Initial Thoughts on Liberty

Webster's 1828 dictionary defines liberty in part as “to deliver from confinement; to release from restraint. To be at liberty, to be free from restraint.” It is this aspect of liberty we think of when we consider what God has done for us.

The concept of liberty is as old as man. While some argue Adam and Eve were enslaved by God in that they were not free to act as they wanted in the Garden, and were anything BUT free, scripture teaches us we are in fact in bondage to sin, and FREE in Christ (Galatians 5:1 reads, “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”). Liberty is a gift bestowed by God (one of the most famous Biblical examples is the Exodus). Just as He granted freedom to the Israelites when He brought them out of bondage in Egypt, so He has set free those who believe in Him (Romans 6:7 reads “anyone who has died [to the old self] has been freed from sin”) from the bondage of sin and death. True freedom, true liberty is a gift of God.

The men who crafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution knew this. Our forefathers referenced God as the One who grants us our liberty. Their words are clear: All men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” They understood we have the right to liberty, and they understood who bestows that right.

So what’s the point? The point is this: liberty releases us. It releases us from the bondage of sin. It frees us from our past, and from our bad habits, and from our tendency to disobey God. Liberty also releases us from the bondage of tyrannical rule. Whether that is Pharoah, or King George, or an intrusive civil government—liberty removes the bondage God never intended in our lives.