One of my least favorite aspects of parenthood is discipline. Hearing my daughter say “I love you, Daddy” – wonderful! Hearing her scream at the top of her lungs as she runs to Time-Out Corner, ugh. Every time I have to stand up, point my finger, 
and speak those four words, “GO TO TIME OUT!” I think to myself, “Here we go again.” Its not really important what started the whole thing, throwing couscous on Keves’ head or just being plain rude; however it begins we give her the chance to say she’s sorry and start over. But inevitably there are those days where my darling little girl gets all wound up and there ain’t no stopping her. On the other hand, its pretty sweet when she’s all cried out and ready to make peace. So I ask the question, is her time-out, her discipline, her punishment primarily a legal matter or a relational one? Does she sit in her lonely corner simply because she broke my rules?
Last week I spent a lot of time on a buddy’s blog (Truth Finder) where we were talking about unity and somehow we began riffing on worldviews. Most of us in America, especially in Evangelical churches, have a Western worldview. That means we think linearly, we prioritize the immaterial aspect of people and disregard the material (e.g. our body is an earthsuit and we envision the eternal state as purely spiritual), and we tend to think of God like the government: a faceless, impersonal, something-er-other whose primary role is to make and enforce laws. Jesus, of course, came to pay a legal debt on our behalf and by believing in Him we are declared not guilty. Writing from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, however, another commenter made a few points that have been bouncing around in my head the past few days. He wrote,
“Humanity’s problem is primarily existential (living out of communion with the Giver of Life), not legal.”
and
“The root of our problem was/is not a legal one. Christ did not come to make bad men good. He came to make dead men live. Life is only found in union with the Wellspring of Life.”
As I thought about these statements it occurred to me a little clearer than before, we in the West think of freedom almost exclusively in legal or socio-political terms. We are incapable of understanding Christian freedom because it means we still have a king or sovereign over us. Our country was founded on personal and national sovereignty and I’m pretty sure we’d rather have a crummy president than a good king for the simple reason that a even the worst president (whether you consider him Nixon, Carter, Bush, or Obama) is still accountable to us. So Jesus says “I will make you free” and we struggle to understand how we can have a lord or master and still be called free. Accordingly, people seek spiritual freedom that lines up with their worldview and democratic values; that means being your own boss and throwing off the restrictions that God (or gods) place on us (spiritual anarchy).
But in John 8 Jesus offers a freedom that isn’t socio-political, he offers a freedom that’s relational. He says,
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (NIV).
His opponents misunderstand this freedom at first, supposing it to be socio-political (v. 33); but Jesus corrects them offering a freedom that is instead (1) from sin and (2) a permanent place in the family of God. Mankind’s problem with sin and with God is not simply a legal problem; though we break God’s rules and there is a penalty associated with that, the greater problem is the disruption in our relationship with God – slaves to sin will one day be sent away.
Here’s how I’m thinking of putting it all together (let me know what you think). Mankind has a relational problem that causes his legal problem. He is disconnected from God and that leads him to sin and all the penalties that follow. But Jesus comes to restore our relationship with the Father. Fixing our legal problem only gets us back to level ground, it makes us innocent for all practical purposes, but that’s not all Jesus did (nor would it be enough). We need to be reconciled, to be brought into the family, into the house as a son. So Jesus offers freedom from slavery to sin and its sentence. But He doesn’t offer freedom from God because true freedom is a positive relationship with God. Spiritual anarchy (what some would call freedom) is actually slavery to sin. Thoughts?
As a college pastor, one of the more depressing times of the year for me is that first weekend on a college campus when so many of our sons and daughters shed innocence and purity (or any semblance of it) like a butterfly emerging from her tomb-like cocoon. The parties really get me; the drinking and drugs, the consensual and coerced. Either they unfold their wings and drift through the breeze wanting nothing more than to dance in the sunlight and finally live or they have it ripped open before they’re ready. Either way…
