Moral Libertinism & Self-Interest Freedom: Enslavement Of Other People

Baipeng Huang Professor Whitelock UCOR 2100 Date Freedom Throughout the Holy Bible, freedom is well explained and the idea can be used to explain Western civilization. In the Old Testament, freedom typically means not enslaved or imprisoned (Acts 26:32). Additionally, there are specific Jewish laws about when to let a slave go or be free or what should be done when a slave fails to be set free (1 Corinthians 7:23). Paul, through his books or letters in the Bible, including 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians, the theme of freedom or Western civilization is well illustrated. Paul’s idea of freedom is like the concept of western civilization because both emphasize on freedom from self-interest and moral libertinism and enslavement. The work focuses on how Paul used images during his time to bring out the idea of freedom and how he would use modern images to describe the theme if he were writing today. In St. Paul’s teaching, especially his letters to different churches were about freedom as well as unity in Christ. He targeted Galatians who were misinformed. His 14 letters, although bible scholars assign him seven, can be divided into early letters, considerably great letters, captive letters and pastoral letters. 1 and 2 Thessalonians were Paul’s early letters while 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, Galatians, and Philippians are considered as St, Paul’s great letters. Captive letters are Philemon, Ephesians, and Colossians and pastoral books were Titus, and 1 and 2 Timothy. In all his letters, he addressed Christians whose preoccupation with keeping the law was splitting the church along racial lines, splitting the Jews and the Gentiles. This challenge is still common in the modern era as some individuals are trying to divide people along racial and ethnical lines but the understanding of western civilization is that we are all equal before the Creator. False teachers were teaching that people needed the work of the law because faith alone cannot work. His teaching about freedom emphasized libertinism, self-interest, and enslavement of others, just like western civilization presumes the ideas. Moral Libertinism Freedom Libertinism refers to an extreme type of hedonism. This is because libertines value physical pleasures more, referring to those experienced via the senses. In Galatia, Paul was urging the non-Jewish Christians to shun away from “enslavement” to specific Torah applications. Such include the requirement of circumcision or rules for food which had, again and again, led to a big rift in the Antioch as shown in Galatians 3 (Bruce, 4). The concept of Western Civilization also uses the same notion that people should not cause conflicts and rifts because of differences in their personal beliefs such as cultures, origin, skin color, language or ethnicity. Instead, by their faithful respects and obedience to Christ, which is what brings them together as a unifying factor, they were all already Abraham’s heirs (Galatians 3:15-18). Thus, like Sarah’s, “free woman,” children, they are free and not Hagar’s, “slave woman,” children (Galatians 4:21-31). However, the teachings of Paul on freedom were widely misinterpreted. Just like most people who follow the culture of Western Civilization. Corinthian Christians concluded that they are free to do anything as shown in 1 Corinthians (6:12; 10:23). Paul was insulted by some believers from Rome as they claimed that the apostle taught “Let us do evil that good may result” in a bid to condemn him for misleading Christians (Romans 3:8). There was a presumption on the grace of God by the ethical libertines toward sinners, in that, “We can do anything we want because God will forgive us,” (Romans 6:1; Romans 15). However, according to Paul, individuals who misrepresent his teachings and the gospel in this manner have a justified condemnation (Romans 3:8). The same idea is common in Western Civilization because the concept allows that people are at liberty to condemn too (Bruce, 4). However, just like in the Western civilization, in his response, Paul warns that people should not use their freedom for self-indulgence (Galatians 5:13). Enslavement of Other People Paul talked about slavery in his teaching about freedom. However, the image of Paul on us becoming slaves (spiritually, morally or physically) is astounding but it is very essential. This image corrects Paul’s moral chaos encounter in his days in Corinth. This also concerns the modern man where blackmail and blindfolding have led him into enslaving others. For most of the time, Christians in Corinth interpreted the meaning of Christ’s freedom along personal lines (Bruce, 5). These Christians had no regard for the Christian’s health as a community. Paul accused them of employing their spiritual gifts and talents for personal benefits (1 Corinthians 13). This is a common trend in western civilization as people are urged to refrain from using others for their benefits or misusing their gifts. The Christians in Corinth attended pagan rituals and ate their meals (meat) without considering how such practices influenced other Christians (1 Corinthians 8:1-13). This is a common trend in western civilization where people attend secular events without regard to their effects on the young generation, but it is highly condemned. Western civilization, just like in Paul’s teaching, seeks to bring into line their “almost” justifiable practices with Christ’s gospel. The Corinthians were allowed by God to do so and Paul praised their revolution into Christ-likeness self-sacrificing through the spirit of freedom as explained in 2 Corinthians (3:17-18). In the same way, our leaders do when people abandon their wrong ways in western civilization for Christ, Paul made some comments on this transformation of Galatians’ hearts. Paul said that “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians2:20). Western civilization also encourages people to give themselves up, not just for their God, but to others and to serve and not be served. In his teaching which influenced the western civilization, Christians become self-giving means for Christ to serving others and live through them and not turn others into their slaves. Self-Interest Freedom Western civilization condemns libertinism and so is Paul with the cosmic Romans context. Though his first sin, Adam set the pace for a supra-human powers that a sin caries (Romans 3:9). Similarly, the first sin led to death, which causes a great damage to the good creation that God established (Romans 5:12-21). The modern man is also full of himself. People in this era want to satisfy their own needs and wants without regard for others. These are destructive powers that have significantly hijacked the law given by God Himself to serve (Romans 7:7-25). Sin has been a great challenge for human beings and the concept of western civilization notes that as Paul taught that people were once slaves of sin but were freed through baptism (Bruce, 4). However, as Paul stressed earlier, baptism does not guarantee that people can freely commit sins. The Holy Bible states that people are “slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18-22). However, even though Christians may fail to observe the God-given law, in one way or the other, a sense of having the Creator’s law manifest and fulfill its...