aligned with the root word religo. 19 The prefix re- means
“back” or “again,” and the word ligare refers to “binding,
tying or attaching.” Other English words such as “ligature,”
referring to “something that is used to bind,” and
“ligament” which “binds things together,” evidence the
same root in the Latin word ligare. The Latin word
religare, from which our English word “religion” is most
likely derived, meant “to tie back” or “to bind up.”
The purpose of Jesus’ coming was not to “bind us” or
“tie us” to anything or anyone, though it might be argued
that in the reception of Jesus Christ by faith there is a
spiritual attachment of our identity with Him. Jesus clearly
indicates that He came to set us free – free to be functional
humanity in the fullest sense, by allowing God to function
through us to His glory. To some believing Jews, Jesus
explained that “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free” (John 8:32). Further explanation of the
personification of that “truth” in Himself was then made
when Jesus said, “If therefore the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed.” To the Galatians Paul affirms
that, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore do
not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” by reverting back
to the bondage of Jewish religion (Gal. 5:1). “You were
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