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"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Many groups that work in the area of addiction instruct the addict who is attending a 12-step program on his/her need to continue to "work the program" as they learn new behaviors and habit patterns. The encouragement of other individuals and the support of the group as the addict is in the process of change, are cited to be necessary ingredients to remaining sober from whatever particular addiction one has.
While we can acknowledge the importance of encouragement and support from others, and while we do agree on the need for ongoing accountability in the life of every Christian, at Setting Captives Free we do not subscribe to the opinion that an "addict" gets free by working any program, or by following any prescribed set of steps. Rather we believe that salvation from sin, and ongoing sanctification, is a work of God’s grace in the heart of one who repents and believes the gospel.
5 But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares righteous the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.
Romans 4:5 (HCSB)
11 For the grace of God has appeared, with salvation for all people, 12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age,
Titus 2:11-12 (HCSB)
While we acknowledge the need for every believer to remain ongoingly vigilant against sin, we affirm that Jesus Christ saves us, and that salvation is not by our own works, not through a series of steps, and not by working any program. Moreover, we affirm that Christ keeps us safe in Him, and that His Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, so that ongoing obedience to God’s Word and ongoing victory over sin are by God’s grace alone, through the faith He gives us as a gift.
The teaching in the 12-step movement for addicts (and from here on in this article I am mainly referring to the Christian 12-step groups) to continue to "work the program" stems from a flawed understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its effects in the lives of those who believe. To counter the influence and teachings that are spreading within the church today, it is important to see the beauty and power of the gospel, and the effects of this gospel in the hearts of believers.
The gospel is good news. It tells us of Jesus Christ Who is Almighty God the Creator, Who humbled Himself and became a Man, and further humbled himself and became obedient unto death, that He might save all who believe. It tells us that God’s wrath has been satisfied fully in Jesus’ death, and it tells us that all who believe are forgiven of all sin of which we could not be forgiven through the law. It tells us that at the cross full payment for our sins was made and that our guilt and shame were removed from us. It tells us that through Jesus’ death we have been reconciled to God. Those who were previously enemies and estranged, and rebels against the King, are now friends who have been brought near through the blood of Jesus. It tells us that our eternal life has been secured by Jesus’ death, and that Jesus will not lose any for whom He died.
But this is not all the gospel tells us. As good as forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life are, there is more. The rest of the good news is just this: through the death of Jesus Christ, our old sinful self was crucified and we were raised with Him as new creations. Oh, this is every bit as much good news as is our forgiveness of sin.
19 For through the law I have died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:19-20 (HCSB)
Think about the reality of our own crucifixion in Jesus Christ. Think about the truth that not only did Jesus die for us, but that we died in Him. Oh how marvelous is this truth! The reality is that my old self (that sinful man who craved wrong things, who lived in sin and was dead to God) was nailed to the cross and buried in a tomb, and then I arose from the dead with Jesus as a "new creation."
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)
Now we quickly add that Christians live in unredeemed flesh, and so there is a war in the heart and life of every believer. This truth is evidenced as we are commanded to "put to death (ongoingly) all that belongs to that which is earthly" (Colossians 3:5). The spirit wars against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit, so that often we find ourselves not doing what we want. Therefore, we acknowledge fully that there are competing desires within the Christian who is a new creation. The believer struggles often for he must war against his own deceptive heart, against a lying devil, and against the pull and lure of the world. Yet amidst all of this struggle in the heart and life of the Christian, he knows that he is different in the core of his being from who he was when he was dead in sins and trespasses. He knows that his nature is changed and that his lifestyle and habits are being changed as well. Because the Holy Spirit came to live within him at conversion, he has a power that enables his obedience to God’s Word. This power he did not previously have, and though he made resolutions, decisions, and promises, he could not override the suggestions of temptation or the downward pull of sin. Yes, now, in Christ, the believer is different at the core of his being, and though he struggles against his flesh, he understands as his reality that he is "crucified with Christ."
Why is this understanding of the gospel so important when it comes to discussing the issue of being "free indeed" versus the common teaching of the need to ongoingly "work the program" to stay "sober"?
Just this: in Christ, we find that our very natures are changed. That is, our hearts, our desires and passions, our thoughts and attitudes are all changed and being changed when Jesus Christ becomes our Lord and Savior. Because of His work of rescuing us from sin, of redeeming us from slavery to sin, we are not merely free from bad (sinful) habits, but also from plaguing thoughts, and from overpowering desires. This is what it means to be "free indeed!" "Free indeed" means that we are far freer than if we were to merely stop the bad behavior. Rather, we are internally changed and being changed so that our desires themselves are affected. We find that we can indeed "resist the devil" and that he flees from us. We find that we are growing from "little children" who fell to temptation and sin often, to "young men" who defeat the evil one through the indwelling Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:12-14).
While we feel within ourselves the competing influences of sin, yet our hearts are becoming trained to detest and resist it. At the same time, we are experiencing the sweet influence of God’s grace. This grace changes our desires, enables our obedience, and gives us victory over sin. We come to know Christ not only as Savior and Lord, but also as Friend and Comforter, and the strength of this relationship with the living Christ provides more than enough motivation and power to deny the ongoing pull of the flesh. So the result of walking with Him is to be "free indeed" (not merely sober from the behavior) with a noticeable change in desires and passions. Free indeed!
Another aspect of believer’s freedom is not only that we are no longer in bondage to drunkenness, or pornography, gluttony and laziness, gambling, or whatever other sins had captured us, but we also discover that we are becoming increasingly and willingly in bondage to Jesus Christ.
22 But now, since you have been liberated from sin and become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the end is eternal life!
Romans 6:22 (HCSB)
8 For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity; He gave gifts to people.
Ephesians 4:8 (HCSB)
Through the gospel, we are both given liberty and taken captive. We are liberated prisoners of sin who have become thankfully enslaved to God. We are freed prisoners who have been taken into joyful captivity to Christ. This is the power of God’s grace. This is the beauty of God’s grace.
Moreover, to be sure, freedom from sin and willful and joyful bondage to Christ do come only by God’s grace. God’s grace forgives sin and breaks the power of it. God’s grace removes the burden of sin and sets us free from it.
The hymn-writer said it like this:
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
The 12-step teachings show a misunderstanding of the gospel, neither grasping the beauty or the power of it. They don’t acknowledge that believers have died to their old self and to their old way of life and are risen anew in Christ. This misunderstanding leads to the teaching which states "once an addict, always an addict." While I believe the intent of this teaching is to encourage vigilance against sin, and thereby we agree with the goal of it, we cannot embrace it in whole. The teaching of having a "lifelong addiction" denies the cross of Jesus Christ where believers were "crucified with Christ and no longer live" and the resurrection of Jesus Christ where believers "rose to newness of life". While every believer should watch and pray against sin, no believer is an addict. Jesus Christ makes us "free indeed", not an eternal addict. He makes butterflies; He does not merely shave caterpillars. Even though I was totally enslaved and bound tightly by the chains of sin for many years, `who I was' is not `who I am' now. By the grace of God, the blood of Jesus, and through the counsel of the Word of God, I am not an addict.
The church at Corinth in Paul’s day was much like any modern church in America today, or anywhere for that matter. The church had divisions, addictions, rampant sin, and lawsuits abounding. One might say there were many who were "addicted" to sin. But something happened when Paul brought the gospel to them. He stated to the Corinthians that while he was with them he decided to know nothing but "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). Clearly, he understood the power of the gospel to change hearts and lives. And did the gospel change the Corinthians? What was the result of Paul’s single-minded focus on the gospel when confronting those in bondage to habitual sin? The result is recorded in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
9 Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, 10 thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (HCSB)
When Paul said, "Some of you were like this..." he acknowledged that they were like that no more. Indeed, he follows up with the characteristics of the change that had happened to these people, and noted that the change was quite thorough. They were "washed", "sanctified" and "justified" in Jesus Name and by His Spirit. They were cleansed, changed and forgiven. They were given new hearts, were becoming new in the attitudes of their minds, and had begun living new lifestyles. They had been made "free indeed."
To tell Paul that these people were still "addicts" or even "addicts in recovery" would cause him to question our understanding of the gospel. He would say, "Wait a minute, the gospel changes the person from the inside out, gives him or her a new heart and mind, cleanses, forgives and thoroughly renews them. Though they still sin, they are certainly not addicted to sin, not in bondage to sin. No, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, their old sinful selves were crucified with Christ, and they no longer live. Then they rose with Jesus, new creations in Christ, free indeed from sin’s destructions, and all things are made new in their lives. Addicts? Never!"
This is not to say that a Christian cannot fall into sin, nor be trapped by it. Indeed, Galatians 6:1 tells the mature believer how to rescue the fallen brother: in humility, watching himself lest he, too, fall into sin. Just because we are new creations in Christ does not mean we are incapable of falling to and becoming trapped by sin, but what it does mean is that it is no longer our nature to do so.
3 For His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 4 By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.
2 Peter 1:3-4 (HCSB)
We note that believers share in the very nature of God Himself. Christians become partakers of God’s own nature, and through our participation in Him we "escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." Indeed, there is no other way to escape the corruption of our evil desires. We cannot wish them away, decide for them to leave, pray against them, make commitments and vows to avoid them, etc. These all melt in the heat of temptation. Only through union with Jesus Christ, made possible by the indwelling Holy Spirit, whereby we "share in the divine nature" do we escape our corruptions and evil desires.
To summarize, at Setting Captives Free we do not use the term "addict" to describe someone who is either in bondage to sin or struggling with sin, nor do we use the term "recovering addict" for someone who is learning to obey God and is experiencing victory over sin. Nor do we teach them that they will remain addicts all their lives, and that they must continue to "work the program" in order to remain "sober". Instead, we share the hope of the good news of Jesus Christ, call them to repentance and radical amputation from the source of their falls, and encourage them to eat the Bread of Life and drink of the Living Water of Jesus Christ to satisfy their souls in full.
We encourage the one who was previously in bondage to begin loving Truth. Jesus Christ is the way, the Truth, and the Life. And Truth is revealed to us in God’s Word. It is this love of truth, and the daily feeding on it, that sets us free and keeps us free. "You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.
This methodology is different from the teaching of the 12-step movement, and has many applications in the life of one who was previously in bondage to sin. At Setting Captives Free we hope to continue to show ongoing fruitfulness in ministry as we teach God’s truth, and as we give out God’s grace to those who need freedom from sin. Each of us here who are freed captives are living epistles to the power of grace, and to the importance of truth. We desire to be known and read by all so that freedom in Jesus Christ will be desired much more than life-long addiction, and a perceived need to ongoingly "work the program."
grace and truth,
Mike Cleveland
team member www.settingcaptivesfree.com
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