Back to Table of Contents
1. The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the rigor and 1curse of the law; and in their being delivered from this present evil 2world, bondage to 3Satan and dominion 4of sin; from the 5evil of afflictions, the fear and sting 6of death, the victory of the grave, and 7everlasting damnation; as also in their 8free access to God; and their yielding obedience unto him not out of a slavish fear 9but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the Mosaic Law 10for the substance of them; but under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged by their freedom from the yoke of that law, and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the 11Holy Spirit of God than believers under the law did partake of.
2. God alone is 12Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men 13which are in anything contrary to his word or not contained in it. So that to believe such doctrines or obey such commands against one’s conscience 14is to betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring of an 15implicit faith and absolute and blind obedience is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also.
3. They who upon pretense of Christian liberty do practice any sin or cherish any sinful lust, as they do thereby pervert the main design of the grace of the gospel 16to their own destruction, so they wholly destroy 17the end of Christian liberty; which is, that being 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 life.
- Galatians 3:13 ↩︎
- Galatians 1:4 ↩︎
- Acts 26:18 ↩︎
- Romans 8:3 ↩︎
- Romans 8:28 ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 15:54,55,56,57 ↩︎
- 2 Thessalonians 1:10 ↩︎
- Romans 8:15 ↩︎
- Luke 1:74,75; 1 John 4:18 ↩︎
- Galatians 3:9,14 ↩︎
- John 7:38,39; Hebrews 10:19,20,21 ↩︎
- James 4:12; Romans 14:4 ↩︎
- Acts 4:19, 5:29; 1 Corinthians 7:23; Matthew 15:9 ↩︎
- Colossians 2:20,22,23 ↩︎
- 1 Corinthians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 1:24 ↩︎
- Romans 6:1,2 ↩︎
- Galatians 5:13; 2 Peter 2:18-21 ↩︎