Trading Liberty for Security

Benjamin Franklin famously said, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” A common variation of this quote is, “People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” Though the founding father and those who use this quote today are referring to matters relating to civil government, there is a spiritual truth contained in the statement. How this principle applies to our spiritual lives is of far greater importance than how it applies to the power of human government. So let us consider the spiritual implications of this principle.

Liberty in Christ

Paul told the brethren in Corinth: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). However, this liberty in Christ is not the freedom to sin and to do as we please. False teachers try to convince us otherwise, telling us that grace is “a license for immorality” (Jude 4, NIV). Yet Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

Rather than giving us the freedom to sin, Jesus offers us freedom from sin. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (John 8:34), and, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Without the freedom from sin in Christ, we would face “the wages of sin,” which is death (Romans 6:23) – not physical death, but eternal damnation. In being “freed from sin,” we are “no longer [to] be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

Through His perfect example, Jesus has shown us how to avoid sin (1 Peter 2:21-22). God has promised a “way of escape” with every temptation “so that [we] will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). For the times when we fall short, we have an avenue for forgiveness through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:9; 2:1-2). The liberty that we have in Christ involves both freedom from sin and, as a result, freedom from the punishment for sin.

Temporary Security

However, though Jesus offers us the great gift of freedom from sin, we will face difficulties in this life because we follow Him. Remember what He said: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). The “cross” was a symbol of suffering and death. Paul warned: “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Peter said that Christians should “not be surprised” when persecution and suffering comes (1 Peter 4:12).

The goal of persecution is to cause one to abandon his faith. Therefore, if one wishes to live securely – at least temporarily – he will live as one who is of the world, not as one who is of Christ. Jesus warned His disciples: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). If we want the world to love us, and therefore enjoy temporary security among those in the world, we should conform ourselves to the world – the opposite of what Paul said we ought to do (Romans 12:2).

Unfortunately, despite the “free gift of God [of] eternal life” (Romans 6:23) and the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus” and attaining to “the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8, 11), many are willing to trade the liberty in Christ for the temporary security found in the approval of men. But one who has the goal of pleasing men cannot also please God (Galatians 1:10). Furthermore, in forfeiting the freedom from sin that Christ offers, one becomes enslaved to sin (John 8:34; Romans 6:16).

Therefore, the liberty that one has in Christ – freedom from sin and freedom from the punishment for sin – is lost. However, the security that one hopes to gain when he trades away his liberty in Christ is only temporary. This security, rooted in the approval of men, can quickly be lost as man often deals treacherously with one another (Jeremiah 9:4-5; 2 Timothy 3:4). But even if the world does not turn its approval away, any security that might be found in this life will be gone when God finally brings this world to an end (2 Peter 3:10).

Only Real Security Found in Christ

Though many are tempted to surrender the blessings of liberty in Christ for the temporary security of the world, the only real security is found in Christ. The Proverb writer said, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). When we hear and obey His words, we are building a “house on the rock,” that will stand in the face of the storms of life (Matthew 7:24-25). The hope that we have in Christ is “an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil” (Hebrews 6:19). Though the world tries to offer us temporary security as an enticement for us to forsake Christ, we must never forget that if we are faithful to Him, “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Conclusion

Those who would give up their liberty in Christ (freedom from sin and the punishment for it) in order to obtain a little temporary security (found in the approval of men) will, in the end, lose both. Instead, we must remain faithful to Christ and become “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18) so that we might obtain “the free gift of God [of] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

This article is one of the fifty articles included in the book Plain Bible Teaching: The First Ten Years. Click on the link to read more about the book.