Two Kinds of Righteousness

by Martin Luther · Sermo de duplici iustitia

Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only

Written
1519
Language
Latin
Length
Short · 12 ppunder 120 pages
Difficulty
Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader

We recommendMartin Luther's Basic Theological WritingsFortress PressThe standard classroom anthology, with the sermon printed whole.

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A short sermon on Philippians 2, preached and printed in 1519, that distinguishes two righteousnesses. The first is alien: the righteousness of Christ, given from outside and received by faith, which swallows up sin at once and is worked out over a lifetime. The second is our own, the ordinary righteousness of a good life and just dealing, which grows out of the first and is its fruit rather than its cause. The distinction is the seed of Luther's later doctrine of justification, set out in a few pages.

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Sermo de duplici iustitia, Sermon on Two Kinds of Righteousness, alien righteousness, proper righteousness, justification, Philippians 2, imputation, Luther, Martinus Lutherus