The Paradox of Freedom

If you’ve ever crate trained a puppy you know that it can be challenging. Raising any domesticated animal is not for the faint of heart but puppies seem particularly difficult. If the young animal needs to spend significant time indoors alone, especially if the owner is away at work or elsewhere, a crate is almost a necessity. Although the first few nights can be tough, eventually they get accustomed to the crate and will often wander into it even when the owners are home. It has become a safe and predictable place for them.

This same concept applies to human beings, albeit not spending time in a crate, of course. Humans flourish when they live under the constraints of God’s authority rather than being "free” to pursue their own desires. It is a paradox that freedom to sin leads to slavery, a concept that Paul unpacks in the book of Galatians. Yes, his context specifically referenced Jewish converts who were contemplating a return to Judaism after having experienced Christ, but the concept is the same. True freedom is not found when humans live without boundaries.

Again, this should not surprise us. Even after creation, God gave Adam clear but brief limitations intended for his own good. If Adam and Eve had followed them, they would have flourished as would all their offspring. Satan’s tactic in Genesis 3 was to challenge those limits and suggest that God did not have their best intentions at heart. The first humans’ punishment for violating those restraints was banishment from an Edenic existence to a life of following their own base instincts, something all people past and present still suffer from.

In Galatians Paul contrasts the law/works based Jewish religion with the freedom found in Jesus. In chapter 5 verse 14 the apostle writes, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” In verses 16-18 Paul expands upon his argument:

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

In other words, if as believers we choose to live within God’s perfect plan we will live an abundant life. Therein lies the paradox; it is in giving up the freedom to pursue our own way that we experience the true freedom which God intended. In addition, in Jesus we have an offer of forgiveness for those times that we, like Adam and Eve, listen to the voices that would urge us to go our own way. What a perfect plan of salvation!

Jesus, I thank you for freely offering up yourself for our forgiveness. At creation you knew which way humanity would go yet you chose to create a beautiful world anyway. Thank you for being so patient with us when we continually pursue our own pleasures, leaving the confines of your perfect plan to experience a false sense of freedom.

Throughout this day: Read the book of Galatians and trace Paul’s extended argument contrasting true and false freedom.