The Right to Choose, the Essence of Freedom

In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam the responsibility to cultivate [abad – work] and keep [samar – watch, guard, care for] it (Genesis 2:15-17). The Lord would give him the ability to carry out these requirements by providing all the provisions of life from the trees found in Eden, including the tree of life. There would also be one restriction: “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” The Lord God (Yahweh Elohim) granted man the right to choose, and man would decide and suffer whatever blessings or curses were attached to his decision. The right to choose is the essence of freedom. Adam could decide for himself the quality of his relationship with God.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”        Genesis 3:1-5 

We know from the above passage that Adam and Eve were deceived into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Verse 22 tells us the effect of that decision, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” Once man chose to decide for himself that which is good from that which is evil, God could not allow him to eat from the tree of life and therefore, live forever. So, He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden, He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life (Verse 24). God intends that He should decide good and evil, but He still gave Adam the right to choose. This prohibition represents the only restriction He gave to Adam in the garden. 

Outside of Paradise 

Once removed from paradise, Adam had to learn how to live in a fallen world and face all that corruption affords, including the murder of his son by his other son. He could decide by himself the standards by which he would live or defer to God’s righteousness. The righteousness of God always provides the highest quality of life, but man’s right to choose is the essence of his freedom. The history of mankind since the fall of Adam is a story of continued bad moral choices. God would periodically intervene, first with a flood and later to scatter the people and confuse their language to remind them that He was still in charge and that His standards for living were still the best; He was resetting the human condition.

After four hundred and thirty years of Israel living in Egypt, to the very day, the Lord delivered His people from bondage, led by Moses, to Mount Sinai, to receive His Law (Exodus 12:40-41). This Mosaic Law addressed not only moral law but also judicial, governmental, ceremonial, and ecclesiastical laws. According to The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, there are four guiding principles found in the Law of Moses: 

1.      the principle of strict but righteous retribution, the intention being to eliminate evil and produce reverence for the righteousness of the holy God in the heart of the people.

2.      the principle that punishment should correspond to the heinousness of the offense, that there shall fall upon the culprit what he has done to his neighbor; and that the punishment is to be limited to the guilty party and not be extended to his children (Deuteronomy 24:16).

3.      the principle that all presumptuous disobedience to God and to His holy ordinances should be punished with unsparing severity; and

4.      the threat of "a curse and severe punishments from God, the avenger of all evil, for offenses which either escape the eye of civil justice, or which, like apostasy from the Lord to idolatry, may prevail to such a degree that the arm of the earthly magistrate is overpowered and paralyzed by the spirit of the time."    

What About the Law of Moses 

Because of all of those years of slavery, the people were anxious to live under God’s system of perfect justice and perfect righteousness. It begins with the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20) which define the righteous relationship with God (the first five) and then with others (six-ten).  The 613 laws that make up the entire legal standard are documented in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and speak to every aspect of life. The people welcomed it in the beginning but found out that it was impossible to keep it completely (James 2:10) without heavy doses of mercy. Each unfulfilled commandment included a consequence that kept the people seeking forgiveness. Consequences are the by-product of a judicial system that provides a right to choose so that man can learn of God’s goodness. 

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.       Romans 7:7-12

Paul found that the Law is the vehicle God uses to expose the existence and the power of sin resident in each person. For through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). Before his conversion, the righteousness within the Law made him blameless (Philippians 3:6), but since his redemption, he was exposed as being a prisoner of the law of sin and death working within him (Romans 7:23). His new reality changed everything, as being found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God based on faith (Philippians 3:9). His faith decision to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah allowed him to begin to see things from their proper perspective, that he had been a prisoner. His God was not Yahweh, but the Law of Moses. He also recognized a higher law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 

Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.          Romans 8:2-4

This message became Paul’s battle cry. Jesus proclaimed in Luke 4:18, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. It was always intended that this law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus would be man’s ultimate solution to life outside of the garden. In a sense, the garden life is restored in man when he finds this life in the Holy Spirit, thus being able to overcome a walk according to the flesh. It is a life that includes the freedom to fail and be restored. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him so that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin (Romans 6:6-7). 

You Will Be Free Indeed

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.      John 8:31-36

Jesus also tells us that the Word of God is central to the believer finding his freedom. The Word of God defines truth, and the truth will make you free. This freedom is derived from the Son of God, who provides freedom for all who put their trust in Him and His Word. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name (John 1:12). When man exercises his right to trust Jesus, the Father is glorified, and the believer finds his highest quality of life. 

The American Experiment 

Thomas Jefferson was the author of The Declaration of Independence, maybe the most important founding document of our nation. In it he states, 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 

He was confirming that man has individual rights given by God and must be defended. Many suggest that The Bill of Rights is the most important part of The Constitution of the United States of America since it focuses on individual rights. In his Second Inaugural Address, George W. Bush stated, 

Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.

The Blessed Nation

This nation was founded on principles documented in the Bible, that a godly nation should stand for those principles. In Psalm 33:12, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. When a country adopts and defends these freedoms, it falls under the wings of His protection. Our nation has experienced that protection since its founding and has been willing to fight to defend those God-given rights. My Uncle Maurice Belanger enlisted in the Marines right after Pearl Harbor and was assigned to be an airplane mechanic on Midway Island. He died at the Battle of Midway Island on June 4, 1942. My grandparents received an acknowledgment of his sacrifice entitled “A Grateful Memory” and included the following words from President Roosevelt: 

HE STANDS IN THE UNBROKEN LINE OF PATRIOTS WHO HAVE DARED TO DIE

THAT FREEDOM MIGHT LIVE, AND GROW, AND INCREASE ITS BLESSINGS.

FREEDOM LIVES AND THROUGH IT HE LIVES- IN A WAY

THAT HUMBLES THE UNDERTAKINGS OF MOST MEN.

We are in a new age in America when the reasons to defend our nation have been blurred by a broken education system and the values that motivated our founding fathers are being corrupted by evil forces, causing Americans to question these values. Freedom is still worth fighting for. As Paul writes in Galatians 5:13-14, For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." God’s love is the final solution.