Don't Confuse the Two

The following is adapted from C.J. Mahaney's wonderful little book The Cross Centered Life.

"One of the greatest hindrances to keeping the gospel central in our lives is our creeping tendency toward legalism. Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God. Legalism is works based righteousness or simply believing that salvation rests on your works and not on grace alone, through faith alone in Christs finished work on the Cross. 

Nearly every man and woman I've met who has struggled with legalism has had a faulty understanding of how justification and sanctification work together. These are big theological works that are in the Bible, so I encourage you to understand these theological terms, not so you can impress your friends, but because understand the differences between justification and sanctification is vital to defeating legalism. 

• Justification is being declared righteous. Sanctification is being made righteous -- being conformed to the image of Christ.
• Justification is our position before God. Sanctification is our practice. You don't practice justification. It happens once for all, upon conversion. 
• Justification is objective -- Christ's work for us. Sanctification is subjective -- Christ's work within us.
• Justification is immediate and complete upon conversion. You will never be more justified than you are the first moment you trust in the Person and finished work of Christ. Sanctification is a process. You will be more sanctified as you continue in grace-motivated obedience. 

So do you see the distinction? Now ... here's the mistake the legalist makes. He confuses his own ongoing participation in the process of sanctification with God's finished work in justification. In other words, he thinks that godly behavior and practices and good works somehow contribute to his justification. 

The Bible is clear that "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law..." (Romans 3:20). None of us earn God's approval and love by our good works. None of us can add to the finished, complete work of Jesus on the cross. He paid the price of our sins. He satisfied God's wrath.

Our participation in the process of sanctification comes only after we've been totally accepted and made right before God through faith in Jesus. So yes, we work hard at obeying God's word. We read our Bibles. We pray. We meditate on Scripture. We memorize Scripture. We share the gospel. We serve in our church. We fast. God commands us in His Word to do many things, and our obedience is both pleasing to Him and brings His blessing to our lives. But none of these good spiritual activities adds to our justification. We're never "more saved" or "more loved" by God. Our work is motivated by the grace God has poured out in our lives.