. The model
they employed was one of establishing the ideal of freedom for all people
and creating the conditions to allow those who did not yet fully experience
that freedom to progress toward the ideal. A similar model applies to us
on the spiritual level. God has established the ideal of freedom for all
believers and has created the conditions that allow us to experience more
and more of that freedom as we progress toward Him. As you enjoy Independence
Day celebrations this weekend, please think about the declaration of Christian
liberation in Galatians 5:1.