Greetings Friends! What is the path to Freedom? We will begin where this virtue can be found. Paul told the Galatians, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So, take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you” (Gal.5:1, MSG). The NIV says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal.5:1). When Paul speaks of the “yoke of slavery,” he was referring in this instance to law of circumcision. (see Gal.2:1-8). However, not only circumcision but to many other Jewish laws Paul enlisted together as “yoke of slavery.” The “yoke of slavery” can refer to anything which act as a stumbling block or hindrance to advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Gal.2:2).

James gives a slight twist about the same path to our freedoms. He said, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (Jam.1:2-5). In saying, “You may be mature and complete, not lacking anything,” it speaks of not being yoked to any inconsequential matter, but instead experiencing true freedom in Christ.

What James does is give us a step-by-step process of advancing one step at a time until a person arrives at the freedom we have in Christ. First, he speaks about the trials we encounter each and every day. He says, “to consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds.” He says to consider it nothing but joy in the face of trials.

The apostle Peter said, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials” (1 Pet.1:6). Peter goes on to say, “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you” (1 Pet.5:10). By saying “God will secure you, strengthen you, and establish you,” that’s on par with the freedom we enjoy in Christ.

Freedom in Christ is the end-result, that is the ultimate goal. However, there are … other ascents or steps which we need to pass through in the process. James tells us, “The testing of your faith produces perseverance” (Jam.1:3). He says, be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance resulting in the sprouting of the virtue of perseverance. Then perseverance or endurance, lead to spiritual maturity and inner peace. In other words, true freedom in Christ.

Now, let us go back to the ascents or steps James has given us. First, he speaks of  living by our faith. Then James tells us to “consider these trials by experience as something joyous to experience, because in the end it produces perseverance. In other words, the trials brings a perfection where you may have been lacking in your life, which is to say, you have entered the doorway of freedom which only Christ brings.

There is so much James tells us about faith. Paul told Timothy, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim.3:12, NLB). Jesus told His disciples, “Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you” (John 15:20, NLB). So, when we seek to do God’s will through His Word, we will be acting against the grain of our faith in His Words, and as a result we will be suffering persecution or trials.

Then James tells us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (Jam.1:2). He says when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. Obviously, this joy is an off-shoot or by-product of your faith. What do I mean? Quiet simply, because this is not your faith but the faith of Jesus!

Let me explain, the Scripture affirms that when we surrendered our fallen Adamic humanity, it was nailed to the His cross with Him. Paul told the Romans, “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin” (Rom.6:6, NLB). That is the symbolism and reality we live and experience through the cross of Jesus.

Further, Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20). So, you see through Jesus’ cross humanity experience the death of the “sinful selves,” and through Christ’s resurrection we have experienced a new life so that now “Christ lives in me.” Paul says, “the life I now live in the body, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20).

Through Christ’s resurrection we have become caretakers of Christ’s faith that helps us live and walk as Jesus did through His Spirit. Where then is our human faith? It was nailed to the cross with Christ once for all.

Since Christ’s resurrection, we have risen with Him and given His brand-new faith by which we live and walk today. Paul told the Romans, “And the righteousness of God is through faith from Jesus Christ toward all those believing. For there is no distinction” (Rom.3:22, Berean L.B.). Make no mistake, human faith is still involved. By saying “toward all those believing” (Rom.3:22), the word ‘believing’ identifies our human faith. But the faith of Jesus is altogether different where genuine joy is found. We have a participatory God who values our human output and want us to place our human faith in Christ’s own personal faith and live through and in Him.

We must not mistake or misplace our human faith for Christ’s own faith. Jesus’ faith truly empowers us with His joy which James speaks about. When we make that mistake of transposing the two faiths in ignorance, we’ll see our human faith cannot measure up. We must understand where we stand, acknowledge Christ’s own powerful faith, and give ourselves to Him in the Spirit. (Gal.4:6). The old fallen Adamic humanity which was crucified and died upon Jesus’ cross, and is ineffectual and impotent to do anything God desires of us in our fallen human life.

With Christ’s resurrection humanity has been given new life in Christ and through the Holy Spirit’s intervention, the brand-new faith of Jesus! As Scripture says, there is no distinction. (Rom.3:22). In other words, and this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

And Paul explains why, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins” (Rom.3:23-24). It is when we utilize Jesus’ faith that we are filled with the joys the Spirit brings into human hearts. (Gal.4:6).

So, we must recognize that our brand-new faith is Jesus’ own Personal faith as God’s gift to humanity. Paul told believers this wonderful truth, first the Galatians, “A man is not justified by the law ‘but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even as we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ'” (Gal.2:16).   Then, to the Romans, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom.3:22). Again, “Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by (Jesus’) faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by (Jesus’) faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” (Gal.5:1-2).

Paul encourages us to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer” (Rom.12:12).

Let us end this post in prayer to our great triune God: “Almighty God, Father of all humanity, Father of Lights, thank You for Your infinite mercy for humanity, that though death has been our tragic lot because of Adam’s fall in Eden, You prepared the Second Adam in your Son Jesus Christ, to enter our temporary existence as the Immanuel and Savior and redeemed and saved us from sin and death. (Rom.6:23).

“Thank you most mighty God of Lights that through Your Son, Jesus, You have shone Your divine Light through Him upon humanity. Thank You that in Jesus You have brought humanity out of our darkened and deathly world into your marvelous “Light of Life” (John 8:12).

“Grant Your promised celestial life in Your Son through Your Holy Spirit, and open our eyes to the wondrous gifts You have divinely conferred upon us all so we may serve one another in Your Love. We praise and glorify You in your Son, Amen.”

Prayer is A Solemn One-On-One Spiritual Love Dialogue Between a Person and God the Father.

Each and every human being has an open welcome into the celestial life of Love in God’s holy, eternal Family. (1 Tim.6:19) Then keep in touch with God’s Word for you by reading and studying your Bible, and visiting this blog and website and look at various subjects that may be relevant for your situation – go to: http://bulamanriver.net. You can email me with your questions at the address shown below.

Blessing: Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life” of God.  Be strong in the Lord’s joy.

In Love, farewell for now!

Kiang,  (Your Servant in Christ)

*Triune Life: “Triune Life” speaks of the process of theosis or deification of humanity. What is theosis or deification? “It refers to apotheosis, meaning “making divine.” Theosis or deification is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God (as taught by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Church).” (Wikipedia.org)

The belief in the process of ‘deification’ is understood in accordance with Jesus’ teaching, when He said, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? If He called them ‘gods,’ to whom the Word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside (cannot be broken)” (John 10:34-35; Psa.82:6). (You can read about the Triune Life at: http://bulamanriver.net/9199, and other posts)

The Human Resurrection to Immortality Through Jesus

“The Empty Tomb” – Persuasive Imagery of Jesus’ Own Resurrection to Immortality and the Promised Deification of Humanity in Christ Who Directly Reflects the “Image of God” (Col.1:15; Rom.8:29; Gen.1:27; John 11:25)

Adam was solitary and incomplete until God made Eve. He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone (solitary). I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen.2:18, italics mine). So, God gave Adam a family to raise composed of a father, mother, and offspring, to reflect Himself in His plural Being. The Bible states that the Church’s or humanity’s destiny is to marry Christ, the second Person of the Triune Godhead, in the new age to come which will be an everlasting divine relationship. (2 Cor.11:2; Eph.5:23-27, 32; Rev.19:7) The Bible is abundantly clear about God’s nature and declaration of Himself in His relational Triune Being from the past, the present, and the future. God has never lived as a solitary Being, but a Tri-Personal Being.

It’s noteworthy to understand that Eve was not created an individual creation from the dust of the earth as was Adam. She was not created apart from Adam as an individualized separate human being, instead, she was taken out from Adam’s side to show she was biologically one and indivisibly part of Adam, like God is in His Tri-Personal Being of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Eve was not detached (solitary) from Adam, but intrinsically inseparable from Adam’s innermost humanity, as God is in His divine triunity. When Adam saw Eve, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Gen.2:21-23) God created humanity to reflect Himself in His unified Tri-Personal Being (Trinity)

Rublev’s Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)

Each one of us was created as an indivisible relational human being incubated and given birth from Adam’s mold as one species, for God created humanity to reflect the eternal likeness in His triunity. We are born for relationships with the divine triune Love as our guiding principle. All this show that humans were created to be indivisibly one to reflect God’s Tri-Personal image of Oneness (Trinity), not solitary separateness.

When God sent Jesus His eternal Son, He became human in order to unify humanity spiritually to the Triune Being of God through Christ once for all time. Hence, when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed Jesus’ coming, and gave Him the prophetic name, Immanuel (Isa.7:14). The name means “God with us” (Matt.1:23). Humanity is ‘organically’ one with the Triune God through Christ, just as humanity is one with Adam who was created in God’s image and likeness. (Gen.1:26-27)

Most religions believe God as some solitary being. The true God is not solitary by any means, He is the one Triunity in His Tri-Personal Being. God consist of three Persons in One divine triune Godhead. (Matt.28:18-20) They exist in One “homoousion” meaning consisting in one substance, or “consubstantiality.” The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in One hypostatic union, One substance, like Eve was biologically part of and never physically separate, but of one substance from Adam, for she came out of Adam. Likewise, humanity is made of one spiritual substance with the triune God through Jesus Christ who took our humanity upon Himself and joined it to the divine Light of God in His triune Being forever.

The three-dimensional Triune Light/Life/Love is opposed to living the one-dimensional solitary life of the fallen humanity inherited from Satan through Adam’s rebellion. For additional information about the Triune Life: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036. Also at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092.

**Bulamanriver: is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love and Light of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy of my book, “Bula Man-River,” from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book stores. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

“Bulamanriver” Book Cover

***Mission Statement: Read the Triune Love Mission, Vision, and Value statements at:  http://bulamanriver.net/8664.

Mission, Vision, Value, Statements

(Our Home address: www.//bulamanriver@gmail.net).

****The “Love-Fruits of the Holy Spirit:” *the fruit of patience, *the fruit of kindness, *the fruit of contentedness,  *the fruit of modesty (unboastful), *the fruit of humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness and compassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *the fruit of joy, *the fruit of peace, *the fruit of goodness, *the fruit of faith, *the fruit of gentleness, *the fruit of self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; also Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 12:9-21).

God is never without His Love activity through the Love-Fruits in the Spirit, for His activity and His triune Being are essentially and eternally one. The act of God is not one thing, and His Being another, for they coinhere mutually and indivisibly in one another. God can never be anything but Love. These Love-Fruits may seem ordinary and mundane, but when empowered and propelled in the Spirit’s power, they are transformed into divine elements of growth and maturity.

The “Love-Fruits” of the Holy Spirit:

These Love-fruits speaks volumes and gives us a peek into the different tones of God’s Love. They are not rules to live by as if they are legalistic requirements to follow. They tell us how God in His Tri-Personal Being in the Father, Son, and Spirit, have lived in One unified shared Love-experience from eternity as God, and desires to share His “Triune Life” with believers. They reveal the holy emotions of the Tri-Personal Being of God. These are not human emotions, they reveal the divine passion and desire of how God lives “naturally” in an intuitive and spontaneous fashion amongst Them.

All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise. Note: All information is copy-write material. Any information obtained from this website that is used for publication should be acknowledged by citing the website address, date of acquisition and information pertinent to original authorship. For general guidelines regarding web citations see The Guide for Citing Electronic Information. Thank you.