The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the Gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law; and, in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin; from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as also, in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law. But, under the new testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected; and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.
The Confession starts its discussion of Christian liberty--an important topic to take up immediately after the law--with a mouthful of a paragraph. I won't try to dissect all of this today.
"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). Also, "for freedom Christ has set us free," said Paul in his exhortation to the Galatians against a return to bondage under the law (5:1). So one of the benefits Christ has purchased for us in our redemption is liberty or freedom. But freedom from what? Liberty to do what? The Confession mentions several consequences of our liberation by and in Christ:
1. We are made free from the guilt of sin. Our guilt has been removed. We are therefore no longer condemned, having been delivered out from under the curse of the law.
2. We have also been delivered from "this present evil world," meaning all the corruption of sin and especially from slavery to Satan and sin. The prince of this world (meaning the corrupt world system) no longer has mastery over us.
3. We are set free from the evil consequences of sin, in particular the sting of death and the victory that the grave once claimed over us. We still experience physical death but we no longer have to fear it and we have the great Christian hope of the bodily resurrection.
4. We no longer have to face eternal damnation.
5. Finally, we have been set free in our relationship to God. No longer does he meet us in his wrath but in his adopting love. We enjoy free access to him (whereas before we were separated and at enmity with him) and we are enabled to obey him out of love and gratitude and not out of a slavish fear of retribution.
Tomorrow: The largesse of the new covenant.
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