The saying, “I have freedom in Christ” is used often today to justify almost any action by anyone in the Church. Christian liberty today looks a lot like licentiousness. It is really pretending that God has not spoken on certain things through His word and then implementing whatever new idea the world has come up with into the Church.
But how does the Bible define Christian liberty? The clearest, most direct teaching on Christian liberty is found in Romans 14. This chapter gives the Christian two places where he has freedom, what he eats and drinks and whether or not he observes a day. It is very interesting to note that these are two areas where the Church has historically set up many rules regulating the very areas where God says we have liberty and not to judge. The main principles regulating Christian liberty are that in these two areas don’t violate your own conscience and don’t put a stumbling block in front of your brother in Christ. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
In two upcoming posts, I will look at these two areas in greater detail. The scriptures have much to say regarding Christian liberty. I wanted to make the point in this first post that Christian liberty is much more narrowly defined in the scriptures than is presented in the modern Church.