Liberty and Virtue: Go Hand in Hand.
Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us.
—Benjamin Rush (1746-1813)
2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The connotation of liberty delieanated herein clearly speaks of our Christian Liberty in Christ. The highest liberty man attains is freedom from the bondage of sin and that liberation only comes through Christ alone through faith alone. However, in another sense, we can infer that a community or people may savor the blessings of liberty by embracing the Holy Spirit of the Lord. Liberty is not license.
Our desire should be to live peaceably among all men, to obey lawful statutes, and pray that God appoints God-fearing magistrates, and exposes the corrupt ones. We need more Christian rulers and leaders imbued by a geniune humility and love for Christ, and His righteousness. More often than not, immoral, corrupt and incompetent magistrates are reflective of a complacent and spiritually-lukewarm populace.
