John Piper has a brief but helpful discussion of the relationship between justification and sanctification. He emphasizes why it is important to understand justification as imputed — a declaration of our position before God:
The only instrument by which I am made a participant in Christ’s righteousness is God’s acting through my faith. I am born into that relationship through faith alone, not through any of its fruits, like mercy and justice and love and patience and kindness and meekness and so on, which turn me into a useful person in the world.
There is a place for deeds and actions of righteousness, but they are the result of one’s justification, not the cause of it in any way.
Read the post here, and watch it here:
Words of Grace 