Liberty (ἐλευθερία) is a state or condition of freedom, especially in contrast to slavery, constraint, or subjugation.
Liberty opposes both futility and corruption. Due to Adam’s sin, creation has been subject to futility. However, when the sons of God appear in their full glory, creation itself will be set free from the bondage of decay into the liberty of a proper opinion of the children of God (Romans 8:20–21).
False teachers promise freedom, but are themselves slaves to corruption, overcome by their own fleshly desires (2 Peter 2:19). These teachers secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them (2 Peter 2:1). They falsely attribute things to the way of truth that are based upon lies (2 Peter 2:2). By covetousness they exploit with deceptive words (2 Peter 2:3). Those who escape the corruption in this world through the full experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ, who are again entangled in them and overcome, their latter end is worse than their beginning (2 Peter 2:20).
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). This is a freedom the enables us to be transformed into the image of the Lord, properly expressing who we are in Christ within every aspect of our lives (2 Corinthians 3:18). We are thus to live righteousness by the law of liberty that enables us to mature (James 2:12). The one who looks into the law of liberty and continues in it, he is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer (James 1:25).
Our liberty in Christ is not to be used for a cloak of wrong (1 Peter 2:16). Those who treat it this way are near sighted and forget that they have been cleansed from their old sins (2 Peter 1:9). We are to be the ones who train our senses to discern what is proper from what is wrong, working out the righteousness we have in Christ (Hebrews 5:14). Those who act in a wrong manner are inarticulate babblers in their understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20). This type of lifestyle seeks the desires from the flesh and rejects the things of God, yet, through self made religion and humility seeks to display righteousness through works of the flesh apart from Christ. As Christians, we are to lay aside doing things that lack the character to who we are in Christ (1 Peter 2:1–2). Our liberty in Christ is not to be used as an opportunity for the flesh, but to serve one another in love, guarding His commandment (Galatians 5:13).
The Christian life is not rigid and strict. It flows in a natural, consistent manner, adapting to the environment without being affected by it. It is the working out of righteousness in all things. False teachers who desire to bring the saints into bondage, secretly creep into assemblies to spy out their liberty in Christ (Galatians 2:4). They bring in a rigid, strict observation of traditions and regulations of men to dictate one’s righteousness and value. Their teachings are not for the purpose of giving freedom, but to bring the saints into bondage to be zealous in following them (Galatians 4:17). We are to stand fast in our liberty (Galatians 5:1). This is the liberty to work out righteousness apart from the works of the flesh and law. When we use the new mind we possess in Christ, we are able to discern the desirous will of God for any situation we face (Romans 12:2). Having determined to follow God’s will, we are free to work out His will as it pleases us, so long as in doing so we are seeking the best for other saints.