Skip to content
Advent Lessons

Lesson 3 · October 19, 1895

The Genuine Principle of Liberty

This lesson PDF Whole quarter PDF · 13 lessonsShare on WhatsApp
  1. 1.For what kind of rights and liberty may even selfish men plead? Ans. Their own rights and their own liberty.
  2. 2.What kind of liberty did the Lord command the children of Israel to proclaim at the year of jubilee? Ans. Universal liberty. . (See note 1.)
  3. 3.How did He rebuke them for not heeding this instruction? .
  4. 4.For whom had they not proclaimed liberty? Same verse. (See note 2.)
  5. 5.What judgments were pronounced upon them because of this failure on their part? Same text.
  6. 6.What does this show? Ans. God's displeasure at men's disregard for the rights of others, and that His judgments come on account of these things.
  7. 7.In what language did Job show his regard for the rights of his servants? .
  8. 8.Instead of serving ourselves all the while, what does the Bible tell us to do? .
  9. 9.How are we to serve one another? .
  10. 10.Are our love and good will to be confined simply to those who reciprocate them? ; .
  11. 11.If all men would love their enemies as well as their friends, how long could enemies, enmity, and persecution exist?
  12. 12.What is the only principle which will lead men to treat their neighbors as themselves? .
  13. 13.What is said of love in ?
  14. 14.What is love declared to be? .
  15. 15.What result does the keeping of the law bring to the individual himself? . (See note 3.)
  16. 16.Since the keeping of the law of God insures liberty both to the individual himself and also to his neighbor, what is this law most fittingly called? . (See note 4.)
  17. 17.But as this law can be fulfilled only by love, what is the fundamental principle of true liberty for all men?

Notes

1. To proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof would be universal liberty. This was the proclamation God ordered to go forth in Israel at the year of jubilee, ordained to be celebrated every fifty years, when all property was to revert back to its original owners, and all persons held in servitude were to be free. This year of jubilee was a type of the final deliverance of God's people and the complete freedom which they will enjoy when they rise conquerors over death and all wicked and opposing powers. See .

2. It is easy enough to proclaim liberty for ourselves. The most selfish man in the world can do this. But to plead for the rights of others—the rights of all men—that is quite a different thing. That means true freedom.

> "Is true freedom but to break > Fetters for our own dear sake, > And with leathern hearts forget > That we owe mankind a debt? > No; true freedom is to share > All the chains our brothers wear, > And, with heart and hand, to be > Earnest to make others free!" > > —James Russell Lowell.

God wants men to proclaim liberty "everywhere to his brother, and every man to his neighbor." His denunciation for a failure in this respect (as recorded in ) shows not only His displeasure at such a course, but that he sends His judgments because men do not regard and plead for the rights of their fellow-men. We are not to plead simply for our own rights. This is why we cannot consistently ask for exemption for ourselves from laws that are unjust to all. We are not to ask to be treated better than our neighbors.

3. It is true in civil government, as well as in the spiritual realm, that obedience to law insures liberty to the individual. Under just administration it is only criminals, or law breakers, who lose their liberty. But the keeping of the law means the recognition of the rights of others, or liberty and freedom to them as well as to ourselves. Therefore law keeping tends to universal liberty, liberty for us and for our fellow-men. The law of God is therefore most fittingly styled "the law of liberty."

4. Mark, we are not saying that sinful men obtain liberty before God by obedience to the law of God, but that the keeping of this law (which is possible only by faith in Jesus Christ) insures the liberty we speak of. Perfect liberty cannot be where just laws are transgressed; that is impossible. And faith itself could not bring about genuine liberty if it did not work obedience. But it does. We read of "the obedience of faith" () and of "faith which works by love," which, as we have already seen, is the fulfilling of the law (; ).

Bible texts in this lesson

Leviticus 25:10 · Jeremiah 34:17 · Job 31:13-15 · Philippians 2:4 · Galatians 5:13 · Matthew 5:43 · Matthew 5:44 · Galatians 6:10 · Leviticus 19:18 · Romans 13:10 · Romans 13:8 · Psalms 119:44 · Psalms 119:45 · James 2:12 · Romans 16:26 · Galatians 5:6

Your notes

Kept in this browser. Sign in to keep them on every device.

This lesson PDF Whole quarter PDF · 13 lessons