Freedom (1657) (eleutheria from eleutheros- that which is capable of movement, freedom to go wherever one likes, unfettered; see word study on verb eleutheroo) describes the state of being free and stands in opposition to slavery or bondage.
Vine writes that it means...
“liberty” , is rendered “freedom” in Gal. 5:1, “with freedom did Christ set us free.” The combination of the noun with the verb stresses the completeness of the act, the aorist (or point) tense indicating both its momentary and comprehensive character; it was done once for all. The RV margin “for freedom” gives perhaps the preferable meaning, i.e., “not to bring us into another form of bondage did Christ liberate us from that in which we were born, but in order to make us free from bondage.”
The word is twice rendered “freedom” in the RV of Gal. 5:13 (KJV, “liberty”). The phraseology is that of manumission from slavery, which among the Greeks was effected by a legal fiction, according to which the manumitted slave was purchased by a god; as the slave could not provide the money, the master paid it into the temple treasury in the presence of the slave, a document being drawn up containing the words “for freedom.” No one could enslave him again, as he was the property of the god. Hence the word apeleutheros, No. 2. The word is also translated “freedom” in 1 Pet. 2:16, rv. In 2 Cor. 3:17 the word denotes “freedom” of access to the presence of God. See liberty. (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words)
Eleutheria refers to personal liberty but not license. The deceiving (and deceived - see 2Ti 3:13-note) false teacher promise their listeners the freedom to live as they please. To the contrary, true liberty is living as we should not as we please. Eleutheria was used especially in NT times of the freeing of slaves.
Chuck Swindoll has an excellent illustration of the meaning of the verb eleutheria....
Back in the nineteenth century our sixteenth president realized something radical must be done about slavery in our country. Unwilling to look the other way any longer, on September 22, 1862, he presented what came to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation, an official document condemning human slavery. Abraham Lincoln, realizing that slavery is completely against human dignity, officially abolished it from the United States on that day. Tragically, little changed in the daily life of our nation, even though the slaves were officially declared free. You know why; you’ve read the stories. The Civil War was still going on. The plantation owners never informed their slaves. The vast majority of the former slaves couldn’t read, so they had no idea what the news was carrying. There was no mass media then to announce those kinds of presidential pronouncements. And so for the longest time, slavery continued even though it had been officially brought to an end. The war ended in April 1865. Do you know when Lincoln’s declaration was officially enacted? When the people finally began to leave their enslaved lives and make their way toward freedom? December 18, 1865—more than three years after he first released his proclamation. Lincoln had been dead for months. The word traveled out of the streets of Washington and down into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, across the back roads of the Carolinas and into Georgia, then Alabama, then Mississippi, then Louisiana, then Texas, then Arkansas, announcing what had been true for more than a thousand days. Even then the word somehow either wasn’t believed or wasn’t acted upon. Those officially emancipated people, thinking slavery was the way they were condemned to exist, continued to live in bondage though they had been declared free men and women since the fall of 1862. (Embraced by the Spirit The Untold Blessings of Intimacy with God)
NIDNTT writes that in classic Greek...
The noun eleutheria is derived from the adjective eleutheros. O. Schrader derives it from the Indo-Germanic *leudh-, belonging to the people, and thus not subject. It is connected with Lat. liber (free), and Schrader links it with Old High German liut, Modern German Leute, people (Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde, II 19292, 454 f.; but cf. Liddell-Scott, 532). In so far as a man belongs to the people, he is a free citizen as contrasted with a slave or foreigner. Eleutheria thus means freedom, independence, in the sense of being independent of others, being able to dispose. This way of speaking arose originally in contrast to the bondage of slaves. Similarly, the adjective eleutheros means free, not bound, of free birth. It also indicates someone who is his own master. Later the noun and the adj. could occasionally be used to denote the mental attitude which makes use of freedom. It could be used (as it mostly was) in the good sense of noble, being in control of oneself, magnanimous, generous. But it could also be used in the less frequent and bad sense of being reckless, or unrestrained.
In secular Gk. eleutheros has primarily a political sense. The eleutheros is the full citizen who belongs to the polis, the city state, in contrast to the slave who did not enjoy full rights as a citizen. Freedom consists in his right to participate fully in public debates over civic matters. It is the right of free speech, parrhesia openness, boldness, frankness. He can decide about his own affairs within the polis. On numerous occasions, Aristotle spoke of the Gk. polis as the community of the free. He considered freedom to be the essential good of the polis. But in order to preserve this freedom, the law (nomos) is required as the principle of order. Freedom and law are thus not contradictory opposites. They belong together and qualify each other. The constant danger is rejection of the law in the name of a misconceived freedom which is purely arbitrary, because it is willing to grant itself more freedom than it is willing to grant to others. This idea of freedom was naturally applied to relations between states which gave rise to the idea of sovereignty. (See further H. Schlier, TDNT II 487-92.)
The mystery religions had their own answer to the question of freedom. Through the cultic rites, the initiate was freed from this hopeless world and obtained a part in the destiny of the deity (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan)
In the most basic form, this word group related to a "free man" in contrast with a slave. Such persons were usually born free, but some of them had purchased their freedom.
There are 17 uses of eleutheria in the NT...
Romans 8:21 (note) that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Comment: Freedom in this context refers to the time when all believers will be liberated finally and completely from the effects and temptation of fallen flesh nature and set free even from the pleasure of sin, to share eternally in God’s glory, with which He will clothe all His liberated sons and daughters.
1 Corinthians 10:29 I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?
Comment: Freedom is presented as the supreme blessing of the new covenant of grace, which, in contrast with the Old covenant of law, is represented as including independence from religious regulations and legal restrictions (1Co 10:29; 2Co 3:17; Ga 2:4; 2Pe 2:19).
John MacArthur writes: Our own freedom should not be judged by another’s conscience. That is, we should not cause our freedom to be slandered by expressing it in ways that offend a weaker brother. We should give thanks for the food and for our liberty and then express our liberty by choosing not to eat the food that offends the brother. How can we be thankful to the Lord for something a Christian brother or sister is going to stumble over?
A T Robertson comments that: Paul deftly puts himself in the place of the strong brother at such a banquet who is expected to conform his conscience to that of the weak brother who makes the point about a particular piece of meat. It is an abridgment of one’s personal liberty in the interest of the weak brother. Two individualities clash. The only reason is love which builds up (1Co 8:2 and all of 1Cor 13:1ff). There is this eternal collision between the forces of progress and reaction. If they work together, they must consider the welfare of each other.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Comment: In context believers now have freedom of access to God without fear in opposition to the fear in Ex. 34:30. We need no veil and we have free access to God. The end of the dominance of the Law means liberty.
Galatians 2:4 But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage (to the law, legalism).
Comment: Here eleutheria describes the unfettered condition of the Christian soul in contrast with the Jewish condition of bondage to law. Spiritual liberty or spiritual bondage? Note the Source of the freedom is "in Christ Jesus", made effective by the Spirit of Christ who indwells believers - see 2Co 3:17. Christian freedom is not license. When we become free in Christ we lose our freedom to sin, of which we were once a slave.
Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
Comment: Human freedom that in which man was originally created, is not liberty to do wrong or to indulge oneself, but in fact is liberty to obey God. As Vine says "Man is so constituted that only as he pleases God can he be happy in the higher, the spiritual, part of his nature, and efficient for the great ends for which he was created. The essence of the Fall lay in this, that man used his endowment of freedom against the Giver of it. Instead of enhancing and extending his freedom by his disobedience, however, man’s first exercise of his will apart from God brought him into bondage to a new master, sin (Ro 6:17, 18; 7:14), working through a threefold agency, the world, the flesh, and the devil (1Jn 2:16, 17; 3:8). Thus sin is not the true master of men, but a usurper, ruling with rigor, albeit the rule is disguised so that not even the wisest seems capable of recognizing it apart from the teaching of the Spirit of God."
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Comment: Paul says our liberty in Christ has limits imposed by our consideration of others.
James 1:25 (note) But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.
James 2:12 So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
1 Peter 2:16 (note) Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
Comment: Real "freedom" is a marvelous paradox for it entails enslavement to God!
2 Peter 2:19 (note) promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
Comment: Christian liberty is far removed from the fleshy license which these false teachers promise their foolish followers. John Bunyan (1628-88), author of Pilgrim's Progress, suffered in Bedford jail for his faith so was especially qualified to write on the subject of freedom
Wherefore, though the Christian, as a Christian, is the only man at liberty, as called thereunto of God; yet his liberty is limited to things that are good: he is not licensed thereby to indulge the flesh.
There is one use of eleutheria in the Septuagint...
Leviticus 19:20 'Now if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has in no way been redeemed, nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not, however, be put to death, because she was not free.
Freedom is presented as a signal blessing of the economy of grace, and these false teachers are turning the grace of God into licentiousness, continually promising those “trying to escape” the struggles of life, the very freedom they themselves do not possess. For example they may teach false doctrines such as "Freedom in Christ means “doing your own thing” or “having it your way”, a devilish doctrine that is the very essence of sin and rebellion against the will of God and His holiness.
In stark contrast the freedom Jesus Christ offers is enjoying fulfillment IN the will of God. It is freedom and inherent Spirit given ability to live as one SHOULD, not as one PLEASES! Our victory in Christ is over death and the power of sin (1Cor 15:55, 56, 57) and frees the redeemed to achieve their greatest human potential to the glory of God.
The Quaker Rufus Jones, paraphrasing Aristotle, said,
“The true nature of a thing is the highest that it can become.”
Jesus Christ frees us to become our very best for God in this fleeting life, and then to be like Him in the next. These false teachers brought their followers into bondage by means of the LIE, whereas our Lord Jesus Christ brings men into freedom by means of the TRUTH. teaching the basic spiritual principles that "you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." (Jn 8:31, cp Jn 17:17) and the opposite principle that "everyone who commits (present tense = habitually, as their lifestyle) sin is the slave of sin." (Jn 8:34)
The false teachers promise freedom, but their promotion of licentiousness only brings bondage for freedom can never be found in the flesh, but only in God’s Spirit (contrast those in Jude 1:19). Unqualified freedom in any area of human life is deceptive and deadly.
As A W Tozer said...
Freedom is liberty within bounds: liberty to obey holy laws, liberty to keep the commandments of Christ, to serve mankind, to develop to the full all the latent possibilities within our redeemed natures. True Christian liberty never sets us free to indulge our lusts or to follow our fallen impulses. (God Tells the Man Who Cares. 1992, page 185)
Freedom isn’t found in what Jesus can give us, but only in Jesus Himself. Those who live by God’s truth enter into more and more freedom, but those who live by lies experience more and more bondage, until
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning (see note 2 Peter 2:20)
To reiterate, the freedom offered by these teachers is a false freedom, a freedom that tragically (ironically) only leads to bondage. It is based on false promises, empty words that sound exciting but that have no divine authority behind them. It is offered by false Christians (wolves in sheep's clothing) who were involved in a false experience. From start to finish, this brand of freedom is clearly the work of our adversary, the devil (Jn 8:44).
The writer of Hebrews warns us to beware of the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13-note). (See Related Discussion: The Deceitfulness of Sin)
Sin always promises freedom but in the end brings bondage. It promises life but instead brings death. Sin has a way of gradually binding a person until there is no way of escape, apart from the gracious intervention of the Lord. Even the bondage that sin creates is deceitful, for the people who are bound actually think they are free! Too late they discover that they are prisoners of their own appetites and habits.
Wuest has this note...
The liberty spoken of in Gal 5:1 is liberty from the Mosaic law, not liberty to do as one pleases. The one set at liberty from the law is under a stronger and more effective compulsion, namely, divine love as ministered to the yielded saint by the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:13). These false teachers, not being saved and therefore not knowing grace, misrepresented the latter as license to sin.
John Piper has a reasoned discussion of this section noting that
false teachers were right to promise people freedom. The call to freedom is at the heart of New Testament faith. But this was not a call to give free reign to your passions. For then you are really a slave of corruption as verse 19 says. The apostolic call to freedom recognizes 1) that Christ had died to free us from the guilt and power of sin; 2) that we are free from the law in the sense that we need no longer strive to keep it in our own strength; and 3) we are given new hearts by the Holy Spirit so that freely we delight in holiness. But everywhere this gospel of freedom was preached false teachers distorted it. And 2Pe 3:16 [note] shows that the writings of the apostle Paul were a sitting duck for this distortion. It says, "There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction." The false teachers take the unstable souls (cf 2Pe 2:14-note) and teach how to use the letters of Paul to justify their view of sexual freedom. Paul already knew that his teaching about freedom was open to this abuse and he warned against it. For example, in Gal 5:13 he says: "You were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another." But the false teachers were doing just that, using their freedom as an opportunity to indulge their love for money and their love for praise and the love for sexual pleasure. They probably quoted Gal 5:1 with great power among the new and unstable converts: "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery!" "Away with the enslaving rules that govern the life of the body! You are not under law; you are under grace!" But they probably neglected entirely those other teachings of Paul, "If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live" (Ro 8:13-note). So Peter blasts the trumpet of warning: they are twisting the Scriptures to their own destruction and their promised freedom is a bondage to corruption. (Better Never to Have Known the Way)
><>><>><>
Illustration - Everybody longs for freedom. But for many people its pursuit leads to bondage. Beloved Bible teacher Henrietta Mears knew the secret of true freedom, and she wanted her students to know it too. With young people in mind, she said, "A bird is free in the air. Place a bird in the water and he has lost his liberty. A fish is free in the water, but leave him on the sand and he perishes. He is out of his realm. So, young people, the Christian is free when he does the will of God and is obedient to God's command. This is as natural a realm for God's child as the water is for the fish, or the air for the bird."
Wise King Solomon urged his son to understand that true freedom is possible only within the sphere of God-centered living, for which He created us. By contrast, bondage predictably and inescapably comes to anyone who ignores God's truth. Proverbs 16 describes the liberty and satisfaction that come from practicing humility, trust, careful conversation, and self-control. But it also warns about the inevitable bondage that comes into the lives of people governed by willful rebellion, pride, arrogance, strife, and malicious trouble-making.
The New Testament introduces us to Jesus—the ultimate source of our freedom. He, our Creator and Redeemer, said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32). —M. R. De Haan II Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
True freedom is not having our own way,
but yielding to God's way.
Torrey's Topic
Christian Liberty
Foretold -Isaiah 42:7; 61:1
CONFERRED
By God -Colossians 1:13
By Christ -Galatians 4:3-5; 5:1
By the Holy Spirit -Romans 8:15; 2Co 3:17
Through the gospel -John 8:32
Confirmed by Christ -John 8:36
Proclaimed by Christ -Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18
The service of Christ is -1 Corinthians 7:22
IS FREEDOM FROM
The law -Romans 7:6; 8:2
The curse of the law -Galatians 3:13
The fear of death -Hebrews 2:15
Sin -Romans 6:7,18
Corruption -Romans 8:21
Bondage of man -1 Corinthians 9:19
Jewish ordinances -Galatians 4:3; Colossians 2:20
Called the glorious liberty of the children of God -Romans 8:21
Saints are called to -Galatians 5:13
SAINTS SHOULD
Praise God for -Ps 116:16,17
Assert -1Co 10:29
Walk in -Psalms 119:45
Stand fast in -Ga 2:5; 5:1
Not abuse -Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 2:16
Not offend others by -1Corinthians 8:9; 10:29,32
The gospel is the law of -James 1:25; 2:12
FALSE TEACHERS
Promise, to others -2 Peter 2:19
Abuse -Jude 1:4
Try to destroy -Ga 2:4
The wicked, devoid of -Jn 8:34; Ro 6:20
Typified -Lv 25:10-17; Ga 4:22, 23, 24, 25, 26,31
WHILE THEY THEMSELVES ARE SLAVES OF CORRUPTION: autoi douloi huparchontes (PAPMPN) tes phthoras: (Jn 8:34; Ro 6:12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; Titus 3:3)
While - When you encounter words like this that indicate an expression of time, pause and query the word. To what time does it refer? What happens during this time?, etc
Literally "themselves being bondservants of the corruption."
These false teachers first come as a trusted guest, linger to become an appealing host, and remain to enslave their unwitting victims!
Since these false teachers have denied Jesus Christ Who purchased with His own blood enslaved sinners from the power of sin (2Pe 2:1), they have in effect denied the only Source of spiritual freedom (Jn 8:31, 32, 36, Ro 8:2-note, Ga 5:1). Writing to Titus Paul reiterates every man's condition who refuses God's offer of forgiveness in Christ...
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (see note Titus 3:3)
A good rule of thumb by which to judge whether a teacher is true or false is to listen to what they say about the Cross. When any teacher does not put the Cross at the center of his or her teaching, beware! Turn from that teacher. Our redemption is in the blood. Jesus bought us with His blood.
They themselves (the false teachers) are unable to deliver the freedom they promise, because they themselves are (continuously enslaved to the very corruption which their followers are also trying to escape. You cannot set someone free if you are in bondage yourself, and these false teachers were in bondage to sin. They professed to be born again but had never really been redeemed (set free) themselves as proven by their permanent condition of enslavement! A profound irony of sin is evident here: the quest for freedom from God leads only to slavery to sin and self. True freedom from sin involves joyful “slavery” to God (cf. Ro 6:18-note). The apostate ministers talk a lot about freedom, but they mean freedom from divine authority and freedom to sin. Actually, this is not liberty but the worst form of bondage. They themselves are slaves of corruption. Bound by the chains of evil lusts and habits, they are powerless to break free.
Are - Notice this verb is in the present tense which indicates their continual enslavement to sin, their master, a cruel master indeed!
Be the first to react on this!
Greek Word Studies ( - )
Read freely Greek Word Studies from the Austin Precept text commentary of the Bible in text and pdf format. Precept Austin is an online free dynamic bible commentary similar to wikipedia with updated content and many links to excellent biblical resources around the world. You can browse the entire collection of Commentaries by Verse on the Precept Austin website.We have been "bought with a price" to be "ambassadors for Christ" and our "salvation is nearer to us than when we believed" so let us "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" "so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." (1Cor 6:20, 2Cor 5:20, Ro 13:11, 2Cor 7:1, 1Jn 2:28)