What does it mean to be free, to be truly free in a Christian sense? We hear the word “freedom” a lot in the news these days so it is important for us to reflect on the Christian notion of freedom that Paul presents to us in today’s first reading. Paul speaks of two forms of slavery: 1) slavery to sin, and 2) slavery to righteousness. Paul states that when we were slaves to lawlessness or to our first impulse, we were not free because we not doing the good that we really wanted to do in our heart of hearts.
Paul makes the paradoxical statement that we are only truly free when we are slaves to righteousness, that is slaves to God and God’s Will: “But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.” We are truly free when we are slaves or servants of God because now, we do the good that we really want to do in our “heart of hearts” since we have been created in God’s image and likeness.
Paul reflects on the practical implications of Christian freedom in his letter to the Corinthians as he asks, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1). Paul goes on the state that he has given us his “rights” as an apostle: “Yet we have not used this right. On the contrary, we endure everything so as not to place an obstacle to the gospel of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 9:12). In a similar way he has also given up his freedom: “Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible” (1 Corinthians 9:19). Paul gives us his rights and his freedom for the common good, out of his love for others to lead others to the gospel and to Christ.
So today as we face difficult decisions about our rights and our freedom we are asked to reflect on today’s Word of God. The true question for us as Christians is not what are my rights or what am I free to do but what is God’s Will? We are servants or slaves of God and so we are truly free when we live out our prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.”