Distinguishing justification and sanctification does not make the second less important or nonessential, but if we do not distinguish them, we will lose the gospel of free grace and as Christians come to think of our standing with God as contingent on the degree of our sanctity. This was one of the great errors of the medieval church, and the Roman Catholic Church continues to affirm it. Confessional Protestants, however, reject this notion as unbiblical and contrary to the nature of the gospel. As Luther, Calvin, and many others say, should we attempt to base our standing with God on our sanctity, our assurance, our confidence, and our comfort (HC 1) will be shipwrecked.
R. Scott Clark, The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical Theological & Pastoral Commentary (Lexham Academic, 2025), 219.

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Post authored by:

• Inwoo Lee

  

  Inwoo Lee (BA, UCSD) earned his MA (Historical Theology) in 2020 from Westminster Seminary California and is author of “Righteous Before God: William Perkins’ Doctrine of Justification in Elizabethan England” (MA Thesis, Westminster Seminary California, 2020). He lives in the Great Seoul area, in South Korea with his wife Holly.

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