Paul is showing us that human beings are always serving something. The question isn’t whether we will serve but what we will serve. When we’re liberated from sin’s dominion, we’re not set free into autonomous independence but into life-giving dependence on God. This is why, in God’s upside-down kingdom, true liberty comes through submission to Him.

“Pastor, I’ve never felt less free.”

The young man sitting across from me in my counseling office had everything our culture associates with freedom—a successful career, financial independence, and complete autonomy over his life choices. Yet here he was, shoulders slumped, describing his bondage to anxiety, achievement, and approval. Despite breaking free from his strict religious upbringing and embracing what the world calls liberty, he felt more enslaved than ever.

His story isn’t unique. As a pastor and biblical counselor, I’ve witnessed a striking pattern: the more our culture celebrates unbridled individual freedom, the more people find themselves trapped in invisible prisons of addiction, anxiety, and endless striving. The promise of “freedom to do whatever we desire” has become a sophisticated form of bondage.

Even within the church, I regularly counsel believers who’ve exchanged one form of chains for another. They’ve been freed from legalistic backgrounds only to become enslaved to performance-based Christianity, or they’ve broken free from obvious sins only to be shackled by the crushing weight of others’ expectations.

True freedom in Christ looks radically different. The apostle Paul declares, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Notice the deliberate redundancy in Paul’s words: “for freedom Christ has set us free.” This isn’t a mere rhetorical flourish—it’s a profound theological statement. Christ’s work wasn’t just about securing our legal pardon but establishing our soul’s liberty. The command to “stand firm” suggests this freedom requires active vigilance. Like an emancipated prisoner who must resist returning to familiar prison routines, we must actively resist the gravitational pull of our former bondage.

This freedom has both a negative and a positive dimension: We’re liberated from sin’s penalty and power while simultaneously being free to live fully as God intended. The yoke of slavery Paul warns against isn’t just blatant sin—it can be anything that prevents us from experiencing the full freedom Christ secured for us, including religious legalism, which was the primary concern in Galatians.

Breaking the Chains of False Freedom

Recently, I shared with my men’s Bible study the story of Shaka Senghor, who spent 19 years in prison for second-degree murder. While I do not believe he is a Christian, he has some profound things to say about bondage and freedom that go far beyond incarceration. Upon release from jail, though physically free, he remained imprisoned by guilt, shame, and old patterns of thinking. His external chains were broken, but his internal bondage remained until he discovered a new purpose and identity.

This parallels many Christians’ experience. We receive salvation’s pardon but continue living as though we’re still bound. We exchange one form of slavery for another—legalism, performance, addiction, or people-pleasing. Jesus addresses this directly in John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The word “indeed” here translates the Greek ontós, meaning “really” or “truly.” Jesus is contrasting superficial freedom with genuine liberty. The context shows Jesus speaking to Jews who claimed Abraham as their father and considered themselves free, yet were blind to their spiritual bondage. Similarly, many believers today claim freedom in Christ while remaining enslaved to patterns of thinking and living that deny the very freedom they profess.

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