RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LIBERTY
[p. 496] RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LIBERTY
This chapter sets before our eyes the goal which God pursues in His operations with us. Righteousness and liberty, one can say, are His thoughts for us. It is His will that we obtain real righteousness and enjoy true liberty. Both things belong together; for without righteousness nothing can be said of liberty.
In the world we cannot expect to find righteousness and liberty. If we see it as God sees it, lawlessness and bondage only characterise it. “Every one that practises sin is the bondman of sin”, and as long as man goes on in self-will he finds himself in bondage. Lawlessness and bondage are therefore just as closely bound up with one another as righteousness and liberty. Real liberty rests on righteousness and God is working to bring man to righteousness, so that he may then enjoy true liberty.
We see from the Holy Scriptures that from the moment when sin came into the world and man turned his back on God, He has worked with reference to another world in which a new man, Christ, should be the centre. We read of Him, “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself”, Psalm 80: 17. He said: “To do thy good pleasure, my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40: 8); and in Him we see both righteousness and liberty. In the fulness of time God sent His Son; Jesus came and took part in flesh and blood in order that He might be the centre and the light of another world. Righteousness and liberty are the characteristics of this other world, which is already opened up to our view now through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if christianity does not first of all signify righteousness and liberty for me, it avails me little.
[p. 497] In the natural world that surrounds us, everything is subjected to certain laws, and the same is true of that world of which we have spoken. Its law is righteousness and then liberty is there too. Everything revolves round Christ, whom God has exalted to His right hand and has placed there as Head. Christ is the righteous One (see 1 Peter 3: 18; 1 John 2: 1, etc.), but at the same time He is the Son, and the Son sets free (John 8: 36). From this we see that righteousness and liberty are inseparably bound up with Him, and through the fact that we are brought into relationship with Christ, we obtain righteousness and liberty.
Now as to the first point we read, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up”. (John 3: 14). He must be lifted up on account of righteousness and in order to fulfil righteousness. The third verse of our passage refers to the same matter: “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”. So also in 2 Corinthians 5: 21 “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”. If we carefully consider these passages of scripture, we shall find that they all refer to how God has brought to an end in judgment our entire state as men in the flesh so that we might find righteousness alone in Christ. Through His death He has fulfilled righteousness, and that indeed to the end that He might give us of His Spirit, through whom we are attached to Him and the fruit of righteousness is produced in us (verse 10). Practical righteousness is the proof that the Christ has been justified.
The Samaritan woman did not possess righteousness, nor did she know anything of liberty. On the contrary she had lived in lawlessness and was the bondmaid of sin, but she was now to learn righteousness and liberty. Therefore the Lord said to her: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. With the gift of the Holy Spirit, real life would begin for her; she would live on account of Christ (John 6: 57), and that is a life in righteousness and liberty.
If we are attached to Christ by the Spirit, so also Christ is in us. He is our righteousness, and we are in liberty before God. Verse 15 in our passage speaks of this liberty, it is the liberty of sonship. Not only have we found righteousness in Christ, but He, the Son, has set us free, so that now we can cry, Abba, Father! We are no longer in bondage, but in the consciousness of sonship and liberty we can draw near to God.
Christianity consists not in doctrine, creeds or theories, but is something entirely practical and living; one could say it is Christ Himself who lives in His own. “He who has not the Spirit of Christ is not of Him”. It is of the utmost importance to understand the relationship in which the believer stands to Christ. What lies at the foundation of this relationship is the Holy Spirit. Just as the earth stands in relationship to the sun, so the believer does to Christ, the Sun of that world which God has before Him; and Christ lives in him. Everything rests on righteousness, which is the law of that world. It does not merely consist in the fact that we do what is right in every sense towards our fellow men, but that in all things and at all times we maintain righteousness towards God and Christ. Christ is the Head of every man and faithfulness towards Hint in every relationship becomes us as believers. Then Christ is in us, and the word is verified which says: “He that practises righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous”. In this manner we prove that we have experienced the grace of God in our hearts; we practise righteousness and thus demonstrate that we are in living relationship with Christ, the Sun of righteousness. Christ shines upon us and we bear fruit to God. Then in verse 14 of our chapter we find liberty. Not only is the Spirit in [p. 499] the believer life on account of righteousness, but He also dwells in him in order to keep his soul in the consciousness of divine love.