What are the Two Kinds of Righteousness?

Last updated on: June 3, 2014 at 2:18 am by Jordan Cooper

What are the Two Kinds of Righteousness? 2014-06-03T02:18:04-06:00 Jordan Cooper

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Our lives are built around relationships. We have relationships with our parents, siblings, spouse, children, neighbors, co-workers, and many others. Among our different kinds of relationships in the world, there are two fundamental categories: our relationship with God, and our relationship with other human beings. These two different relationships define our life in this world, and both of these relationships work in very different ways.

Our relationship with God is a passive one. Before God, we do not work to establish our righteousness. We do not offer God any of our works, ideas, talents, or anything else in order to establish our relationship with Our Heavenly Father. Instead, God desires to be the one who works for us. He desires to give his gifts to us. This is why our righteousness before God is something that Jesus Christ earns for us, not something we do. God grants us righteousness freely, without demanding payment. We simply open up our hands of faith and receive all the Christ has to give.

The relationships that we have in the world work very differently. Instead of being passive, as those who merely receive, we are called to be active in the world. We are called to love and serve our neighbors. We are called to give all that we are to the world so that those in our communities have all that they need in this life. This is what we do in our jobs, and in our other vocations. Our jobs are opportunities for us to serve people, as are our roles in the family and in society.

Christians thus have two different kinds of righteousness. We have passive righteousness—that which God gives us freely through faith. This is something that we receive and don’t work for. On the other hand, we have active righteousness. We are not active for the good of God, because God doesn’t need our works! Instead, we are active in the world, because our neighbors need us. Our communities need us. Our families need us.

We need to make sure that we don’t confuse these two relationships, these two kinds of righteousness. This is what happened during Luther’s time. Many in the medieval church taught that God desires active righteousness from us in order to be saved. If we confuse these two types of righteousness, then we end up trusting in ourselves for our own salvation. We trust in ourselves and our activity to get us into heaven. But this is the opposite of the case! God does not judge us on our deeds, which will never be enough to stand before God’s judgment seat. Instead, God judges us on the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. On the other hand, we will neglect our duties in this world if we confuse these two types of righteousness. If we think that passive righteousness establishes not only our relationship with God, but also our relationship with our neighbors, then we will end up neglecting the needs of the world around us. We will fail to do the work that God desires us to do out in the world. We will fail to work hard at our vocations.

When we go to the worship service, we need to see ourselves as those who receive. God desires to give us his forgiveness in absolution and the proclaimed Word. He desires to give us the true body and blood of his Son in Holy Communion. We simply receive, without any merit on our part. But then we must offer up our lives as a living sacrifice to God because of what he has done for us. We do this as we go out into the world during the week, as we go about our jobs and live with our families and neighbors.

Previous Post

June 3, 2014

What is the Distinction Between Law and Gospel?

Next Post

June 3, 2014

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American Lutheran Classics Blog Posts Book Review Christian Dogmatics Course Church Resources Curtis Leins Dogmatic Theology Ethics FAQs Historical Theology Just & Sinner Publications Luther Quotations Podcast Sermons The American Lutheran Theological Journal The complete works of Revere Franklin Weidner Theology Proper Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2019 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Abraham's brother?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Isaac Lot Nahor Jacob