Benny Nalkara, CMI

“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another” (Gal 5:13). This seems to be one of the most paradoxical statements of the New Testament. Freedom is the hallmark of Christian life; and it is the most cherished desire of every human person to be free. More than all NT writers, Paul has emphasized this aspect of Christian life. The term “eleutheria” means freedom from the law. Christian freedom is the liberation from the rituals and rubrics of the OT (Acts 15:1-15) and from the curse of law (Gal 3:13). Paul’s use of this term is to denote how Christ liberates human being from the slavery of sin and all the powers at its command like law, flesh and death. According to Paul, slavery to Christ and submission to his Lordship provides the basis for the exercise of liberty. The slavery to Christ frees the believers from the bondage to self (the works of the flesh).

It is in the context of Judaization and its effort to enforce the observation of the Mosaic Law that Paul fought for freedom (Gal 5:1). But this is only one aspect of the freedom. The letter to the Galatians deals only with this aspect of freedom. There are many other aspects for freedom: Basica11y, for Paul, freedom is freedom from, in and for. It is a freedom from sin, death and law; it is a freedom in the Spirit and it is a freedom for serving others out of love. Hence Christian freedom is not a freedom for onese1f, but a freedom which makes it possible for us to be available to the others. So it cou1d happen that the very use of freedom entails restrictions on us. It was in this way that Paul made use of his freedom, denying to himself many of this rights (1 Cor 9: 1-18). So also Paul had to react to the Corinthian slogans: “All things are lawful for me; by adding “not all things are helpful; I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23). The Corinthians understood freedom as something to be enjoyed by themse1ves. But Pau1 understands freedom as a gift of God, by using which others are rendered happy.

Christian life involves a call to become responsible persons, where freedom has to be a responsible freedom and positive laws are guidelines for exercising this responsible freedom. There is a secular understanding of freedom, which is understood by many as something to be enjoyed by oneself. But Christian understanding of freedom is that it is something through which we become freely available to the others through love and service. It is a freedom for others and not for oneself. Jesus was a free person for others. According to Paul, under the Spirit’s direction, freedom is employed to serve and support the needy (Gal 6:1-10). Altruism and a sense of sacrifice are essential characteristics of Christian freedom. Paul opines that our freedom is not to be used “an opportunity for the flesh.” It’s rather an occasion to be slaves to one another in love (Gal 5:13). As Christians we are “subject to none” with respect to liberty and “subject to all” with respect to love. What is intended here by Paul is that we should have the slave like faithfulness and availability for others in serving them.

The Church is the community of those who have been liberated from all enslaving factors through the work of Christ and his Spirit. It is a gift and a task entrusted to them to make best use of it for the building up of the community. They should take care not to misunderstand the nature of Christian freedom and confuse it with the secular and political understanding of it. As a result of the new wave of freedom sweeping across the society in our times, there is danger of Christians also having resort to its political concept and applying its techniques and principles for achieving their personal and selfish goals. On the other hand, it is also possible that those who are holding authority in the Church restrict the legitimate freedom of her members through a wrong application of the concept of authority. It is precisely here that Paul’s understanding of freedom has to be applied as a liberating power through love for the well-being of the community. Only with the help of the Spirit of God can we enjoy this freedom and what we need today is the openness to this Spirit to guide and inspire us.