Galatians 2:4 reveals that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the sphere of freedom. In this verse Paul speaks of “the false brothers, brought in secretly, who stole in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into slavery.” Such strong negative terms as false brothers, stole in, and spy out should impress us with the fact that freedom in Christ is a great and precious matter. Here we see the contrast between freedom in Christ versus slavery under law. The Judaizers perverted the gospel of Christ by secretly bringing the observances of the law into the church, and they troubled the genuine brothers in Christ in order to bring them into slavery under the law (1:7). The Judaizers were slaves under law; they did not realize how much they were suffering under the slavery of law. Christ is the Emancipator of the Jewish people. Exodus reveals that Christ, typified by Moses, delivered the children of Israel from the slavery of Pharaoh (3:8; Heb. 3:2). In the New Testament, Christ came to release them again from another form of slavery, the slavery of law. In Christ the believers have freedom from the slavery of law.
Freedom in Christ has at least four aspects. First, freedom in Christ implies liberation from the bondage of the law. Because we are free in Christ, we are no longer obligated to the law, its ordinances, practices, and regulations (Gal. 2:19). Anyone who tries to keep the law makes himself a debtor to the ordinances, practices, and regulations of the law. Because we all have human shortcomings, we cannot fulfill the requirements of the law. Throughout history, only one person—the Lord Jesus—has kept the law (Matt. 5:17). The requirements of the law are too heavy for us to fulfill. Hence, if we try to keep the law, we will come under the yoke of the law, place ourselves under the slavery of the law, and serve the law as a slave (Acts 15:10). Freedom in Christ, however, liberates us from all such obligation.
Second, freedom in Christ includes satisfaction with a rich, supporting supply. If we are free outwardly but do not have anything to support us or satisfy us, this freedom is not genuine. Proper freedom is not only liberation from obligation; it is also full satisfaction because of an adequate supply. In contrast, under the law there is no satisfaction because there is no supply. The law makes demands, but it offers no supply to meet those demands.
Third, to be free in Christ is to enjoy true rest without being under the heavy burden to keep the law. If we strive to keep the law, we will not have true rest because our efforts to keep the law place us under a heavy burden. But in Christ we have true rest.
With slavery under law, it is not possible for us to be at rest. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord Jesus said, “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” This promise was spoken especially to those who were trying to keep the law. It refers in particular to the labor of striving to keep the commandments of the law and religious regulations. To have rest here means to be set free from labor and burden under law and religion. In making this declaration, the Lord indicated that those who are striving to keep the law and are burdened under the law should come to Him so that He would set them free from the yoke of the law and give them true rest in Him.
Fourth, freedom in Christ implies the full enjoyment of the living Christ. Those who place themselves under obligation to the law have no satisfaction, rest, or enjoyment. But because we are free in Him, we enjoy all that He is.
If we would have a proper definition of freedom in Christ, a definition that matches our experience, we need to see that such a freedom involves liberation from obligations, satisfaction through the Lord’s rich supply, genuine rest, and the enjoyment of Christ. Those who have this kind of freedom are not enslaved by anything. Although Satan may sometimes put us into a difficult situation, we can still be at rest. We need not be enslaved by any situation. Instead, we can enjoy the Lord. This means that we are free in the depths of our being. This is our freedom in Christ.
Freedom in Christ is a treasure. Satan, the subtle one, sent in the Judaizers to spy out this freedom and to deprive the Galatian believers of this treasure. He wanted to take away their liberation from obligation, their satisfaction, their rest, and their enjoyment of Christ.
Those who strive to keep the law do so not by the Spirit but by their flesh (Gal. 3:3). For this reason, they do not participate in God’s promise and have no enjoyment of life in grace by the Spirit. Life, grace, and the Spirit have nothing to do with the keeping of the law. The law does not have life, does not give grace, and does not depend on the Spirit. Hence, in the keeping of the law we have no life, grace, or Spirit. Instead, we have only our striving in the flesh.
As we consider the matter of freedom in Christ, we need to see that Christ as the life-giving Spirit imparts life by grace. Grace is God processed to be our enjoyment. In 1:15 Paul says that God called him through His grace. This indicates that when God called us, He called us by Himself as the One processed to be our enjoyment. Christ as the life-giving Spirit imparts life into us by the Triune God who has been processed to become our enjoyment. As a result, we have been united to the Triune God. In this organic union we are absolutely one with the Triune God and released from slavery under law. In this union we enjoy the freedom that is ours in Christ.
We should praise the Lord for our freedom in Christ. We are not in slavery under law; we enjoy freedom in Christ. We are free from obligation, and we have satisfaction, rest, and enjoyment in Christ.