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Bible Dictionaries
Free
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or FREE . In the use of this adj. in the Eng. Bible notice 1 Peter 2:16 as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God, that is, free from the Law, yet servants (slaves) to the higher law of love to God. Psalms 88:5 ‘free among the dead,’ a difficult passage: the probable meaning of the Heb. is ‘separated from companionship’ or perhaps from Divine protection. Acts 22:28 ‘I was free born,’ that is, as a Roman citizen. 2 Thessalonians 3:1 ‘Pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course’ (Gr. literally ‘May run,’ as AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] ): ‘free’ means ‘unhindered’ as in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost , v. ii. 738, ‘For mine own part, I breathe free breath.’ Psalms 51:12 ‘uphold me with thy free spirit’ (RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] and Amer. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘willing’): the word means generous, noble, and the reference is to the man’s own spirit (RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘with a free spirit’).
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Free'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/f/free.html. 1909.
