“Brothers and sisters:
for freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another.”
Freedom from restraint. After 50 years of marriage, one of my grandma’s favorite lines, spoken often to my grandpa with great love and occasionally with fierce exasperation, was, “Don’t tell me what to do.” This is a common understanding of freedom in our culture. Freedom seems to be the lack of exterior requirements or constraints for how we act or behave. In most cases, with the slim exception of harm to another, we long for the ability to self-define our action or identity. We can bristle when an authority makes decisions to compel or restrain our own action. It hits all of us across the spectrum of human activity: relationships, economics, politics, and personal morality. Sometimes, we accept restrictions willingly because of our own beliefs and desires or because of our understanding of the common good, but we may also conform through force or threat of punishment. With the right resources, we have tools in our society to resist through protest, the courts, or the ballot box. Often, we vie for power to protect our ability to decide our own action or regulate the actions of others. All of this takes as its foundation the understanding of freedom as minimizing restrictions on our actions. Don’t tell me what to do.
In our spiritual lives, we can get stuck with this same sense of freedom. Here, we limit our understanding of God to the great law giver. All of his commands are viewed as just because he is the Just One. Whether from fear of hell or from love of God, we follow his commands because he is God and we are not. Our freedom to act is restricted by the will of God and we must act as he commands in order to be in relationship with him now and for eternity. This is okay, but it is limited. Our relationship with God is only transactional instead of grace filled. God may free us from punishment if we conform to his commands. Our freedom to do whatever we want becomes limited in order to receive the benefits God has to give. Again, this is okay, but it is limited. Many people then view faith as constraining. God’s laws become an imposition. The Church enforces behaviors, sets requirements, holds up hoops for us to jump through, and peddles judgement. From this perspective, faith seems to make us less free. There is, however, a deeper way to understand freedom than just an absence of restrictions on our actions.
Freedom for love. This is where sin comes in, or more accurately, goes out. There is goodness at the heart of every human being because we have all been created in the image of God, who is love. Our selfishness and sinfulness, however, entangle that goodness and constrict our capacity to love. Without God’s grace, we remain enslaved to a limited scope of action, often unable to truly love others or ourselves. God sets us free through the gift of his Son and by the work of the Holy Spirit to choose love. Love is our very identity and the purpose for which we were made. God doesn’t obliterate our capacity to choose other than love and, so, faith actually expands the realms of possible action for good, beauty, truth, and love. We are more free because of God’s freedom. God’s laws and the Church help us to act from our true identity, from and for love. It is love at the foundation of God’s commands. They show us how. “For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” God has truly set us free. It is freedom for love.