236. Two Kinds of Righteousness

Where does the spiritual fruit that we bear in our Christian lives come from? Today on our journey back through the archives, Dr. Stephen Nichols discusses a noteworthy sermon that Martin Luther preached on two kinds of righteousness.

Well, it’s still October and we are still celebrating reformation month. We’re going back to the archives of 2017, and we are pulling another episode. It was so much fun to be there in Germany and visit those Luther sites and I wanted to share that with you, so I hope you enjoy this episode on Martin Luther and the reformation. Thanks so much for listening.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. We are continuing our trek through Luther's life and once again, we are on location. We are in Wittenberg and we are right at St. Mary's Church. This is the church where Luther preached from 1512 to 1546. And on this episode, let's look at one of his sermons in particular. It was preached at a very important time. It comes right in between the posting of the 95 Theses and the Diet of Worms. He preached this sermon on Palm Sunday on March 28, 1516 from the pulpit here in St. Mary's Church. It was then published in 1519. The title of the sermon is “A Sermon on Two Kinds of Righteousness.”

The first righteousness that Luther preaches on in this sermon is what he calls an “alien righteousness.” Now, Luther does not mean by that it comes to us from outer space. What he means is that it comes outside of ourselves. The Latin expression here is extra nos. It is extra, it is beyond or outside of nos, is the Latin word for us. This is not a righteousness that we can produce. We are dead, we are sinners. This is not anything that we can ever in any way, shape or form do. Christ had to do it for us. In fact, Luther will say that “it is through faith in Christ that Christ's righteousness becomes our righteousness and all that He has rather, He Himself becomes ours.”

It's very reminiscent of what Luther says in one of his thesis. It's Thesis #37 of the 95 Theses. There he says, "Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the benefits of Christ." That's a wonderful expression. In Latin, it is participatio, we participate as it were, omnium bonorum Christi, that we participate in all the benefits of Christ. We have Christ Himself; we have His righteousness. Luther says, "This is a great bargain, because what we bring to the table is our sin. Christ takes our sin and He gives us His righteousness. It is imputed to us."

Luther can say, "This isn't infinite righteousness and one that swallows up all sins in a moment. For it is impossible that sin should exist in Christ. On the contrary, who trusts in Christ is attached to Christ, is one with Christ, and has the same righteousness as He." That is a glorious righteousness and that is the first righteousness that Luther talks about.

The second kind of righteousness is a righteousness that we do, that we produce. It is the fruit, as Luther will say, of that first righteousness. Now, it's very important for us to catch this point. Sometimes, Luther is accused of what we call antinomianism. Now, that very big word simply means this, no law or against the law. Anti means no, and of course, nomianism has within it, that Greek word nomos which means law.

And sometimes, Luther is accused of simply preaching the gospel and never telling people that they need to live obedient lives. Well, you need to read this sermon because you will find that Luther stresses that once we have been redeemed and we have that righteousness of Christ, that then we have an obligation. The text for this sermon is Philippians chapter 2. And there in Philippians chapter 2, Paul exhorts us to have the same mind as Christ. And what Paul will tell us in that text is that Christ took on the form of a servant.

For Luther, that's the second kind of righteousness, that we take on a righteousness that responds in love and obedience to God and we have a righteousness that responds in love in obedience to our neighbor. And how do we love our neighbor? How can we love our neighbor? We can love our neighbor because of the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to us and we can love our neighbor because Christ has provided us the example. The example is that we are to be a servant. Well, that's Luther on the two types of righteousness preached here at St. Mary's Church in 1518. I'm Steve Nichols, and thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.

Well, I see we have just a brief time here. So, let's stretch way back into church history and look at this quote from Bede. He said, "Only someone who is on fire with the love of his maker can be said to love his fellow humans in the right and faithful way."