2 Corinthians 3:17—Galatians 2:4; Galatians 5:1; Psalm 119:45-48
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty—Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts. I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): What sweet enjoyments they have who love and serve their God—David accounted the service of his God to be perfect freedom.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): All that love God love His government, and therefore love all His commandments. Five things David promises himself in his duty here, in the strength of God’s grace:
1. That he should be free and easy: “I will walk at liberty,” freed from that which is evil, not hampered with the fetters of my own corruptions, and free to that which is good;
2. That he should be bold and courageous: “I will speak of thy testimonies before kings;”
3. That he should be cheerful and pleasant: “I will delight myself in thy commandments,” in conversing with them, in conforming to them;
4. That he should be diligent and vigorous: “I will lift up my hands unto thy commandments;” which notes not only a vehement desire towards them, but a close application of mind to the observance of them;
5. That he should be thoughtful and considerate: “I will meditate in thy statutes.”
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): The way of God’s precepts is liberty—therefore His law is called a “law of liberty,” James 1:25. No such freedom as in God’s service; and, on the contrary, no such bondage as to be held with the cords of our own sin: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption,” 2 Peter 2:19. A liberty to do all we please is the greatest bondage.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Liberty has always been highly prized—and can never be prized too highly…When will men distinguish between civil governments and Christianity? The one regards us as citizens, the other as Christians. Well, we have civil liberty as citizens, and spiritual liberty as Christians—a liberty “unsung by poets, and by senators unpraised.”
CHARLES SIMEON: Just as civil liberty is appreciated amongst us, there are but few who have just conceptions of that liberty which has respect to morality and religion. Everyone knows that unrestrained liberty is licentiousness: but everyone does not know, that a perfect obedience to God’s Holy Word is the most perfect liberty that man can enjoy.
WILLIAM JAY: Let us endeavour to exemplify our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus. It will be found to include five things. First, Our freedom from the exactions and impositions of men in religion. We are willing to abide always by our Saviour’s distinction: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s,” Luke 20:25. Where religion is concerned, The Lord is our King, the Lord is our lawgiver; and, if any require us to believe or do what He has not enjoined us to believe or do, we are to obey God rather than man.
Secondly, This liberty includes a freedom from the tyranny of sin and Satan. As saith Paul, “What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life,” Romans 6:21,22.
Thirdly, It includes freedom from the condemnation of the law. “The soul that sinneth shall die,” Ezekiel 18:4; and, saith Paul, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them,” Galatians 3:10. And who has ever done this? Who has ever continued, from the first hour of reason, in avoiding everything the law forbids and in doing everything the law commands? But whose curse is it? The curse of Almighty God: and who knoweth the power of His anger? And the execution of this power is certain, unless what?—unless a surety be found; and such a Surety has been found, who has said, “Deliver them from going down to the pit,” Job 33:24; I will give myself a ransom; I will bear their sins in my own body on the tree; I will suffer, “the just for the unjust, to bring them to God,” 1 Peter 3:18; “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1. No; He has “redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them,” Galatians 3:13. Now, “therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1.
Fourthly, It includes freedom of access unto God. The effect of sin is to separate us from God, and to keep us from God. When the angels sinned in heaven, they were immediately banished; when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, they were driven out of it; and for sinning, the Jews were expelled from the land of Canaan. But now, through Christ Jesus, who is the Mediator between us and God, “we have access by one Spirit unto the Father,” Ephesians 2:18. The believer has full liberty to approach unto God at all times, in every place, under all circumstances; full liberty to hold communion with Him in the fields, or in their ordinary business; full liberty to enter His house, to come to His table, to hang upon His arm, to recline upon His bosom, to call Him their Lord and their God—the strength of their heart and their portion forever.
Fifthly, It includes freedom to enjoy the good things of nature and providence. Unscriptural self-denial and self-imposed severity, with regard to abstinence from the blessings of providence, have never promoted the mortification of sin or sanctification of heart. The Scripture hath said, “Every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” 1 Timothy 4:4,5.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Saints find no bondage in sanctity. The Spirit of holiness is a free spirit; He sets men at liberty and enables them to resist every effort to bring them under subjection. The way of holiness is not a track for slaves, but the King’s highway for free men.
FREDERICK W. ROBERTSON (1816-1853): When the Bible says that a man led by the Spirit is not under the law, it does not mean that he is free because he may sin without being punished for it; it means that he is free, because being taught by God’s Spirit to love what His law commands, he is no longer acting from restraint. The law does not drive him, because the Spirit leads him.
THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): Wherever God pardons sin, he subdues it, Micah 7:19. So, how shall we know God hath pardoned us? If the fetters of sin be broken off, and we walk at liberty in the ways of God, this is a blessed sign we are pardoned.
CHARLES SIMEON: Let me commend this liberty to your acceptance—think not that the Gospel is a mere system of restraints: no, it is a “perfect law of liberty,” James 1:25; and “all who are made free by Christ, are become free indeed,” John 8:36. Take upon you the yoke of Christ, and you shall find it light and easy; and you shall obtain everlasting rest unto your souls, Matthew 11:28,29.
