Christian thoughts on freedom have been shaped by the history of God's people such as the story of Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament Hebrew Bible, that was about 1300 years old by the time of Jesus' birth.
The Exodus story told of how God worked through people like Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to set the people of Israel free from their enslavement to Egypt. That story helped to shape the way the early church explained what Jesus did. That is, just as God set the people of Israel free from their enslavement to Egypt; so Jesus, the Son of God, will either instantly or gradually, set people free from their tendencies to do what is wrong in the eyes of God. Such tendency is called "sin". And being set right with God is called "being saved" -- that is, set free from sin.
Here is the way that is put in the letter to Titus 3:4-8a:
But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure.
The letter of Titus stresses that we were set free from sin by Christ according to his mercy.
How Christ can set you free will be briefly stated in the morning ...
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