For to the just all the evils imposed on them by unjust rulers are not the punishment of crime, but the test of virtue. Therefore the good man, although he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave, and that not of one man, but, what is far more grievous, of as many masters as he has vices; of which vices when the divine Scripture treats, it says, “For of whom any man is overcome, to the same he is also the bond-slave.”
Augustine of Hippo. (1887). The City of God M. Dods, Trans.). In P. Schaff (Ed.), A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series, Volume II: St. Augustin’s City of God and Christian Doctrine (P. Schaff, Ed.) (66). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
St. Augustine made this statement in his famous City of God. Upon reading this statement I could not help but consider the life of the Apostle Paul. Though he was bound in chains often, he lived freely. Though seen as a prisoner in his culture, he was a free man. How could such be? How could he live "freely" while being "imprisoned?" The greatest imprisonment known to mankind is the imprisonment of sin - the bondage of sin. Sin renders man incapable of serving God freely and pleasureably. God created, designed man to live unto Him, thus only in "living for Him" are we free. Paul experienced freedom in the real sense, he experienced freedom from sin through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel had set him free! The Truth (Jesus Christ) had set him free from the great bondage of sin; therefore, when he suffered persecution for righteousness sake, for doing good or being a good man (as Augustin said), he experienced true freedom while being bound. The soul set free from sin is FREE indeed regardless of the physical suffering or imprisonment one may experience. The righteous man, the one set free through the gospel, knows the punishment he faces is a "test of virtue" rather than punishment for sin. He who lives righteously resulting in persecution enjoys the greatest freedom and pleasure known to man, that of living to God. Paul experienced Freedom while in prison because he understood that true freedom, freedom from sin, was obtained and experienced in Christ and not in the lack of physical suffering. Want to live freely? Want to enjoy freedom and pleasure even in suffering? Such a life is only obtained through faith in the one who conquered death - the Lord Jesus Christ. "And you shall know the Truth (a person, not a mere proposition), and the Truth shall make you free." John 8:32 By the way, such is conditional upon our abiding in His Word - John 8:31.
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