We need to get a clearer picture of what it means to be a prisoner for Christ. Saint Paul makes a simple declaration in Galatians 3.23-26: ‘Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.’ To be locked up for Jesus doesn’t mean to be thrown into a dungeon!

To be held as a prisoner by the law was simply a temporary position until such time as we were able to move from the law into a faith reaction to what God had done in Christ Jesus. The law was a caretaker when we were not able to handle faith, as Paul continues: ‘So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.’ We had to follow the law to faith in Jesus.

Once we were able to respond to God from a position of faith, it was no longer necessary for the law to rule over us. Does that mean that we are to be lawless? Not at all! We just have to be aware of God’s timing, as Paul continues: ‘Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.’ We now follow the law of God as a matter of faith—not as it used to be.

A tremendous shift has been made in those of us who have come to believe. We have gone from needing to be submitted to the law first and foremost, to being those who live by faith. How did that happen? Paul concludes: ‘You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.’ We have become sons of God by making it to a mature level of the expression of what it means to follow Jesus. YES!