Jesus Sets Us Free
The story of our need for salvation started with Adam and Eve. They left the human race in the power of sin. We see this when we read Romans 5:12.
Well then; it was through one man that sin came into the world, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. (Romans 5:12)
This tendency to sin is called slavery. Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks about this in chapter 7 where he laments that the things that he despises, the things that he does not want to do; these are the very things he finds himself doing. that is slavery.
We are well aware that the Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of flesh and blood sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand my own behaviour; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate. While I am acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good, so it is not myself acting, but the sin which lives in me. And really, I know of nothing good living in me – in my natural self, that is – for though the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not: the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want – that is what I do.
But every time I do what I do not want to, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me. So I find this rule: that for me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s law, but I see that acting on my body there is a different law which battles against the law in my mind. So I am brought to be a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? God — thanks be to him — through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.
(Romans 7: 14 – 25)
At the heart of slavery is a compulsion; the inability to stop when we want to stop. This is why drug addiction or for that matter any type of addiction is such a dangerous thing. You want to stop. You know that it is destroying you and those who love you. You want to stop but you just cannot; at least on your own.
We experience a kind of helplessness in the face of temptation – left to ourselves we are at the mercy of our passion. It is not sufficient to know that we should stop doing evil things; we need a power to help us stop! That power does not come from within. That is a supernatural power. St Paul in his letter to the Romans recognized this and that is why he wrote, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? God — thanks be to him — through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.” (Romans 7: 24-25)
Jesus says that when we commit sins we are slaves to sin and that we would not be free until he sets us free. John chapter 8 verses 34 – 36.
Jesus replied, “In all truth I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. Now a slave has no permanent standing in the household, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.”
It is Jesus who gives us the power to say no to sin if we really want to say no. Jesus came to break the grip, to break the stranglehold that sin has on us. Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 and onwards tells us, ”She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.” Herein lies Jesus’ primary mission, that is to save us from our sins because we cannot do it by ourselves.
Jesus breaks the compulsion that we experience. He made this clear when He said, “The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” (Luke 4: 18) Many are enslaved by sin. Many are held captive by sin and they are unable to get out.
This sickness cannot be cured by an appeal to common sense. This is why appealing to the common sense of a drug addict or someone hooked on alcohol or some other vice never works. The addiction; their condition is way beyond common sense. What we need to break this chain is real power; power that only comes from Christ Jesus our Saviour.
We must not underestimate the power of sin in our lives, even in the lives of good people. They too have this same challenge, the same battle against slavery to sin. This resistance to goodness is the universal struggle of the human race.
People in the grip of sin need freedom. The world gives us a false idea of what freedom is. True freedom is the ability to decide to do what you know to be right and pleasing to God even though your feelings and your passions are pulling you in the opposite direction. That, is true freedom! It is not doing what your passions dictate!
This freedom does not mean that we will no longer be tempted to sin. Temptations will always remain a reality in the Christian life but we will experience a new power to say no to that temptation, to say no to the invitation to sin. The more we exercise that power in our lives, the stronger will be our will to say no to sin. We will remain sinners but with a new power, the power of Christ that sets us free and gives us the grace to say no to temptations and no to sin.
Resist the devil and he will run away from you! (James 4: 7)
Thus, condemnation will never come to those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit which gives life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
What the Law could not do because of the weakness of human nature, God did, sending his own Son in the same human nature as any sinner to be a sacrifice for sin, and condemning sin in that human nature.
(Romans 8: 1-3)
Finally, the sacrament of confession is a very powerful weapon against sin in our lives. Not only does Jesus wipe away the sins we commit but He deals with the power that keeps pushing us to sin. He weakens that power causing the sin factory in us to slowly shut down bit by bit. Therefore the more often we go to confession, the better it is for us in that fight against enslavement to sin.
