Ours is a Day of Addiction: MacArthur on the Slavery of Moral Liberty

I love how John MacArthur in his commentary introduced Galatians 5:13-15:

Ours is a day that cries for liberation. Men, women, and even children are demanding more freedom to do as they please. In the name of personal rights, authority is flouted and restrictions are resisted. Like the Israelites in the days of the judges, sinful people want to do what is right int heir own eyes (see Judg. 17:6; 21:25; cf. Deut. 12:8)

But ours is also a day of addiction, not only to alcohol and drugs but also to sexual passion, violence, and many other forms of bondage in which a person eventually becomes powerless to escape. When people choose to persist in a sin, they develop less and less control over it until eventually they forfeit any choice entirely. ‘Truly, truly’ Jesus said, ‘everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin’ (John 8:34). Fallen man is a slave to his sinful nature, an addict who cannot successfully control his sinful thoughts and actions even when he may want to. And ironically, the more he asserts his self-centered freedom, the more he becomes enslaved to sin.

In the passage just quoted, Jesus gives the prescription for true freedom: ‘If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed’ (John 8:36). That is the great manifesto of Christianity and the theme of the Galatian letter: freedom in Jesus Christ. Christianity is liberation. (143-144)