• ThirstySouls

  The Law of Liberty

  Posted by bopbop on September 30, 2026 at 8:49 am

  When God created mankind, He gave us the freedom to choose, act, make decisions, and be individuals. When another person takes away those freedoms, it violates the Law of Liberty. Violations of the Law of Liberty can be very brutal or very subtle.

  When a spouse is physically abusive, it violates the other spouse’s freedom. If the abused spouse allows this to continue, she/he slowly gives up their freedom and individuality. There are cases of this type of abuse over things like not having meals on time, money, or disagreeing. The abused person may even believe that the abuse is their own fault. The abuser may say things like, “Why do you make me hit you? I don’t want to do this; it’s all your fault.” Of course, this is not true, and the abuser has issues that need to be dealt with.

  Abuse of one person over another can even stem from false beliefs about scripture. Take, for example, Ephesians 5:22-24: 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

  If we just read those verses, it sounds like God has taken all freedom from wives. Husbands may even quote these verses to convince their wives that they must do what the husband wants. But this would violate God’s own principle of personal freedom. Let’s read the next few verses. Ephesians 5:25-28: 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

  That gives an entirely different understanding of what the apostle Paul is teaching. When a husband loves his wife in this manner, he will not be domineering, but respectful of his wife’s individuality and love her as Christ loves the church. How do you think his wife will respond to that type of treatment?

  Violations of the Law of Liberty may also be very subtle and maybe unintentional. In marriage, what if one spouse always responds to not getting his/her way by pouting, crying, or not speaking for several hours or days? This could stem from emotional issues such as fear. They may be unaware they are doing this, but they need to feel in control of their situation, which overrides their ability to give the other person freedom. I personally have experienced this. To be fair, I allowed this to happen, but I lived with the consequences for many years and am still trying, with the Lord’s help, to overcome my inability to make my own decisions, think for myself, and believe my thoughts are valid. I even came to believe that God did not speak to me personally.

  Violations of the Law of Liberty cause the abused person to give up their own individuality, their ability to think for themselves, and their feelings of self-worth. Even though these examples are taken from the marriage relationship, you can probably see how these same abuses could take place in parenting, the work place, race relations, etc. Only by following God’s teaching and the examples of Jesus, can we overcome and correct these abuses.

  What do you think? God bless you as you consider these things.

  bopbop replied 4 weeks, 1 day ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
• 0 Replies

Log In to Reply