Bondage of Sin

Salvation is a term that is pregnant with theological meaning and importance, not the least of all being freedom from sin.  Jesus, through His perfectly sinless life and atoning, sacrificial death, saved the whole world from sin (Matt. 1:21; 20:28; Luke 19:10; John 1:29; 3:17; Eph. 1:7; Gal. 4:4-5; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:24-25; 1 John 1:7; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10).  The point is clear and definite: Jesus saves from sin.  However direct the Scripture may be in this regard, many believers do not claim their freedom in Christ.

Paramount to this dialogue is to assert natural man's utter bondage to sin.  In our fleshly self, we are slaves to sin.  As Jesus declares plainly: "everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34)."  For Jesus, sin is not a light matter but, as His tone denotes, is severe and sobering.  Slavery.  This word has so much historical baggage to sift through, especially for Americans, but for a first-century Jew, slavery was a matter of debt.

In first century Israel, of which Jesus is contextually rooted, slavery was a debt matter not a racial one.  When Jesus declares that we sinners are slaves to sin, He is stating that there is a sin-debt of which sinners are in utter and hopeless servitude to obey.  Accepting the severity of our bondage to sin is essential to claiming our freedom from sin's bondage in Jesus.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, indicates that we who are slaves to sin have been freed from sin's slavery but have now, by the work of Jesus, become slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:16-20).  Additionally, when we accept the freedom found in Christ through belief in Jesus we are given freedom from the bondage of sin.

Sadly, although Scripture and Spirit both confirm the freedom from bondage found in Christ, many Christians still live lives of bondage.  Instead of being wholly freed from sin believers can become expert practicers of sin management.  Sin management refers to the practice of managing sin as opposed to the biblical requirement of putting sin to death in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we may be freed from the bondage of sin.

Honest, Spirit-led self-assessment is of supreme importance to claiming God's freedom from the bondage of sin.  When we can truthfully examine ourselves so as to expose the chains of sin that are tied around our lives then are we able to claim our redeemed and free self in Christ.  Confession and repentance are key.  A safe environment surrounded by a fellowship that cares to protect and envelop us in the love of Jesus is principal to this endeavor.  Let us then press forward to claim the freedom we have been given in Christ!