Still Waiting on Freedom
By: Yana Conner
It's difficult for me to read Romans 6 without being instantaneously reminded of Juneteenth. For those unfamiliar with Juneteenth, it is an annual celebration of the day when every slave moved from a state of ignorance to awareness concerning their new identity as citizens of the United States of America. Though the bell of freedom from slavery first rang with the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, the sound of the freedom didn't reach the ears of the slaves of Texas until June 19, 1865. That's nearly three more years of harm. Three more years of being used as chattel and being regarded as 3/5 human. Three more years of black women being raped and their husbands being called "boy" or a "nigger." Three more years of believing your life don't matter.
In Romans 6:1-14, Paul is on the heels of laying out God's beautiful plan of salvation for believers. You are justified in Christ (Romans 5:1)! You are reconciled to God in Christ (Romans 5:10)! And, where your sins have multiplied, God's grace has multiplied even more (Romans 5:20)! In response to this good news, a question arises. If God's grace is going to just keep on increasing in response to our sin, shouldn't we just keep on sinning? (Romans 6:1) Paul emphatically rejects this idea and asks them to take several seats so he can explain why.
There are three reasons why Paul rejects the idea of believers continuing in sin. First, as believers in Christ, they have a new identity. In Christ, their old self, along with its old beliefs and behaviors, has been crucified with Christ to live no more. Their old self took the long journey to Calvary with Christ, was buried with Christ in Joseph of Arimathaea's tomb, and resurrected with Christ by the Holy Spirit's power so they may live life anew. Second, as those united with Christ, they had new power. Through their death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, sin no longer ruled over them. And not only were they set free from the slavery of sin, but God had also given them the power to offer themselves to Him as instruments of righteousness. With their freedom came empowerment. And lastly, as those now free from the slavery of sin, they had a new mission: to live the new life they were given unto God.
What I love most about this passage is that God has given us all the resources we need to embrace this new mission fully. He's given us a new identity and equipped us with resurrection power to live life as He intended. Now, I see why Paul is like, "Nah, cuz. We can't keep living in sin. Don't you know you been set free?" I imagine the conversation was similar in Texas in the days leading up to Juneteenth. "Put down your satchels of cotton. We free. We don't work for Massa no mo'! We free!"
I can see them now, rejoicing! Hands lifted, offering praises to God for answered prayer. Hopes of being reconnected with loved ones who were sold away. The expectation of being able to live as free and as well as their former slave owners. What a glorious day, indeed.
However, the glory of this day would soon fade. Where would they live? Where would they find work? What slave owner in the South would hire them after being accustomed to free labor? They were free, but they had no bootstraps with which to pull themselves up. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had declared them as citizens of the United States of America, their ethnic counterparts did everything they could to deny them the rights and privileges associated with such a status. Activist and Educational Leader, Mary McLeod Bethune puts it,
After the slave was freed, every effort has persisted to maintain "white supremacy" and wall the Negro in from every opportunity to challenge this concocted "supremacy." Many Americans said the Negro could not learn and they "proved" it by restricting his educational opportunities. When he surmounted these obstacles and achieved a measure of training, they said he did not know how to use it and proved it by restricting his employment opportunities. When it was necessary to employ him, they saw to it that he was confined to laborious and poorly-paid jobs. After they had made every effort to guarantee that his economic, social and cultural levels were low, they attributed his status to race.[1]
The "freedom" that slaves received through the Emancipation Proclamation is not like the proclamation of freedom from sin that came through Christ. While the freedom from sin came with the power to say no to sin and yes to God, the freedom from slavery came with further attempts to suppress the truth that black people were created in the image of God and were inheritors of inalienable rights. And this is because slavery was just the fruit of a tree deeply rooted in racism.
Though the branch of slavery has been sawed off from the tree of racism, the tree still bears fruit. Fruits of the mass incarceration of black men. Fruits of economic, health, and educational disparities.[2] Fruits of black men and women being unnecessarily shot up by men and women in blue without consequence. Fruits of injustice we've been forced to eat and told by white evangelicalism to keep our mouths shut about for the sake of the gospel.[3]
But, isn't the gospel a gospel of freedom? Did Christ set me free for freedom's sake? Wasn't His life's mission to preach the gospel to those who suffered economic and health disparities? Set those in captivity free? Give sight to those who with eyes did not see? Lift the oppressed from up under the rubble of their condition? AND, proclaim the salvation of our Lord? That's what my Bible says (Luke 4:18–19). And, I'm so glad it does. Without these words, I would live in this world without hope.
The last few months have been indescribable. People ask me how I'm doing, and I literally send them a litany of emojis. The feels are real, and hope seems elusive. These feelings of frustration and despair are similar to those points in my Christian journey that I find myself caught in a pattern of sin. But, I find hope in Paul's words to Romans. The good news of the gospel is that our salvation leads to transformation. God doesn't leave us the way that we are. Like Paul says to Titus, God's grace has appeared for both our salvation and our training in righteousness.
When I juxtapose this understanding of the gospel against the plight of black people in America, it causes me to long for a freedom that leads to transformation. Not one that leaves us free-ish, but one that loses us from the chains, both seen and unseen. Freedom that uproots the tree of racism and plants a tree of equality, justice, and shalom for all.
In his final address to the world, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that he had seen the Promised Land. Though many of us thought entered into the land flowing with freedom and equality, 2020 has made it abundantly clear that there are still some strongholds of racism to dismantle. However, there is no need to lose hope. We have a God who executes righteousness and justice on behalf of all the oppressed (Psalms 103:6). We have a Father who sent His son into the world to bless the poor, liberate the oppressed, and set the captives free.
So while we wait for our American freedom to be fully actualized, we rejoice in our freedom from the slavery of sin and follow in the footsteps of our Savior. We take up the mantle to bless the poor, liberate the oppressed, and set free those who are still bound by the shackles of systemic racism. And we commit to giving ourselves to this struggle until the end in hope.[4] For we know that though we are still waiting on freedom, our God is both with us and for us.
[1]Audrey Thomas McCluskey & Elaine M. Smith (Eds.), Mary McLeod Bethune: Building a Better World, Essays and Selected Documents (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001), 22–23.
[2] See Sermon, “The Stories We Tell (Part 2)” by Pastor James Roberson at Bridge Church, “The Stories We Tell (Part 2)”, June 7, 2020, video, 1:20:30, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9aDXQWzUAQ
[3] White evangelicalism is used in reference to a “subculture shaped by an agenda of whiteness that sees the world through a lens of whiteness” not evangelicals that happen to be white. See Byran Loritts, Insider Outsider (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).
[4] Dr. King Martin Luther King, “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top,” CNN, April 4, 2018, Accessed June 16, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/us/martin-luther-king-jr-mountaintop-speech-trnd/index.html
Yana Conner is a proud St. Louis native residing in Durham, NC. She recently graduated with a Master of Divinity in Christian Ministry from Southeastern Theological Seminary. She also is a staff writer with Gospel-Centered Discipleship and the Docent Research Group where she helps develop articles and Bible studies that help people think well about faith and culture.