Most HSC students all over NSW are experiencing their first weekend of “freedom”. They are free from assessment tasks, studying, the feeling of guilt because they haven‚Äôt studied enough, the pressure of exams and school rules. However today’s freedom usually follows 12 to 13 years of school.
This freedom is also fleeting! Within months most school leavers have entered into further training or employment or both. Further, while free from school rules, this freedom does not extend to road rules or community laws or relationship responsibilities.
So when Paul says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1); what does he mean? He means that anyone trying to justify themselves before God by what they do, is bound to obey all the laws. It is an erroneous and impossible task. He describes freedom as “faith expressing itself through love”. (Galatians 5:6) Therefore biblical freedom doesn‚Äôt nullify our response to God‚Äôs goodness. True freedom is a lifetime devoted to serving one another in love (Galatians 5:13).
Stephen Semenchuk