For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)

 

The Law could never save us or sanctify us. It cannot produce holiness or holy living. Its intent is to convict us of sin and our need for Jesus to be our Saviour. While the Law informs us, it cannot transform us.

According to the Apostle Paul, the grace of Jesus in us always produces fruits consistent with His righteousness. Jesus as the personification and embodiment of God’s grace will give us the desire to do right rather than wrong. Put another way, our sense of personal morality comes from a vital relationship with God through Jesus. Our desire to do right by God grows as we yield to His Spirit at work within us.

If we rest in Jesus for our justification, and then rely on the Law for our sanctification, we will miss and not experience the true power of grace. In fact, we are saying that “Moses drives us to Jesus to be saved, and then Jesus leads us back to Moses to be sanctified”. When sanctification is based on works of the law, discipleship quickly become performance driven. We will be unduly concerned about meeting a “standard” of holiness based on our behaviour and motivation.

The process of sanctification is not about meeting a certain standard but exceeding it. Jesus not only perfected us for salvation but also purified us to zealously do good. This zealousness does not come from the Law, but from the Holy Spirit who imprints the Christ’s righteous law of love on our hearts. Only the righteousness of Christ enables us to go above and beyond our abilities and strength to fulfil God's requirement of us.