The Spirit's Freedom

Introduction

Freedom can create any number of images. There is the sense of being able to do what one wants to do without restraint. That’s a very common thought in a society that endorses such. For most of us we have little concept of freedom meaning to be released from something. I suppose if you pay off a debt there is a sense of financial freedom or you finally defeat an opponent in some sport you may experience a freedom from losing. But for most of us we have no real concept about being set free from some type of bondage. To be released so that you never have to be imprisoned again.

Most of our lives have been spent in freedom; thus, freedom can be taken for granted or at a minimum not appreciated as fully. Our own minds understand that a person released from bondage can indeed return to that state if they disobey laws in the future. Thus, freedom granted today can be lost tomorrow. In this sense freedom has limits. But isn’t that true for us all. We may never have been imprisoned but freedom has its limits. Thus, we say freedom has responsibility. True freedom doesn’t exist. To be completely free is to live life without any restraints. Those who have tried to live that way, discover that restraints are inherent within life to some degree. We understand that we are free to live as we wish until our freedom restrains another’s freedom. Then we have violated freedom for another and such may restrict our freedom.

We know this is true even if we aren’t sure where the lines and boundaries are. In our text today, Paul writes about freedom. In this case, however, he turns our attention not to personal freedom but freedom in the Spirit. What does it mean to be free in the Spirit? Paul encourages us to live according to the Spirit. How do we do that?

Choice and Results

Let’s review. Jews and Gentiles are not getting along in Rome. Paul writes the letter to deal with that tension. He writes in an indirect style with the purpose of starting at the foundation, both groups through faith are believers. God chose the Jews to bring his plan into effect through Moses, through a written law, and through Jesus. The Gentiles plan was laid out differently. An inner law that was just as condemning as the written one. That is to say, that both Jew and Gentile understood that with the violation of the written law or the inner law, they were condemned. Shame. Dead. So while the paths may have been different the outcome was the same. There is not room for boasting about the path because death is the same outcome for both.

Paul has made this point previously in 2:29. The Jew who boasted in circumcision is told that the circumcision of the heart is what God has always been looking for. It was never about the external operation. It was about the internal operation done by the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit cuts away at the heart, a person is changed. The written law cannot do that. The written law cannot change a person’s heart. The law shows us our sin, but it cannot solve the heart problem. This is true for both Jew and Gentile. Every human being with the capacity to understand needs a heart operation. The law cannot do it. You cannot do it on yourself. God performs the operation through his Spirit.

Thus, 7:6 we have been released from the written code. Once the internal operation is done, the heart is changed, we are no longer under the law (the path of the Jew) nor the path of the Gentile where the internal heart was jaded by sin. A new heart has been given to us. But this is the work of the Holy Spirit. When a person has a heart transplant in real life, that person is given medication to help them accept the new heart; otherwise, their bodies will reject the new heart. The body says there is a new object in me. I must get rid of it. I must reject it. I want the original piece of equipment.

The same is true spiritually. God wants to give you a new heart. But the new heart doesn’t feel familiar. So what do we do? We want to return to the old heart. We want to do what is familiar. This is the argument Paul makes in the latter part of chapter 6. Your old heart was filled with shame and sin. You tried following the law. You tried listening to your old heart. All it got you was death. It was diseased. So God did a spiritual operation. He gave you a new heart through the master surgeon, the Holy Spirit. He gave us a heart that is holy and righteous. Nothing that we did. God provided the heart and the surgeon. We chose to be spiritually altered. This new heart means we will live forever.

Here’s the problem. New heart; but old way of thinking. A surgeon will complete his task and then the patient learns how to live with the new heart. So we have a new spiritual heart. We will live forever. But then we have to choose how we think too. New heart but old ways. 6:15, I’ve got a new heart so now I’m free to do whatever I want. That path leads to shame and sin. It’s like the person who wakes up from a heart transplant and asks for a smoke, tall glass of scotch, and the biggest pizza he can get. It’s like you know where that leads. That path is the path of death. But some of us are still thinking like we have the old spiritual heart. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. Don’t you know the path of the law leads to shame, sin, and death?

The Master Surgeon’s Plan

Paul gives fuller detail about what the Spirit does when he gives us a new heart. And Paul acknowledges that you still make a choice. You choose to live according to the Spirit’s leading or you choose to live the path of the old heart. The Spirit does his work. We can either cooperate with him or we can choose the path of the law or the path of ignoring the new heart. When we choose the path of the law, we reject the Spirit trying to make our path valid through our own actions. When we ignore the new heart and live as if the new heart no longer exists, we reject the Spirit and live in shame and sin. Both paths lead to death because rejecting the Spirit does not please God (8:8).

So if we choose to live by the Spirit, what happens? Listen to Paul. 17 times in 8:1-17, he will mention the Spirit. And even more after verse 17. This whole chapter refers to the Spirit’s work and the new heart that he has given you and how we can cooperate with him and be controlled by Him.

In 8:1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul will write in 8:9-10 that the Spirit and Christ are one. In 8:2, we find freedom—free from the law and the path of the law to sin and death. No more imprisonment to sin and its wages (6:23). In 8:4, we are no longer condemned by our sin because we now live by the Spirit. We cooperate, walk with, listen to the Spirit. In 8:5, we desire new things. We no longer want the temporary; we want the permanent. In 8:6, the Spirit gives us life and peace. Real peace when we think like the Spirit. No more death but life.

In 8:9-11, under the control of the Spirit we are now slated for resurrection. We are going to live forever with Father, Brother, and Spirit. In 8:14, we are now children of God. The new heart gives us a new family. A family whose Father loves us deeply and our older brother took our punishment. In 8:15, we are no longer afraid. No more spiritual worry. No more thinking “have I done enough.” No more doubt. Confidence. So confident that we now call him “Dad.” In 8:16-17, we have the promise of the eternal inheritance that only Father can give.

Why do we want to go back to the path of trying to keep the law? Why do we want to presume upon God’s grace and live as if we do not know grace? Why return to shame and guilt and death? Why not be free? Free to live in confidence. Free to live in life. Free with a new heart to choose the Spirit. No bondage. No prison. No chains. Free. Invitation.

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