Spiritual freedom
In the Hebrew Bible, freedom from bondage is a distinct theme, often symbolized by broken yokes. Leviticus 26:13, for instance, records God’s words: “I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.” Release from enslavement in Egypt by God’s hand—followed by the Exodus and gift of a new land—became the defining event of early Israelite history.
Liberty is more widely described in Isaiah 58:6: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” And with Christ Jesus’ advent, freedom is viewed spiritually, as the sinless state of all of God’s children. The Master explains that this state is accessible now: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The Apostle Paul depicts Christly liberty as the freedom to serve God, unfettered by matter-based viewpoints. He declares, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
Centuries later, after experiencing a decisive physical healing, 19th-century thinker Mary Baker Eddy searched Scripture to understand the divine laws that freed her. Her discovery, which she named Christian Science, led her to write: “Discerning the rights of man, we cannot fail to foresee the doom of all oppression. Slavery is not the legitimate state of man. God made man free” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 227).
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