Freedom’s Definition Expanded: Freedom (Part 8)

Categories: Freedom, Léo’s Insights 2021-2022

Posted on December 6, 2021

Throughout this series, I have consistently defined freedom as having both choice and control. I stated that the more one has freedom, the less one has fear, which in turn means having a greater sense of peace. I also mentioned that being ignorant of the truth is often what leads to fear and loss of freedom.

A simple formula would be:
Misinformation = Fear = Insecurity.

On the other hand, the more informed one is, the less fearful and the more secure and peaceful one is.
Truthful Information = Less Fear and More Peace.

However, this is not the complete story. There is something else that needs to be considered regarding freedom. One can be free and yet still be in bondage. How, you may ask? To answer that, we must separate man into the three components of body, soul and spirit.

Bodily bondage is easy to understand. Being tied up or incarcerated in jail are examples.

Until now, the freedom I have been discussing is the freedom of the soul: having choice and control. This is what most people refer to when talking about freedom. Needless to say, when the body is not free, the soul is usually not either.

Today I want to talk about a different kind of freedom. When you hear of people who are set free while still in prison, it means something other than the standard understanding of freedom. If the body and consequently the soul are still in bondage, something else has to be at play, which is the spirit of man.

The spirit of man, like the body and soul, is either free or not. To be truly free, therefore, requires us to be free in body (not tied up or in jail), in soul (having choice and control) and in spirit. To be free in spirit requires an outside agency bigger than ourselves, and that outside agency is God.

There are a number of offerings for how freedom of the spirit can be accomplished, but I am most familiar with the Christian version so I will share my limited understanding of this topic.

When God created man, he created him entirely free. Adam was free to roam and free to choose, but then his decision to disobey God’s directives caused his spirit to fall into bondage and become captive by an opposing force of evil. Unfortunately, this bondage has become part of the world we are born into. While I still believe we are all born innocent and completely free, I also believe we have the ability to reject God, who just happens to be the God of freedom. When doing so, we default to following the god of spiritual bondage.

Humans were stuck in this situation until God Himself descended as a man to win back the freedom that was lost in the garden. When Jesus’ purpose for the redemption of man is acknowledged, our spirit is set free from its eternal bondage.

We may free our body and soul, but we are still in bondage spiritually until something bigger than ourselves sets us free. In fact, the Bible says that when the Son of Man sets us free, we are free indeed. That means completely, totally free. Even those who are incarcerated or denied choice and control can experience this form of freedom.

I highly recommend being totally free… not only in body and soul but in spirit also. This is the best way to experience less fear and to be at peace.