February 20

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. — 2 Cor 3:17 BSB

The gospel is “the perfect law of liberty,” and in being perfect, it is entirely free from any trace of bondage or servitude. It is this perfect freedom that distinguishes the gospel from the law, which “works wrath” and “produces bondage.” The gospel provides freedom from sin—freedom from its guilt, as we have “our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience;” freedom from its filth, through “the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit;” freedom from its love, by “the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit;” freedom from its dominion, as “we are no longer under the law but under grace;” and freedom from its practice, as we become “servants of God, with our fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life.”

How, then, can anyone accuse this pure, holy gospel of leading to licentiousness? It is because some, who have never experienced its power and precious liberty, do as the Galatians did—trying to “frustrate the grace of God” by turning back to the weak and beggarly elements of bondage. Others, like the wicked ones denounced by Jude and Peter, pervert and abuse the liberty of the gospel, turning it into licentiousness, “sporting themselves with their own deceivings,” and, while promising others freedom, are themselves enslaved by corruption.

The gospel’s liberty, as revealed in Scripture and made known in the soul, avoids both extremes. It is perfectly free from both legal bondage and the taint of licentiousness. This holy liberty, filled with heavenly power and gracious influence, is what makes the gospel so fitting for our condition when we are first convicted of sin, cast into the prison of guilt and condemnation.

Only a complete release can deliver us from being prisoners, shut up under God’s wrath and fear of condemnation. This gospel message comes to us as pure mercy, revealing pardon and peace through the blood of Christ. When we embrace it by grace, it proclaims liberty like a jubilee trumpet through every corner of our soul.

Before we heard this precious gospel, we were slaves to sin, living to fulfill various lusts and desires, captive to Satan’s will. We thought we were free, and that the saints were the ones enslaved. But in truth, we were in bondage, while they were truly free, for they had an interest in the words of Jesus: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”