The Freedom of Morality

 
In my essay TRUE FREEDOM OR "LIBERATION"? of 17 April this year, I attempted to explain the difference between the true, genuine spiritual freedom that we have in Christ, and the false "liberation" that the secular world offers.

I've just begun reading a book entitled The Freedom of Morality, by Christos Yannaras. He expounds - in very deep, thick prose - on the seeming paradox of freedom that is found in morality of the heart, versus the bondage found in a legalistic view of morality. There is even the mystery of "holy fools" who would identify themselves with harlots and drunkards in order to rebuke the hypocritical self-righteousness of those practicing a legalistic morality.

As stated in the pithy quote by James Anthony Froude, shown on the right, genuine morality is only possible when people are free; true morality is impossible when a person is not free to choose or reject it. This is why freedom of religious expression is so important: a totalitarian, authoritarian approach to religion in which every person in a society is forced to adhere to one religion causes most people to have only a superficial adherence to that religion.

The same holds true with secular or anti-religious worldviews: the majority of people will merely "go along to get along," and as soon as that totalitarian worldview crumbles away the people happily begin to enjoy real freedom. This is what we witnessed in August of 1991 in Russia after the failed coup against Gorbachiov. Churches were filled with people and Bibles were for sale in street kiosks. But alas, with freedom to believe and to choose morality, along came pornography and freedom to choose immorality.

Jesus Christ often experienced confrontations with the Pharisees who practiced only a superficial, legalistic morality. They were judgmental and strict, they upheld the letter of the Old Testament Law. In chapter 8 of John's Gospel, they brought Him a woman, confronting Jesus: "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the Law, commanded that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" (v. 5). Jesus bent down and simply wrote something in the dust - we don't know what He wrote, perhaps He traced out all of the Ten Commandments, and the Pharisees knew they hadn't kept all of them perfectly.

Then He said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first" (v. 7). They all began to wander away, one by one, because they were convicted in their conscience. "He said to her, 'Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more'" (vv. 10-11).

Thus our Lord Jesus Christ perfectly melded together justice and mercy: He did not condemn her, but neither did He condone her actions. He didn't say, "Go and sin some more!" - excusing away her actions as not really bad or sinful. Instead, he granted her forgiveness and freedom from her bondage to sin: "Go and sin no more!" As St. Paul wrote later, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

Further in John chapter 8, the confrontations with the Pharisees continued: "You bear witness of Yourself: Your witness is not true" (v. 13). This actually is distorting the Law of Moses, which required at least two witnesses for something to be proved before a judge. But having just oneself as witness doesn't necessarily disprove a claim.

Then Christ hammered home His point: "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free'" vv. 31-32). Freedom comes from abiding in Christ, the Living Word of God, being His follower, and thus knowing the truth experientally (not merely rationally), because we know by experience Him Who is the Truth. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (v. 36).

Many modern Evangelicals take the phrase "If you abide in My word" to mean reading, studying and meditating on the Bible. But if Jesus had said - "If you abide in the Bible," His disciples would have thought - "What on earth is the Bible?" - because the New Testament canon didn't exist until about 350 years later, and mass-printed Bibles came into existence 1500 years later with Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. What Jesus had in mind was to abide in Him: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me" (John 15:4).

And Christ's phrase "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" does not refer to some abstract theological or academic knowledge of truth. That very phrase is inscribed over the entrance to the University of Colorado library, where I studied; but it took the phrase out of context and distorted it. As we see from the correct meaning of "If you abide in My word", so also does the phrase "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" refer to Christ Himself, as He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me" (John 14:6). We must abide in Him, because He Himself is the truth that brings freedom from legalistic morality to the true morality of the Spirit.

Some people have the idea that freedom in Christ is freedom from any morality at all. They think that Christ's new, great commandment of love overrides the O.T. law. But He says a little bit later - "If you love Me, keep My commandments.... He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.... If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word" (John 14:15, 21 and 23). So there is no contradiction between practicing love and keeping the commandments. The freedom to be able to love unselfishly also enables us to freely observe morality. This is "The Freedom of Morality"!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 17 Sep. 2016.)