Overview

This chapter confesses the freedom Christ purchased for His people and the corresponding liberty of conscience. Believers are freed from the guilt, curse, and condemning power of sin and the law, and from bondage to Satan, given free access to God as Father. Their consciences are bound by God alone, not by the doctrines or commandments of men; yet this liberty is never a cover for sin or for overthrowing lawful authority.

Edition note: This is one of the chapters where the American revision (1788) differs from the original. The original 20.4 affirmed that the civil magistrate may proceed against those who publish opinions or practices contrary to “the power of godliness.” The American revision recast the church-state relation throughout (see also chs. 23, 31), giving the magistrate no coercive authority over conscience in religious matters. The PCA/OPC text followed here reflects that revision.

The Confession, Section by Section

20.1 — The liberty Christ purchased

The liberty which Christ hath purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law; and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin; from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation; as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto him, not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love and willing mind. All which were common also to believers under the law; but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1, ESV)

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1, ESV)

Further proofs: Titus 2:14; Heb. 2:14–15; Rom. 8:15; 1 John 4:18; 1 Cor. 15:54–57; Gal. 3:13–14; John 7:38–39.

Exposition: Christian liberty is first and foremost freedom from — guilt, wrath, the law’s curse, Satan, sin’s dominion, the sting of death — and freedom for — free access to God and glad, childlike obedience “not out of slavish fear, but a child-like love.” This liberty, real for OT saints too, is “further enlarged” under the gospel.

20.2 — Liberty of conscience

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in any thing, contrary to his Word; or beside it, in matters of faith or worship. So that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience: and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” (1 Cor. 7:23, ESV)

“…why do you submit to regulations—’Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’… according to human precepts and teachings?” (Col. 2:20–22, ESV)

Further proofs: James 4:12; Rom. 14:4; Acts 4:19; 5:29; Matt. 15:9; 23:8–10; Gal. 1:10; 2:4–5.

Exposition: The great charter of conscience: “God alone is Lord of the conscience.” No human authority — church or state — may bind the conscience with doctrines or worship-practices “contrary to his Word; or beside it” (note the appeal to Scripture’s sufficiency, 1.6). To submit conscience to mere human command is to “betray true liberty.” This is the Reformation’s answer to tyranny over the soul, and the basis of the right to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

20.3 — Liberty is not license

They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, do practise any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is, that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Gal. 5:13, ESV)

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Pet. 2:16, ESV)

Further proofs: Luke 1:74–75; Rom. 6:1–2, 15; 2 Pet. 2:19; John 8:34.

Exposition: Liberty is never a license to sin. Its end is holy service — “delivered… that we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness.” To use Christian freedom as cover for the flesh is to “destroy the end” of that very freedom. True freedom is freedom to obey, not freedom from obedience.

20.4 — Liberty and lawful authority

And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another; they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it… resist the ordinance of God.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed.” (Rom. 13:1–8, ESV)

Further proofs: 1 Pet. 2:13–16; Heb. 13:17; 2 Thess. 3:14; 1 Tim. 1:19–20; Titus 1:10–11, 13.

Exposition: Christian liberty does not overthrow lawful authority. God ordains both the “powers” and the liberty, intending them to “mutually uphold and preserve one another.” So freedom of conscience is no warrant for lawlessness; the same gospel that frees the conscience teaches honor to legitimate authority (cf. ch. 23). The careful boundary: conscience is bound by God alone (20.2), yet that does not license resisting lawful authority in its lawful sphere.

Doctrinal Summary

Christ has purchased for believers freedom from sin’s guilt, the law’s curse, God’s condemning wrath, Satan’s bondage, and death’s sting, with free access to God and glad childlike obedience. God alone is Lord of the conscience, which He has freed from human doctrines and commands contrary to or beside His Word in matters of faith and worship. This liberty is no cover for sin — its end is holy service — nor a warrant to resist lawful authority, for God’s ordained powers and Christ’s purchased liberty are meant to uphold one another.

Connections

• WLC Q97 (the moral law’s use to the regenerate, freed from its curse), and the catechisms’ teaching on the first table (worship governed by God’s Word alone).
• WCF 1.6, 10 (Scripture’s sufficiency and supremacy — the ground of conscience bound by the Word alone), WCF 19.6 (believers not under the law as a covenant of works), WCF 21 (worship regulated by Scripture), WCF 23 (the civil magistrate).
• Loci: Christian liberty; liberty of conscience; the regulative principle of worship; church and state.

Pastoral & Practical Significance

This chapter is a double liberation and a double guard. It liberates the burdened conscience from the terror of sin and law — “no condemnation” in Christ — and from the tyranny of man-made religious rules: no preacher, tradition, or institution may bind your conscience where Scripture has left it free. That is a precious freedom, dearly bought, and worth standing firm in (Gal. 5:1). But the same chapter guards against two abuses. It refuses to let “liberty” become a license for sin — the freed are freed to holiness, not from it. And it refuses to let liberty of conscience become a cloak for lawlessness or rebellion against legitimate authority. True Christian liberty is the freedom of a child of God: released from fear and from man’s yoke, bound only to the Father, and glad to serve.

For Reflection

• Where have I let human rules — or my own scruples — bind my conscience beyond what Scripture binds?
• Do I ever use “Christian liberty” as a cover for indulging sin? What is the true end of my freedom?
• “God alone is Lord of the conscience.” How does that both free me from man’s tyranny and bind me wholly to God’s Word?