Our home is our individual castle which presides over our own world of individual sovereignty. Nothing-whether government regulation, social convention, institutional authority, or family pressure-blocks us from doing whatever we want to do. No external compulsive power is able to tell us what to do or how to live. When America issued its Declaration of Independence in 1776, it stated that all human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Ever since Americans have made liberty one of their most cherished-if not the greatest–values.īut what does freedom mean to most Americans today? When I hear my fellow citizens talk about freedom, I get the sense that what freedom means for them is license to do whatever they please. The Common American Understanding of Freedom We especially do so when we Americans bring to Paul our own prevailing understanding of freedom. It is easy, however, to pervert Paul’s message if we do not take time to understand what he means by freedom. It could be printed on posters and mounted prominently in every church. This verse is Paul’s gospel claim within the sphere of public debate. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ![]() ![]() The apostle’s point comes through most boldly in Galatians 5:1:įor freedom Christ has set us free. I did so because Christians have long regarded Galatians as a powerful statement about the freedom Christ has conferred upon believers. Two years ago when I published my study guide to the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, I titled it Charter of Christian Freedom. The apostle’s view runs counter to that of most Americans.
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