Recently the question “what is Christian freedom?” has been raised. An excerpt from a blog post by Diana Butler Bass titled “The Freedom State or the State of Freedom?” offers an answer:
“When the first European Christians arrived in North America, the most influential Protestant theological treatise on freedom was Martin Luther’s 1520 work, On the Freedom of a Christian. The treatise begins with two propositions:
A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.
Without the pair there is no Christian freedom. There’s only power – and a kind of demonic authoritarianism. Orwell’s twisted and contradictory “freedom is slavery” political agenda.
Standing alone, the first proposition winds up in a kind of radical individualistic cowboy culture (see Kristen Kobes DuMez’s Jesus and John Wayne) that gives the most powerful people – those with the most grievance, guns, or money – unfettered privileges while limiting the freedom of everyone they scapegoat, fear, or hate.
But Christian freedom is a both-and. To choose one over the other negates the whole: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” This isn’t a confusing slogan. It is perfectly clear: True liberty freely gives itself to true service. Christian freedom is ultimately freedom for others. Not for ourselves (after all, God gives the gift of freedom to us), and not from others. We receive the gift of divine liberty for the benefit of our neighbors and creation.
Once again, we need to embrace that wise axiom: “Freedom is not free.” Ensuring the liberty of all is the only way to guarantee true liberation for ourselves. We need to strive for love of neighbor always and everywhere in that ever-paradoxical quest to know our total freedom in the image of God.”