Justification. Note 1

Sanctification and the Law

Introduction
The impact of the doctrine of justification is quite profound. We discover in it a righteousness which is given as a gift of grace rather than awarded for faithful attention to the law. Even more profound is the discovery that this gift of righteousness is ours, irrespective of our paltry walk as a believer. In fact there is nothing we could do, other than abandoning Christ, that would take the righteousness of Christ from us. We are therefore totally secure in the presence of God, eternally covered by his love.
This truth immediately prompts two questions:
i] "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" Rom.6:15.
ii] "What shall we say then? Is the law sin?" Rom.7:7

Sanctification
Shall we sin because we are not under law?
In the chorus "Make me a channel of your peace", we sing a set of statements as an affirmation of faith, eg. "It is in forgiving that we are forgiven". Yet such a statement is quite untrue. God's forgiveness is totally a free gift of grace appropriated through the instrument of faith. Our ability to forgive, even our willingness to forgive, does not intrude upon God's free grace in Christ.
There is of course a link between God's forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others. Yet the link is opposite to the one made in the chorus; God's free and gracious forgiveness of all our sins, past, present and future, compels our forgiveness of others. So we could rewrite the chorus in this way: "As we are forgiven so we become forgiving". God's mercy and kindness toward us prompts in us mercy and kindness toward others. The process of becoming Christ-like (known as the doctrine of sanctification), of becoming the person we are already in Christ, is not by works of the law, but by grace through faith. When we are washed with the mercy of God we become merciful.
Although the apostle Paul is the main source of our understanding of the doctrine of sanctification, its truth is clearly presented in the teachings of Jesus. In the anointing of Jesus by the sinful woman, Luke 7:36-50, we find the crucial element in the process of sanctification. This woman, possibly a prostitute, acted in great love toward Jesus because she had experienced God's forgiveness. A person who is forgiven much, loves much.
Sanctification [the progressive realization of the person we are in Christ] progresses, not by an obedient attention to the law, but by grace through faith. Sanctification is a work of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, compelling us to love as Christ loves.
Sadly, this view of sanctification is not always clearly understood by believers. Many Christians are pietists, ie. we believe that a person progresses in the Christian life, becomes Christ-like, holy, through an attention to law-obedience. It is likely that Paul's opponents, the "Judaizers", the members of "the Circumcision party", held a similar understanding of the law, namely that a believer progresses in purity through obedience to the law (they were nomists - and probably legalists, ie. their salvation was maintained by obedience to the law).
When Paul states we are not under law but under grace, he wasn't saying the law had no worthwhile function. As far as Paul was concerned its prime function is to expose sin, to make sin more sinful and thus prompt repentance, Gal.3:24 (Paul would also accept that the law is a guide to the Christian life, although he doesn't develop this truth). What the law doesn't do is progress our Christian life, just as it doesn't either secure or maintain our Christian standing. It is not an instrument of sanctification. The "circumcision" group were pietists, and as far as Paul was concerned, having begun with the Spirit to now return to the law was going to damn them, Gal.3:3. To return to the law to progress our Christian life is to undermine the very basis of our standing before God, which is by grace through faith, Gal.5:4. To return to the law is to place ourselves again under the curse of the law, and thus to undermine our salvation, Gal.3:10.
In response to this teaching the judaizers claimed that Paul was a libertine, teaching that grace was everything and that therefore the law didn't matter. In fact, why not do evil that good may abound, that is, why not sin more, since the more we sin the more God's grace in forgiveness is applied to us, Rom.6:1. The greater good is found in the greater evil. As far as Paul was concerned their argument was stupid. He pointed out that the believer who lives by grace, tends to make a better fist of the law's requirements than the person who tries to obey it. The indwelling Spirit of Christ compels the believer forward apart from the law, Gal.2:19-20.
Experience reminds us how true this is. I may say to a brother that they should forgive, even seventy times seven. The more I say it the harder it is to do, for the law prompts my corrupt nature to rebel against that which is good. As Luther noted, we are stuck with the old Adam until he is deposited in the grave. On the other hand, if I constantly remind my brother of their forgiveness under Christ (their justification), they will, under the Spirit, begin to forgive others who have hurt them (their sanctification will progress). The power of grace outshines the power of law. Law prompts rebellion, grace prompts love.
Progressing toward the standing which is ours in Christ is a gift of grace through faith and not works of the law.

The law
Is the law sin?
The prime purpose of the law is to expose sin and thus lead the sinner to the mercy of God found in Christ. So the law gives life, but only indirectly.
Yet the law can also bring death. It comes with a curse upon those who do not perfectly obey it. Christ has perfectly obeyed it and in an act of grace we are able to share the blessing for his obedience - freedom from its curse. Yet a problem develops when a believer returns to the law to maintain or progress their standing in the sight of God. By doing this they place themselves under the curse again. As Paul says to the Galatians, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?...... All who rely on observing the law are under a curse."
In Christian circles, obedience to the law is sometimes emphasized in the "walk". Obedience is usually not presented in the blatant terms of the chorus "Make me a channel of your peace." None-the-less it is sometimes believed that our salvation is maintained by obedience, that God's good pleasure is gained by obedience (He smiles on us), and that our Christian life progresses (sanctification) by means of obedience to the law. In truth, to use the law to these ends is to place ourselves under its curse.
So then, if as Paul says "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good", in what way is it good? What good purpose does it serve?
The first function of the law is to expose sin and so lead us to the cross of Christ.This function we have explored above.
The second function of the law is to guide our walk as a believer. It shapes the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. As we daily walk with Christ, we have before us the ideals of love. We will never reach them, but in the power of the renewing work of the indwelling Spirit we will be changed, little by little, as we press toward them. Behind us we have the substantial demands of the moral law. As we "walk by the Spirit" we will find ourselves able to keep much of the moral law, although there will be times when we stumble and fall. On those occasions we will turn to our Lord and say "we have followed our own ways and the desires of our own hearts. Good Lord, have mercy on us. And grant that we may live a godly and obedient life." Or in simple terms, we will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and try all over again. So in the rough and tumble of life, as we struggle to apply Biblical truth in the rush of circumstance, we will be gently shaped into the person we are already in Christ. In this way we will be prepared for our reign with Christ in eternity.
It is often argued that the law serves a third function, namely to restrain sin, yet experience does not confirm this view. All of us who have raised children know very well how law prompts rebellion. In my youth club days I always made a point of the "No Smoking" rule. While the kids were busy breaking this rule they wouldn't be focused on breaking unspoken "no sex rule." Paul makes it clear in Romans 7 that the law is more likely to prompt sin than restrain it.
So "is the law sin? Certainly not!"

Conclusion
Our progress in the Christian life, or move toward the perfection we already possess in Christ, is by grace through faith. The law brought us to the cross and daily guides the Spirit's work of renewal, but this renewal is apart from the law. It is the grace of Christ that makes us graceful. So in the midst of our imperfection, our daily and recurrent sin, we look to Christ to work his renewal within and hold us in his arms to eternity, believing that he will do as he has promised.

Law and Grace. Justification and sanctification.

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