It is a dangerous thing to rely on rule keeping for our relationship with God. If we decide that how we keep the rules makes for our righteousness before God, we obviously reject being made right with God through Jesus Christ. Or if we decided that our righteousness before God is a mixture of what Christ has done and what we do, then we are showing that we do not realize how significant Jesus is to God the Father. It is a dangerous place to be and Paul said that bluntly.
4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness—(Gal 5:4-5).
Paul said two things. First, we cannot be justified by our own activity. Second, we will never be completely righteous in our activity in this life. We live in hope of that but in the meantime we rely totally on Jesus Christ. Peace and productivity in the Christian life comes from recognizing how wonderful Christ is and how much God the Father adores what Jesus Christ has done for us.
