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 but my yoke upon you, and learn of me, (for I am meek and lowly in heart,) and ye shall find refreshment to your souls: for my yoke is easy, and my burthen is light.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever maketh a practice of sin, is the servant of sin.
so that they are inexcusable; because having thus known God they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but were infatuated by their own reasonings, and their heart being void of understanding was darkened.
for he that is thus dead with Christ, is delivered from sin.
But thanks be to God, that ye who were servants of sin, have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you: and being set free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteousness.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not: for I do not that which I would; but what I hate, this I do. read more. And if I do that which I would not, I consent to the law that it is good: but now I am no more the doer of it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For I do not the good that I would; but the evil which I would not, this I do. Now if I do that which I would not, I am no more the doer of it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a kind of law, that when I would do good, evil besets me. For I delight in the law of God, as to the inward man: but I perceive another law in my body warring against the law of my mind, and captivating me to the law of sin, which is in my body.
The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. So that the Spirit itself 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 that ye know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that ye turn again to the poor weak elements, to which ye desire again to be in bondage as before?
and my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected me for it; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Which things are figurative; for these persons are emblems of the two covenants, the one from mount Sinai, bringing forth children unto bondage, which is Hagar: for this name Hagar, a rock, is expressive of mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to the present Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.
I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye will not fulfil the desire of the flesh: for the flesh desireth things contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit things contrary to the flesh: and these are opposite to each other; so that ye do not those things which ye would. read more. But if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance: against such things there is no law. read more. And they, that are Christ's, have crucified the flesh with it's passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
For by grace ye are saved, through faith: and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not by works, that no one may boast:
in the vanity of their mind, darkened in their understanding, and alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, by reason of the hardness of their heart:
and deliver those who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage.
Ye are not come to a tangible mountain, and burning fire, and a thick cloud, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard, intreated that the word might not any more be thus delivered to them: read more. (for they could not bear the strict command, if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or shot through with a dart; and so terrible was the appearance that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble:)
But he that looketh well into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
as free, and yet not using your liberty as a cloke for wickedness, but as the servants of God.
And we have seen, and do testify, that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. read more. And we have known and believed the love which God hath towards us: for God is love; and he, that dwelleth in love, dwelleth 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 to the end, for which He hath anointed me: He hath sent me to publish good tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to release them that are bruised,
If therefore the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved; and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more power over Him: for as He died, He died once for all on account of sin; read more. but as He liveth, He liveth unto God. So also do ye reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your bodies as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your bodies as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall have no power over you, inasmuch as 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! Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves servants to obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey? either of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to God, that ye who were servants of sin, have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you: and being set free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: as ye have yielded your bodies servants to impurity and iniquity to work iniquity; so now present your bodies servants to righteousness, unto holiness. For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit therefore had ye then in the things, which ye are now ashamed of? for the end of those things is death. But now being set free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath set me free from the law of sin and death. For that which was impossible for the law to do, and in which it was weak through the corruption of the flesh, God by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sacrifice for sin, hath done; that is, hath condemned sin in the flesh: read more. that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage.