The Lord be with you
St. Paul, in Galatians, speaks of two kinds of righteousness, a righteousness of the Law and a righteousness of the Gospel; a righteousness based on our works and a righteousness based on Christ’s work; a righteousness that believes one is acceptable to God because of who one is and what one has accomplished, and a righteousness that believes one is acceptable to God because of who Jesus is and what Jesus has accomplished for us. Luther writes about the results these two different approaches have when we face trials in our lives.
In affliction and in the conflict of conscience it is the devil’s habit to frighten us with the Law and to set against us the Consciousness of sin, our wicked past, the wrath and judgment of God, hell and eternal death, so that thus he may drive us into despair, subject us to himself, and pluck us from Christ. It is also his habit to set against us those passages in the Gospel in which Christ Himself requires works from us and with plain words threatens damnation to those who do not perform them. If here we cannot distinguish between these two kinds of righteousness, if here by faith we do not take hold of Christ, who is sitting at the right hand of God, who is our life and our righteousness, and who makes intercession for us miserable sinners before the Father (Heb. 7:25), then we are under the Law and not under grace, and Christ is no longer a Savior. Then He is a lawgiver. Then there can be no salvation left, but sure despair and eternal death will follow.
Therefore let us learn diligently this art of distinguishing between these two kinds of righteousness.
Luther, Martin Luther’s Works, volume 26, Lectures on Galatians (Concordia Publishing House) 10-11
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor