Free to do good
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1
How can I do good without falling prey to the yoke of bondage? The uptight, do-good religious crowd tells me that the only way that I can do good things is by submitting to their version of bondage (religion). I want to do good things. But I don’t want to be in bondage as I do them.
Under the yoke of bondage, I must do good to be good. Do good to be good – this is the worst kind of bondage that anyone, anywhere could possibly ever be called upon to endure. But in Christ’s liberty, the best good I do is to believe on Him.
And as I believe on Him, I am good because He is good in me. I am not good in and of myself, I am good because it is His goodness in me. In this body of flesh, I will always be sold under sin, and yet, I am good in Christ because He is holy. I am good in Him because He is my righteousness.
Can I bear the responsibility of being a sovereign individual? Yes, I most certainly can because Christ is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Bearing the responsibility of my sovereign individuality has nothing to do with me being good to be good and everything to do with Christ making me good by His very own perfect righteousness in me.
Without Christ, I would not dare to bear the responsibility of my sovereign individuality because without Him, this would mean that I would be obligated to bear the responsibility of my own sin by doing good to be good. But in Christ, I can take full responsibility of my sovereign individuality because God made Him to be sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Me taking full responsibility for my sovereign individuality in Christ means that He has set me free from the law of sin and death. But this, of course, can only be accomplished in fullfledged freedom. Freedom is not freedom unless it is total freedom – the freedom to be fully loved as a genuine sinner. And this kind of love can only be found in God’s free, sovereign grace.