Freedom

 Freedom

February 24, 2025

Romans 8:18-22

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

What is freedom? And how can creation experience freedom? In this passage, Paul is comparing “slavery to corruption” to “freedom of the glory of the children of God”. Remember, this is in the context of him explaining the redemptive work of the blood and the cross in Romans 5-8. He was also thinking of the creation and fall in Genesis when he compared “the first man Adam” to “the last man Christ” (Romans 5:14, 1 Corinthians 15:45). So what does it mean then for creation to experience freedom? Also consider a passage about freedom in Galatians.

Galatians 5:1, 13, 16

1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

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13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

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16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

It seems to me that Paul is using all creation as a metaphor for our natural man. Nature was subjected to corruption by the fall of Adam and Eve and has suffered from thorns and thistles ever since (Genesis 3:18). In the same way our natural man has been subjected to the power of sin and death, and it is the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus that has set us free from this bondage. In Galatians, he makes it clear that it is by walking in the Spirit that we experience the fullness of of this freedom. Thus the freedom he is talking about is freedom from sin and death and the liberty to walk in newness of life in the Spirit.

Paul also makes it clear that this freedom is not a license to do whatever your natural man wants. It is a common misconception among Americans that freedom is the absence of any rules. That is not freedom, it is anarchy. Freedom in Christ is to experience the freedom from sin by following the constant direction of the Holy Spirit.

So when we say that nature is groaning under the slavery to corruption, it is to say that our old man, our carnal nature, is experiencing this pain. Jesus redemptive work on the cross has freed us from this corruption and given us a new nature which is free from the law of sin and death. Nature itself rejoices with us when we walk in the Spirit, experiencing life and peace and bring healing and redemption into the lives of those around us.