This post is part of the Free to Live series. Find the whole series here.
In his “Allegory of the Cave,” the Greek philosopher Plato invites listeners to step into the illustration of captive people chained deep below the dark earthen fold.
The people were chained in such a way that they could look only forward. And yet they heard things from the world above and behind them, and shadows danced on the cavern walls in front of them—created by light reflected from a world they could not see. Imagining they knew what those shadows and noises were, the people were convinced such things were reality.
But one day, a captive was freed from his chains and taken to see the world above. He saw that the shadows were only reflections of reality and the sounds—which the captives believed they knew so well—belonged to things they didn’t know at all.
With this illustration, Plato made the point that there is more to reality than what we see with our eyes—the flickering shadows upon the wall. If someone were to be released from his or her chains, see things as they really are, and then return to the cave below and decide those shadows—that bleak existence—were reality instead . . . would we not wonder what this person was doing?
And would we not, if we ourselves had been freed from captivity, want to travel back to those dark depths—not to stay but to help the other captives, that they too might see the light and truly live?
Plato wasn’t a Christian. But the connections between his allegory for life and how we as Christians view faith and life can be easily made.
Living around 427–348 B.C., Plato wasn’t the first to write about life in terms of light and darkness.
Over three hundred years before Plato, the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote this: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).
Over three hundred years after Plato, Jesus said this, showing himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy—and all of Scripture: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
What does that mean for Christians in how we live?
The apostle Paul wrote, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), to remind Christians that we hold on to the promises of our God through life, even when the dark world around us seems to show something different. After all, that is faith, is it not? “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).
But what does this talk of light, darkness, life, and faith have to do with our series Free to Live based on Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians?
Well, Paul wrote, “We . . . know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. . . . By the works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:15-16).
By Spirit-worked faith, the Galatians knew Jesus and what he had done for them!
But false teachers were trying to deceive the Galatian Christians, telling them that they had to believe in Jesus and fulfill the works of the law (in their case, by observing Jewish customs and practices). Those false teachers pointed to flickering shadows, trying to make the Galatians believe that those were reality.
Don’t go back to those things! By faith, you know what is real! By faith, you know how you are saved!
As Paul urged young Christians elsewhere, “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:17).
The reality is found in Christ.
Dear Christian, by Spirit-worked faith, through hearing the Word, you know who Jesus is and what he has done for you. There is nothing you need to do to be saved. Jesus Christ has done it all—for you and me because he loves us more than we can possibly understand.
Christ, who fulfilled the law perfectly in our place. Christ, who suffered the wrath of God in our place. Christ, who freed us from the chains of sin and death. Christ, who made us free to live for him by faith. Christ, who empowers us and encourages us to help others see him too.
We are free to live . . . by faith in Christ!
Free to Live is a five-part series on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It doesn’t cover everything though, so if you want to study the entire book of Galatians, Pastor Roy W. Hefti’s devotional commentary, Galatians: The Beating Heart of the Gospel, is an excellent choice.
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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