Jesus Christ the True Liberator

The supremacy of Jesus Christ permeates the entire book of Hebrews. This supremacy is also true when it comes to the idea of Christ the “True Liberator”. Also, in the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 verses 16 to 21, Christ confirmed the messianic calling in Isaiah 61:1-2 and 58:6. Jesus was sent “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free (Lk. 4:18).”

Grounding from this passage, many Evangelical groups argue for the importance of liberation from oppression, achieving progress, and human improvement in the mortal world. Freedom from poverty, suppression, injustices, and call for equality, validation, and so on. These are all good and true, but sadly, they have focused too much on the materialistic world.

I do not oppose that church may support and help the poor and those who are victims of injustices. Poverty, oppression, corruption, racial issues, slavery, injustices, and crisis are present because of the root cause—sin. Christians must focus on the root cause.

I remember a pharmaceutical commercial on one of their products, cough syrup. In the commercial, it states: “To get rid of the cough, you need to get rid of the phlegm.” The root cause of cough is phlegm. In a similar sense, to be healed, to be free, to be flourishing, and to be transformed, one must get rid of sin.

Furthermore, this idea of liberation does not call for political revolution. New Testament Scholar Dr. Thomas Schreiner noted:

Jesus did not call for a political revolution; he trusted in the power of the word of God (Mark 4: 28) and focused on the need of the nation to repent and turn to God…. What will change society is individuals turning from their sin and committing themselves wholly to God. Even more striking, Jesus was convinced that he would transform the world by suffering and dying instead of leading a revolt and triumphing over political enemies.

Schreiner, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ (2008)

Echoing Schreiner, Christ calls for further liberation. A liberation that is beyond materialism or physical experience. Something transcendent and immaterial. This liberation is spiritual. Freedom from the slavery and bondage of sin; “Release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isa. 61:1).

Jesus is Christ the true liberator and deliverer from sin—the main cause of oppression, poverty, corruption, blindness, and slavery. We must be freed from sin before we can truly say that we are truly free.

What does it mean to be free from sin? One must have a renewal of heart. Read “A Biblical Surgery: Renewal of the Heart”.

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