Free Indeed
Dearly beloved of God, how do we reconcile the transformation that took place in the life of a man like Paul?
He changed from being “exceedingly mad” against the saints, to “affectionately desirous” of their fellowship; from “casting a vote against” men like Stephen, delivering them to death, to “striving together with” them; from “breathing out threatenings and slaughter” against the body of Christ, to “holding forth the Word of life,” so men could be a part of it; from “putting to death” the saints to “bringing to life and immortality to light”; from “punished them oft” to “gentle as a nurse” among them; from making havoc of the Church to “imparting peace” to them; from “compelling them to blaspheme” to “speaking the same thing” they spoke; from “committing them to prison” to “presenting every man perfect in Christ”; from “blasphemer, persecutor, injuror,” he changed to the end he “preached the faith he once destroyed“.
Romans 1:1 is a good place to begin our search for this answer. “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle comma separated unto the gospel of God,”
Paul was Jesus Christ’s servant. The emphasis here is on the master not on the servant, which is the Greek word doulos, which means a branded slave. Paul's master was Jesus Christ. He paid the price of redemption for Paul by giving his life for him.
In his natural condition in the flesh, Paul was sin’s slave. After he was born-again, he became Jesus Christ’s slave.
The change of masters in Paul's life was the catalyst to these radical changes in his life.
He considered himself to dead to the sin brought on us by Adam and alive unto God in Christ Jesus his Lord. You could say that after he was born-again he lived like a dead man raised to life.
Paul got born of God’s spirit and underwent this change of heart because of a renewed-mind transformation due to the revelation of God’s gospel concerning God's Son. He learned of his Master’s total commitment to him.
The more our eyes are opened by this same revelation, the more we will see our Master’s commitment to us and we will desire to be bonded to him in our walks by our renewed-mind believing.
The closer we are bonded to our Lord in practice by our renewed-mind believing of what he has done for us and is in us, the freer we will be in our walks in this life.
This bonding to the Lord Jesus Christ (by our renewed-mind believing) will cause a transformation in us the same as it did in Paul’s life, dearly beloved.
It will change the old man that was dead in sin to one who is alive in Christ Jesus our Lord and who desires to present his life to his Master as a living sacrifice that desires to do his will. Beloved, It will make us free indeed.