Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, a noted New Testament scholar, tells of his visit in Britain, where he observed that British people love dogs as their pets. During his stay he noticed three kinds of dogs which he relates to people in reference to freedom.
The first are those dogs who have law but no freedom. They are those who are in chain. Though they jog and roam with their masters yet they cannot go where they want.
The second are those dogs who have freedom but no law. These kind of dogs are not in chain and are free to do whatever they want and to go wherever they want to go. Yet they are living in a dangerous existence.
The third are those dogs that have the law of freedom. They are the kind of dogs who jog, roam, and play with their masters without any chain. They are free to go wherever they want to go but they still return to their masters. This they do because of the chain of affection that connects them to their masters.
The first are like those legalists who painstakingly live in obedience to man-made rules to the suppression of their freedom.
The second are like those people who make use of their freedom as license to sin.
The third one are those like genuine believers who make use of their freedom in Christ to stay close with the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.