Reference: Liberty
Hastings
Moralists are accustomed to distinguish between formal freedom, or man's natural power of choice, and real freedom, or power to act habitually in accordance with the true and good. Scripture has little to say on the mere power of choice, while everywhere recognizing this power as the condition of moral life, and sees real liberty only in the possession and exercise of wisdom, godliness, and virtue. Where there is ignorance and error, especially when this arises from moral causes (Ro 1:21; Eph 4:18; 1Jo 2:11 etc.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, That every one who committeth sin is the slave of sin.
because though they knew [there was] a God, they glorified him not as God, nor gave him thanks, but became triflers in their disputations, and their stupid heart was darkened.
For he that is dead is discharged from sin.
But thanks be to God, that though ye were the servants of sin, ye have obeyed from the heart the model of doctrine into which ye were delivered. Emancipated then from sin, ye became servants to righteousness.
For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am fleshly, sold under sin. For that which I am doing I approve not: for not the thing which I wish, that do I practise; but the very thing I hate, that I do. read more. But if what I would not, that I do, I concur with the law that it is excellent. Now then no more I do this, but sin dwelling in me. For I know that there dwelleth not in me (that is, in my flesh) any good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For I do not the good which I wish: but the evil which I would not, that I do. If then I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I wish to do good, evil is presented to me. For I am delighted with the law of God, as respecting the inward man: but I see another law in my members, militating against the law in my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin which is in my members.
I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well then, I myself with my mind am servant to the law of God; but in my flesh to the law of sin.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath liberated me from the law of sin and of death.
For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received a Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father.
For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received a Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father. The same spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But now after having known God, or rather being known of God, how turn ye back again to those weak and beggarly elements, to which again a second time ye desire to be in bondage?
And my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected with disgust; but as an angel of God ye received me, even as Christ Jesus himself.
Which things are allegorical; for these are the two covenants, the one from mount Sinai, gendering unto bondage, which is represented by Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds with Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children.
STAND fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made you free, and be not again held under a yoke of bondage.
But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and ye will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh hath appetites contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit contrary to the flesh, and these act in opposition the one to the other: so that ye do not the things which ye would. read more. But if ye are under the conduct of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. read more. But they who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and irregular appetites. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
For by grace ye are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:
darkened in understanding; alienated from the life of God through the ignorance which is in them; through the blindness of their hearts:
and deliver those, even as many as through their whole life were subjects of bondage to the fear of death.
For ye have not approached the mountain that could only be groped for, and that burned with fire, and the thick cloud, and the darkness, and the tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they who heard, earnestly begged that the discourse might not be directed to them: read more. for they could not bear the charge given, and "If but a beast touch the mountain he shall be stoned, or shot through with a dart:" and so terrible was the appearance, that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling:
But he that looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and perseveres, this man not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, he shall be blessed in his practice.
as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for wicked practices; but as being servants of God.
And we have seen and bear testimony, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. read more. And we have known and believed the love which God hath towards us. God is love; and he that abideth in love, abideth in God, and God in him.
Morish
Besides the common application of this term, it is used in scripture symbolically, as
1. The liberty obtained by Christ for those that were captives of Satan. Isa 61:1; Lu 4:18; Joh 8:36.
2. The conscience set free from guilt, as when the Lord said to several, "Thy sins be forgiven thee: go in peace."
3. Freedom from the law, etc. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." Ro 7:24-25; Ga 5:1. Jesus said, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Joh 10:9.
4. The Christian's deliverance from the power of sin by having died with Christ, as in Ro 6:8-22; and, having reckoned himself dead to sin, experimentally enjoying liberty, as in Ro 8:2-4, after experiencing that the flesh is too strong for him The deliverance is realised by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and the love of God is known and enjoyed. Christ is then the object before the soul, and not self.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the work whereunto he hath anointed me; he hath sent me to preach glad tidings to the poor; to heal the contrite in heart; to proclaim liberty to the captives; and restore sight to the blind; to send forth the bruised free from bonds;
If the Son therefore make you free, ye will be truly free.
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved; and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
But if we have been dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death over him hath no more dominion. read more. For in that he died, for sin he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth to God. So also do ye account yourselves dead indeed to sin, but living unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the passions thereof. Neither present your members as weapons of unrighteousness for sin: but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness for God. For sin shall not hold dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Do ye not know, that to whomsoever ye present yourselves servants to obey, ye are his servants to whom ye obey; if of sin unto death, or of obedience, unto righteousness? But thanks be to God, that though ye were the servants of sin, ye have obeyed from the heart the model of doctrine into which ye were delivered. Emancipated then from sin, ye became servants to righteousness. I speak humanly, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have presented your members servants to impurity and iniquity for iniquity; so now present your members servants to righteousness for holiness. For when ye were the slaves of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit therefore had ye then in those things at which ye are now confounded? for the end of those things is death. But now being set at liberty from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and at the end life eternal.
O wretched man, I! who shall pluck me from the body of this death? I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well then, I myself with my mind am servant to the law of God; but in my flesh to the law of sin.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath liberated me from the law of sin and of death. For that which was impossible by the law, inasmuch as it was impotent through the flesh, God having sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in that flesh: read more. that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled by us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
STAND fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made you free, and be not again held under a yoke of bondage.