Recently I heard the Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian David Hackett Fischer explain that he sees certain countries as each representing an ideal: for instance, New Zealand, a sense of fairness; Canada, diversity; and the United States, freedom.

Centuries before the US was founded, the Apostle Paul thought deeply about the meaning of freedom. We know of Paul’s thoughts and actions from his letters in the Bible’s New Testament as well as from the book of Acts.

As a young man, Paul sought to take away the freedom of those who followed Jesus, because he felt they were corrupting true religious doctrine and practice. Later, after he experienced a spiritual conversion and began to tell people about Christ Jesus and his teachings, he himself was the target of similar persecution and was imprisoned and beaten several times. Once, when arrested by Roman authorities, he informed his captors that he was a Roman citizen and was appealing his case to the emperor. He then traveled under guard to Rome, where even under house arrest he continued to preach.