Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience

The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the rigor and curse of the law,¹ and in their being delivered from this present evil world,² bondage to Satan,³ and dominion of sin,⁴ from the evil of afflictions,⁵ the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave,⁶ and everlasting damnation.⁷ It also consists in their free access to God and their yielding obedience to him, not out of slavish fear,⁸ but from a childlike love and a willing mind.⁹ The substance of all these liberties was common to believers under the law,¹⁰ but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of a ceremonial law to which the Old Testament saints were subjected, in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God than believers under the law ordinarily partook of.¹¹

God alone is Lord of the conscience¹² and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any way contrary to his word or not contained in it.¹³ To believe such doctrines or obey such commands out of conscience is to betray true liberty of conscience.¹⁴ This requiring of an implicit faith, an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also.¹⁵

However, those who practice any sin or cherish any sinful lust on the pretense of Christian liberty pervert the main design of the grace of the gospel to their own destruction.¹⁶ They wholly destroy the goal of Christian liberty, which is this: having been delivered out of the hands of all our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our lives.¹⁷

1. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” ↩︎
2. Galatians 1:3–4 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. ↩︎
3. Acts 26:15, 18 “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you…to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” ↩︎
4. Romans 8:2-3 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 6:1–2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ↩︎
5. Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ↩︎
6. 1 Corinthians 15:54–57 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ↩︎
7. 2 Thessalonians 1:9–10 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. ↩︎
8. Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ↩︎
9. Luke 1:68, 72, 74–75  “He has visited and redeemed his people…to remember his holy covenant…that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”  1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. ↩︎
10. Galatians 3:9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  Galatians 3:13, 14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. ↩︎
11. John 7:38–39 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  Hebrews 10:19–21 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God. ↩︎
12. James 4:12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?  Romans 14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. ↩︎
13. Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.”  Acts 4:29 “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”  1 Corinthians 7:23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.  Matthew 15:9 “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ↩︎
14. Colossians 2:20–23 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. ↩︎
15. 1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.  2 Corinthians 1:24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. ↩︎
16. Romans 6:1–2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ↩︎
17. Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  2 Peter 2:18, 21 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error….For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. ↩︎