Galatians 1:4 says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” An age is a part of the world as the satanic system. The present evil age, according to the context of Galatians, refers to the religious world, the Jewish religion, because in 6:14-15 Paul pointed out that the circumcision practiced by the Jewish religion was a part of the world. Therefore, the purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us out of the evil age, the religious world which is a part of the satanic system, and to thus set us free.
Colossians 2:20 says, “If you died with Christ from the elements of the world....” The elements of the world refer to the religions, ordinances, and philosophies (Col. 2:8, 21-23) of the world. Actually, all the religions, ordinances, and philosophies of the world are inventions of man’s wisdom and cleverness through Satan’s initiation that man may be bound. Since we have been joined to Christ by believing into Him, through our co-death with Him we have been rescued from the world. Hence, we have also been rescued from the bondage of the worldly religions, ordinances, and philosophies that we may enjoy the freedom of the salvation in His life.
First Peter 1:18-19 says that “you were redeemed...from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers... with precious blood...of Christ.” The vain manner of life of people today was handed down from their fathers, generation after generation, and it is difficult for them to be freed from it. However, Christ accomplished redemption on the cross, shedding His precious blood to redeem us back to God. Hence, we have been delivered from the vain manner of life handed down through the generations, that we may be free to live out a sanctified life that expresses God in His holiness.
To be freed is to be released. The freedom which the believers enjoy when they are made a new creation is their being freed, released, from all bondage of sin, law, self, Satan, and the world. When Christ sets us free, He first saves us from sins and from the power of sin that we may have the real freedom, that we may no longer serve sin as slaves, and that we may be freed from sin. He also saves us from law and its bondage that we may be no longer under law as slaves of ordinances, bound by letters, but under grace as sons in life, enjoying freedom in life, and that we may be freed from labor under law and religion or any work and responsibility to enjoy rest. Furthermore, He saves us from the flesh and the old man so that we are no longer entangled with the flesh or encumbered with the old man. He also saves us out of Satan’s oppression and his authority of darkness. Moreover, through His death in the flesh on the cross, He has destroyed Satan, thus setting us free from Satan’s hand, delivering us out of his kingdom of darkness, and transferring us into Christ’s kingdom of light that we may enjoy freedom in the light. Lastly, He has rescued us from the world’s temptations, course, and current, from the religious world and the elements of the world, and from the vain manner of life handed down from our fathers, that we may be free to live out a sanctified life that expresses God in His holiness.