Question

What is the law of liberty?

Answer

Thanks so much for your question. As you know, the phrase “law of liberty” is found in James 1:25 and 2:12.

The key to understanding what it means is found in the context immediately before its first occurrence (1:25). James has just spoken of the new birth (1:18) and then talks about the believer who looks into the Word of God and forgets who he is (vv 23-24).

The believer is a new creation; he has a new nature. He is a child of God, and the Spirit lives within him. The Scriptures reveal who we are and how we are to live (to become more like Christ).

What the teachings of Christ tell us is a law of liberty because we are told to live according to who we are by that new birth. We are free to be ourselves.

This is liberating because our inner man rejoices to do the things we “see” in God’s Word (I think that is what John 8:31-32 is talking about as well). It is not automatic or inevitable that we will live that way. We can opt not to walk by the inner man/Spirit, but rather we can walk by the flesh. But when we walk by the Spirit, following what the Lord has taught us and gave us an example in His life to do, we are walking in the freedom of what our new nature wants to do.